CANADA TO MEXICO

A 1,900mi SELF-SUPPORTED bike ride from the border of Canada along the west coast ending at the mexico Border. 1 man, all alone, trying to be the fastest human to ride a bicycle from Canada to Mexico. FULL PROJECT SCOPE BELOW.

  • BIKE COMPUTER

    I will be using the Coros Dura bike computer mainly for its unmatched battery life. Navigation is key for this project but PROOF I road what I road is KING. A dead bike computer CAN NOT HAPPEN.

  • BIKE

    I am using the new new Canyon Aeroad with integrated TT bars on their new PACE bar system. This is an ALL ROAD route so speed is the goal.

  • FUELING

    Since this is SELF-SUPPORTED I can only start with limited fuel of my choice. Fluid is sold at a few bike shops along the route so I hope to restock during the trip.

  • SUNGLASSES

    Cant ride good if you dont look good, I will be running 3 different style shades from Tifosi during this trip. A casual, a race, and a clear for night.

  • PACKS

    Hydro Pack, Tail Bag, and Frame bag from USWE are ESSENTIAL for this trip. The Hydro pack RUSH has tons of storage front and back.

  • BIB/JERSEY KIT

    15 hours of riding a DAY for 8-10 days is A LOT! I need the absolute BEST BIBS in the world to keep my ass comfy. Ill be running the Del Dios kit.

CANADA > MEXICO (FASTEST KNOWN TIME)

Currently the OUTRIGHT fastest known time from the Canada border to the Mexico border is from Lachlan Mortons ride on the continental Divide. This Time is 300hrs 21 mins (12 days, 12 hours, and 21 minutes). Even though I am NOT riding this same course, there is no official/confirmed submitted time FASTER than 12 days for the West Coast PCH route.

Going faster than Lachlan should be 'EASY" given my route is 100% road and food/lodging is everywhere. My goal is to show a compelling story around this route that encourages others to beat, break, or even SMASH my time.

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RIDE RULES

There are 3 different categories when it comes to setting a record, and it gets very... controversial.

SUPPORTED : SELF-SUPPORTED : UN-SUPPORTED

Supported means full bottle hand ups, mechanical crew, multiple bikes, and even pacers. I have WON 2 SUPPORTED ULTRA races before and really enjoy the focus on PURE SPEED.

SELF-SUPPORTED means you can have a film crew, navigation help, drop bags at locations, and other outside help. The SELF SUPPORT part of it is that you have to work on your bike, fill your own bottles, and stop for your own food.

UN-SUPPORTED means ZERO assistance... ZERO. If someone takes a photo of you while riding, well, thats "emotional support"...k. You cant mail supplies ahead, and ALL food/water has to come from business open to anyone.

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Even though this ride will absolutely be UN-SUPPORTED for me, as I will be filming everything myself, getting all my own food, booking all my own lodging, doing all my own repairs, and will have ZERO outside support, this is where the rules get sticky.

IF ANYONE rides with me for even a second, that will move my UN class down to SELF. And bro, I'm riding on an extremely popular cycling route. I will be offering up LIVE tracking and many have expressed a desire to join me on part of the route as I ride through there town.

I am NOT going to yell at some amazing human that came to cheer me on to get away from me. Thats ridiculous and not in the spirit of this adventure. So I accept that I will most likely be UN-ELIGIBLE for the UNSUPPORTED class, but the record I'm chasing, Lachlans, is technically SELF-SUPPORTED because he had a film crew.

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FULL ROUTE

1,755mi & 94,923 ft (2,824km 29,000m)

START: PEACE ARCH STATE PARK, WA

FINISH: FRIENDSHIP PARK, CA

PROJECTED FINISH TIME: 9 DAYS

FOLLOW IN REALTIME HERE

FULL STRAVA ROUTE

LIVE TRACKING HERE

DAY 1 : BLAINE TO EMA

GOAL : 212.53 mi | 9,800 ft

ROAD: 200mi | 321km : 8,890ft|2,706m (*STRATEGIC RE-ROUTES SHAVED 12mi off the route ending in the planned destination)

DAY RECAP: QUCKIE: started at 5:30 AM ended at 8:30 PM) and outside of missing the ferry by literally two minutes which was such a buzz kill), I didn’t stop the entire time. I got two vegan burrito deliveries, saw some beautiful roads, and finished in the projected town making this a completed day.

ROUTE: The route was absolutely stunning with roads that just blew my mind, then transferring into farmland and then back into majestic overgrown Jurassic Park style mountains. There was a big hurdle on the day, which was the ferry that only went across every hour and a half and I didn’t want to get there just shy of missing it and have to sit around, but that is exactly what ended up happening. I got to the ferry right as it was leaving the dock. I missed it by two minutes. Now that may not seem like a super bummer, but a lovely woman brought me a vegan burrito that was hot and I got a bunch of content sorted so it actually was a huge win plus I essentially took a two hour break by waiting for the ferry and then riding the ferry which meant I had zero time to stop outside of that. I made a ton of reroutes that ended up saving me 12 miles and being way more efficient. It did take me a little while to figure out those reroutes, but you know as they say, take a minute now to save you an hour later.

FOOD: My bike was totally stocked with gels and bars, so I really didn’t need to stop at all for anything. I got that vegan burrito plus I was able to fill up my water bottles on the ferry. It’s kind of crazy that I only went through four bottles of water on a 15 hour ride as of where at gravel world I was almost doing a bottle an hour. I ended the day in a 6000 cal deficit and jammed over to the grocery store and got absolutely way too much food. There in the grocery store was another amazing human who hand-delivered me, vegan burrito number two and it was the greatest thing I’ve ever had in my entire life.

BIKE: The bike was pretty freaking heavy, fully loaded down, so even small hills were creating quite an issue early on. I started to get a weird pain in my back, which I’ve never had before and knew that was going to potentially ruin the trip if I didn’t fix it right away so I tried to assess what it was caused by and then trying to fix my riding position with all the weight swinging from side to side. I was able to correct it and learn how to ride the bike in a way that was good for my biomechanics.. Outside of the weight, the cockpit is just absolutely clutch. The COROS computer, the quad lock with my phone, the bag setup from USWE, and the Canyon Aeroad itself was just money.

RECOVERY: I got in to my hotel and immediately got into some street clothes and jammed over to a grocery store and got my haul. I think I got pretty much everything I need for tomorrow so I don’t have to stop I can just keep going. The main hurdle over this entire trip is going to be the accumulation of fatigue and lack of sleep, so getting into bed and fueling myself a recovery is my number one goal. The problem is that the Strava, the Instagram, the YouTube, all of that takes a long time to sort. Not complaining it’s my job. It’s just a fact of this kind of level of content creation by myself on a project like this.

DONATIONS: I want to post here a huge thank you to the people that donated before the trip and on day one, I will be getting out your perks to you as soon as I get back, but for now here’s a list of amazing humans that decided their hard earned money was justified to help me on this insane project. It truly means the world to me and helps me more than I think you know.

THANK YOU:

Mathew Zeier

Joshua Speer

Tim Root

Greg Brown

John Wintersteen

Patrick Boyle

Sebastian Ros

Jaron Ballou

Jason Rubble

Aman Ullah

Lawerence Parr

Dan Lachapelle

Chase Thelen

Gerad Hogan

Jacob Berkowitz

Gerard Hogan

Chris Hines

Sarah Fawcett

Frederik Visti Groenbaek

Thomas Kok

Mario Miller

COMPLETED STRAVA ROUTE

EMA TO PACIFIC CITY

GOAL : 213.0 mi | 9,706 ft

ROAD : 180mi | 290km ::: 7,300ft|2,300m

DAY RECAP: *INSTAGRAM STORIES SHOWS THE ENTIRE DAY*
—(Typed with voice to text so forgive the spelling and grammar mistakes)

QUICK RECAP: An awesome guy Bill met me at the start and rode the first 40mi with me, this was a huge boost in morale for me. I made a big gamble on a route change and it payed off saving me enough time to go past my original destination of Tillawook and instead make it an extra 30ish miles further south in Pacific City.

Rode over this crazy bridge, then found a chipotle just CHILLING in the wild, SMASHED THAT, took a burrito to go, putting my total ride burrito count at 4, 5 if you include the PRE-GAME BOWL. I’m now slightly ahead of schedule.

ROUTE: I made a route change to take me over this crazy suspension bridge to save myself about 40 miles off the original route. Sam said this bridge was really dangerous and the route building doesn’t really want you to go over it, but I read some stuff online that it’s not that bad and so I gambled. The traffic was really light and the shoulder was plenty, and it was super fun. I don’t really have an issue with cars being close to me, it doesn’t really invoke any fear or anxiety so the bridge was just super dope.

This allowed me to also find a Chipotle, which was an absolute come up. I connected to the 101 and then finally made it to the coast, this first part where I had to get to the coast was my biggest worry. I was so unfamiliar with the islands and the fairies and everything that was Washington. But now that I’m on the coast, it’s literally just keep the ocean on my right and I’m good to go.

FUELING: Just like yesterday, I only stopped once. I drink a gallon of Sprite and had a double wrapped burrito with chips. That chipotle stop was absolutely amazing because it also gave me a burrito to take back to the next hotel which I desperately needed. I also was able to keep my caloric deficit pretty low, finishing off probably around a 2000 cal deficit by the time I go to sleep. 1,111g of carbs kept the legs turning over nicely all the way to the end.

MENTAL GAME: even though the content side of this is extremely difficult and mentally taxing, it keeps my mind busy and so I never feel bored all day. It honestly feels like I don’t have enough time in the day to do the content I want, which is crazy that on a 12 to 15 hour ride, I feel like I don’t have enough time. Creating the content while writing and posting in real time on Instagram keeps me focused on something other than my legs. So far the morale is pretty good, but having this guy Bill and his wife Ray meet me at the start was a huge boost. I started the day pretty slow and around an hour later than I wanted to, but Bill was there. I just started riding really good and we had a great conversation and he really set up my day for success.

ISSUES: so far there has been no issues which kind of gives me anxiety that I’m gonna have some catastrophic issue because everything seems to be going too well. I am falling behind a little bit on my sleep that but that’s to be expected obviously. My next big issue is going to be getting around the landslide on Highway one. I’ve scouted a 13 mile hike that goes around it, but I have no idea what that looks like or how accessible it is. So central coast day could end up really setting me back if I can’t cross.

COMPLETED STRAVA ROUTE

Day 3 (Pacific City to Bandon)

GOAL : 200.44 mi | 11,059 ft

ROAD : 170mi | 273km : 8,500ft | 2,600m (BACK EVEN WITH SCHEDULE)

DAY RECAP: *FULL DAY ON IG STORY + PAST DAYS ARE HIGHLIGHTED BUBBLES ON IG story* —- Again, I’m a sleepy boi so I’m speech to texting this… who knows what it will say. —-

QUICK RECAP: Got a late start even though I woke up at 5 AM. Met this guy Bill, who took me to the absolute greatest road of all time, this one way sneaker road through the coastal mountains . It was absolutely the highlight of the trip so far. I’m sure there’s much more amazing stuff to come but so far today has given me quite the adventure boner. Was able to stop at this super hippie store and I made myself four burritos, putting our trip burrito count to a whopping nine. As soon as Bill left us, I connected with Josh who ran with me. Yes ran. After Josh, then Jacob joined me. It’s been really amazing getting so much support from the community , but then for some people to actually go out of their way to meet me on the road is straight up heartwarming dude. Beautiful, beautiful view after beautiful view the day got pretty long and even though I started the day with an advantage being about an hour and 40 minutes ahead of schedule, the town I planned to stay in is the only town with hotels available. So I actually could not pass this town and make it all the way to the next one.

ROUTE: this route was very straightforward navigation wise, even though I did cut out one little detour that avoided bridges, because I ain’t afraid of no bridges. Without Todd though showing me that little sneaker road, this route would’ve been a 7 out of 10 for the most part, but man that one little section he showed me, that alone was a 10 out of 10.

FUEL: we’re deep into the burrito game in this trip, and I was really worried about just eating absolutely garbage the whole time. I may be plant-based, but I’m plant-based for health and I often eat single ingredient whole foods like an absolute granola hippie. So eating gas station garbage for 10 days wasn’t something I really wanted to do. But so far I’ve actually been eating really really well and the burritos have been amazing real food that is making me feel like I’m getting stronger throughout the days. Even though I burned less calories today than I have in the past two days, my caloric deficit is still pretty high. My appetite really wasn’t there today which is actually insane for me to not have an appetite. I went to a grocery store and was able to get a lot of food for tomorrow And I was able to get over 200 g of protein in for the day, mostly all from real food.

MENTAL: the unsupported class means that you can’t interact with anyone that wants you to be happy because emotional support is a real thing. I kind of scoffed at emotional support when I heard that in the rules, but having all these amazing people along the route, even just a ride with me for a little bit, is a huge morale boost. So I can see why that is looked at as an advantage. I have an insane advantage over others in that same class. So like I had expected, I am definitely disqualified from the unsupported class and demoted to self-support supported which is still the current record that I’m aiming for. Unsupported is 13 1/2 days self-support, the one I’m going for is 12 days 12 hours 21 minutes.

COMPLETED STRAVA ROUTE

Day 4 Bandon To Elk Meadow (50mi short)

GOAL : 214.9 mi | 10,977 ft

ROAD : 151mi|243km : 8,655ft|2,621m (50mi short of town)

DAY RECAP: QUICK RECAP: Despite a few setbacks today, riding through the Redwood National Forest is the new highlight of this trip and the Newton B Dewey Scenic Parkway is my number one all-time favorite road I’ve ever ridden. But so, despite waking up early, I still got out the door pretty late, made a big push and felt strong, stopped for some of the best vegan food I’ve ever had, tried a reroute gamble to shave some time and ended up having to backtrack and lose quite a lot. Spent a little too much time taking photos and video because of how breathtaking the ride was. So with the combination of a slow pace and a routing mistake on my end, I was put in a position to either A. ride 50 miles in the dark or B. stay in this cozy ass little cabin surrounded by elk. The Elk say hi.

ROUTE: this route was pretty much a 10 out of 10 from the start to the finish. This final road through the redwoods ending at the Elk Meadow, is, no joke, the greatest road I’ve ever ridden in my life. From the very first minute of this ride, I swore it couldn’t get any more beautiful and it just escalated every couple miles. It got cooler and cooler and more beautiful and more stunning. This meant that I spent way too much time on content because telling this story and conveying just how amazing this route was became very time-consuming. So in attempts to shave off some time, I made a route gamble, but it ended up being a walk path on gravel. But I didn’t know that until I rode all the way over there so I had to backtrack to the 101. So after taking time to try to figure out a better route, then finding out that my new route sucks balls, then backtracking, I ended up getting into a position where I could not make my planned destination, town. The hard part about some of these towns is that there’s no hotel or lodging 25 to 50 miles in between towns. I was just extremely lucky that this Elk Meadow had availability because if it wasn’t for this, I would’ve had to have stopped even earlier or push really deep into the night, but I’ll be honest that the fatigue and sleep is starting to accumulate.

MENTAL: Woke up at 4:30 but after work and packing, I ended up still on the road at 6:55. I did go to bed around midnight the night before but still I swear I’m in super slow in the morning and time flies by. I was extremely locked in this morning, I was able to get out a reel of day two and was able to stay on top of content all day. But outside of that, I felt really good and strong because I’ve been eating so well. After the route snafu I definitely fell off a cliff with morale and started having an absolute pity rave in my head. The redwoods snapped me out of it, and I went from being a whiny child to having a smile that was splitting my face in half. Hopefully I can get some good sleep tonight as tomorrow’s gonna be a really hard day to stay anywhere near on schedule.

COMPLETED ROUTE

DAY 5 (Elk Meadow to Fort Bragg)

GOAL : 180.23 mi | 12,499 ft

ROAD : 181mi | 291 km : 10,490ft | 3,200m (1 miles gained back - 63 miles down from schedule pace)

DAY RECAP: QUICK RECAP; Started the day 65 miles down on the scheduled pace. Todays route was supposed to be 180mi | 12kft , so IF I wanted to start even Steven and not continue my trend of backwards miles, I HAD to get 180. But like… seriously, there was ZERO places to stay between mile 113 and 180.

I needed to COOK today and the kitchen was OPEN! I had crazy good legs and made my 1 stop for the day at mile 113. That was a big push to not stop till then but it paid off and I was able to roll in just as it got dark. Thanks Zach for the burrito (TRIP BURRITO COUNT NOW AT 10)

ROUTE: Started beautiful, then was kind shit highway, until BAAAAMMM! Avenue of the Giants! Hard to say if today was better than yesterday in the redwoods, but good goly molly this part had me crying. I was talking to the GoPro as if my son in the future when he is like 50 is watching this video with his son and so I told my future son I loved him and bro I just started bawling.đŸ˜­đŸ˜­đŸ˜­

After this part, it was UP DOWN UP DOWN WAY UP WAY DOWN… all the way in. Just punch, climb one after another. I had great legs so I was stoked on the climbs but today is tied if not slightly nodded as the best route so far.

BIKE SETUP: I’ve changed the rear bag setup everyday in search for something clean that doesn’t sway. At the end of the day I found the way, my strap I use to tie stuff down on top of the bag, I looped through my saddle. Bro, money, ZERO SWAY NOW.

MENTAL: I ended yesterday super low and really felt like I can’t do this and then I bit off way more than I could chew but how can I quit or how can I change the days or how can I back off on this pace or how can I do anything with all the support and love that I’m getting?

And bro, that’s the power of emotional support. I can’t. So with the power of having no option, I just got out the door and started pedaling. I knew I needed a really good day so that I didn’t lose more time but you never know what’s gonna happen so I’m so stoked that the legs showed up and my vibe and mental well-being skyrocketed.

The better I rode the better my mind, which then turned into the better I wrote, which then fed back into my mind being better, which then fed back into me absolutely smashing. Some people text me or write that this is inspiring, or that it gets them out on a ride, or that they enjoy the in real time Instagram stories.

But I will tell you 100% you are the one inspiring me and pushing me, without you, I think I’m still riding a gigantic elk around in that meadow.

COMPLETED ROUTE

STAGE 6 (Fort Bragg to Mill Valley)

GOAL : 190.03 mi | 14,526 ft

ROAD : 165.86 mi| 13,153 ft| 10h 58m

DAY RECAP: I’m gonna come back and update this tomorrow (falling asleep) with more details but for now, I got out a little late and ended up connecting with a train of guys headed almost back in my same direction. I was able to get a Sweet pole for the first 10 to 15 miles, but too bad I was eating an açai bowl so that was super funny.

I needed to get to mile 190 which was just passed San Francisco but with such a hilly route, I wasn’t able to make it happen. We had tons of roadside support along the way, which is so so amazing that people are willing to take their time to come and cheer me on.

Gonna have to really push hard tomorrow to not lose more time, but I sort of feel like I’ve conceded that I’ll be making it to the border of Mexico in 10 days.

Will have a proper Strava description tomorrow, but I got to catch up on some of the sleep debt that I’m accruing. I appreciate you so much thank you for everything. You really are keeping me locked in.

COMPLETED ROUTE

STAGE 7 (Mill Valley To Big Sur)

GOAL :227.68 mi | 13,185 ft

ROAD : 160.53| 9,298 ft| 10h 31 min

DAY RECAP: So much more on Instagram stories & I just spoke this all out to my phone sooooo, good luck reading this đŸ˜— But here’s my take on the day::::

QUICK RECAP: honestly, this could be a real pivotal moment in the entire trip, because I’m having to make a decision to go along the coast or inland at Monterey. I decided to go along the coast to Big Sur because skipping the Central Valley just feels like a crime against humanity, I am very aware and very mentally prepared that tomorrow may either break me, break my bike, or stop me dead in my tracks and force me to backtrack around 150 miles. I don’t care, this is about adventure, about storytelling, and about finding out who I really am inside. (UPDATE: Definitely gonna have to back track. The 2 options I thought were possible are in fact, not.)

Skipping the Central coast and not even trying to go around the landslide would be something I would regret for the rest of my life. Even if I have to backtrack immediately, like I can’t get any further or even try to do my workarounds I’m still very happy that I got here to Big Sur and checked it out and today was just absolutely a movie.

Started in Mill-valley just outside of SF, this kid Aiden helped me across the bridge, which was a huge help because my route had me going away that wasn’t possible , connected with a bunch of people along the route, I ate some of John’s balls, Jim gave me a burrito, Josh bought me a coffee, Troy got me through Santa Cruz, and I ended the 12 hour day with a BANG in Big Sur.

ROUTE: Compared to the avenue of the Giants and the redwoods outside of the elk Meadow, I can’t imagine anything topping that so my spectrum on what is a good route is pretty messed up now. But I will try to be as objective as possible, crossing the Golden Gate bridge Was quite a highlight. It was kind of surreal seeing the arches towering through the fog. That was short-lived and then the rest of the ride was just pretty whatever.

The next opportunity to have some stoke was going through Santa Cruz. But I had to stop at a bike shop and fix my rear tire as it sprung a leak and I had to plug it, so I was down on time and this guy Troy escorted me through the locals only part of Santa Cruz. This saved me a ton of time, but we did skip the iconic Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

I’ve spent a lot of time in Monterey and really dig it, but I didn’t get to do much of the cool stuff in Monterey. Carmel Valley has some insane roads but all I ended up doing was riding the bike path along the beach. So around mile 140 is when it opened up to the insane views of the ocean and the giant cliffs.

If I was going to take someone on a ride in this area, we would just start in Carmel and ride out to Big Sur, pretty much skipping everything else.

MENTAL: OK, dude, today was not a low point mentally but one of the highest points spiritually I’ve ever had. I cried uncontrollably three times trying to talk about my family to the GoPro. Initially, I was very scared and timid to take on this project alone. Even just days before leaving for this project I was frantically trying to figure out a way to bring someone else with me. I’ve never had to be 100% in control of my well-being Before and so I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to do this alone.

But the journey of self exploration on this trip is beyond anything I can type here. I am so exhausted mentally physically and spiritually that I cannot hold up any façade or masks around my True being. I know that sounds so hippie dippy, but we all hold up masks to show the world and others what we think they want from us or how we think we should be. We are very rarely faced with our true soul coming out on the outside.

I Talk a lot about family, and my kids and I believe I’m being genuine and I believe that that’s who I really am, but you never really know.I’m finding out that the love in my heart for my kids and my wife Kristin is really truly who I am as a person.

I saw a store selling plants as I rode by which reminded me of my wife because she likes plants and I thought about bringing her to this plant shop and the thought of her being with me, even though she’s not with me just the thought of it had me crying anime style tears. They are tears of joy and love, which then makes me so happy that then it sort of feeds back into this overload of emotions and then I just keep crying.

I started bawling my eyes out while going down a descent at 45 miles an hour and was like holy shit dude I’m gonna fucking crash while I’m crying about my family This is so stupid đŸ˜‚

There’s a phrase that says something like absence makes the heart grow fonder or something like that, and this trip, being away from family but also having their unwavering support has just made me so confident and so grounded in my mission as a husband and father that undoubtedly this will make me be able to reach my full potential as a family man. Long story long I cried my eyes out and it was fucking awesome and I love my family.

BIKE: I don’t wanna jinx this, but every single impossible route every single unbound or everything I’ve ever done I’ve never flatted, which is just statistically impossible. I didn’t completely flat today, but I did run over some glass and it cut the rear tire and it started spitting sealant. nothing too crazy and I definitely could’ve kept riding but my front had a slow leak in it as well that I had to keep airing up with CO2 a day. Since there was a bike shop right along my route, I jammed in there real quick and used it as a quick lunch, stop and cell phone charge session while we put new sealant in the front and put my spare tire on the rear. Other than a very small piece of glass that I just immediately plugged and really wasn’t any issue, I did plan ahead and since I was already going to stop, just made the best of it.

•••

COMPLETED ROUTE

STAGE 8 (Big Sur To Cayucos)

GOAL : 230.92 mi | 6,990 ft

ROAD : 170.03 mi| 11 hr 10.22 min| 9954 ft

DAY RECAP: I explained on my IG Stories, but the night before trying to cross around the landslide I did a ton of research and went deeper into peoples account of the trail I was hoping to do. I also got help from the community. Some random dude was helping me at midnight, trying to figure it out. long story short my two options were not viable. The 13 mile hike, which I was confident I could do, I wasn’t even able to attempt it because it’s just after the roadblock. And they’re not letting anyone pass the roadblock obviously.

So we backtracked up to Carmel Valley and over to Cayucos through Paso Robles. Today was a big day. I mean they’re all big days but this one I got out a little bit late and so I really needed to have some luck on my side. And I had some luck once getting out of Carmel Valley, I had a raging tailwind pretty much all the way into Cayucos.

Without that tailwind, this ride is taking 14 to 15 hours so very thankful that Mother nature shined down on me today.

ROUTE: I mean, let’s be real, this route definitely wasn’t the central coast. The ride from Big Sur to Carmel Valley and Carmel Valley up to the top of the Ridgeline is definitely pretty sweet. But once you’re on the backside of that mountain range it’s nothing but terrible roads and farmland. I ended up just jumping on the 101 and taking that pretty much all the way to the 46 and then heading into Cayucos. Old Creek Road to Cayucos is awesome and a road I do often. Cayucos is our home away from home so I feel very at home here and it’s easing some of the homesickness.

MENTAL: Today was the first time in which I started to have thoughts of not being able to finish, which would suck so bad being so close. I mean, I guess I could just do a really short day one day and recover, and that is exactly the lie that I told myself from the second I started writing. I just didn’t really have much in the tank of motivation because I was so looking forward to riding down the central coast that I think it kind of sucked some of the stoke out of me. Around mile 30 I honestly thought that I wasn’t gonna be able to go much further. I started thinking about all the logistics of what that would mean, and they were all super annoying. I guess I just kept writing to avoid being annoyed with logistics.

I just kept lying to myself that I could stop early and that I could Uber to Cayucos, or that I could just crash so I could stop riding. Obviously, I wouldn’t actually do any of those things, but the intrusive thoughts are wild when you listen to them as a third-party and not your own.

Those negative voices in your head are not you, their self preservation mechanisms or even just alarms like a check engine light or a low pressure alert. Some of the signals you can flat out ignore, some you need to listen to, some you need to take action on. But with over 12 years of pushing my body beyond the breaking point I’ve gotten very familiar with what signals I can ignore and what ones I can’t.

If you imagine, an airplane pilot sitting at his cockpit, every one of the nonessential alarms was going off. I just have to individually go and mute them, but sometimes they come back louder. As soon as I got a little bit of tailwind man, did things change. Just having that momentum behind you literally was so nice, and then I got this awesome sandwich, actually four sandwiches from this amazing vegan sandwich shop in Paso Robles, which lifted my spirits. At this point, we are so close, two days best case, three days worst case. I’m all good now. Just need a little bit of sleep and all the roads from here on are extremely familiar and I think the homesickness will vanish.

COMPLETED ROUTE

STAGE 9 (Cayucos To Malibu)

GOAL : 92.93 mi | 2,608 ft

ROAD : 196.94 mi| 7,385 ft| 11 hr 20.52 min

DAY RECAP: QUICK RECAP: the initial goal was to get all the way to LA but that was going to end up being a 270 mile ride so the plan was just to ride for 12 hours like I have every other day and just get as far as possible. I ended up connecting with a bunch of different people all at different times so it was pretty much never alone. we had amazing guides that took us through their hometown in a faster way than the route. Plus a tailwind the entire way and only two tiny stops, one to charge my phone and get a quarter espresso and the second was an In-N-Out for some water made for an extremely fast day.

ROUTE: cayucos is cool, but this route really takes you away from all of the good riding. The middle part was pretty much just freeway and nothing special but the raging tailwind had me smiling from ear to ear. Once we finally got back to the coast and onto the PCH at sunset now that was magical.

Having so many great people around me, made me want to push harder so we ended up averaging the fastest speed that I’ve done all trip. Even though it would’ve been nicer to get a little bit further to make tomorrow, not so big I can say with certainty that this was the best this day could’ve been .

MENTAL: man, I started this day really really low. Not that I expected it, and I really tried to not let this thought seep into my brain, but I kind of secretly hoped that my wife and kids were going to be waiting for me at the hotel in Cayucos.

I tried to not let my hopes get up for that knowing that just logistically that wasn’t gonna be feasible, but yesterday was super lonely was very little people around me, and I just kind of started to fall apart so when I got to the hotel last night and it was just dark and cold and sad it rolled over into today and the first 20 miles I was kinda going downhill mentally.

But this trip seems almost fake or staged in someway. Like everything that I need comes to me or happens exactly when I need it. It’s actually super strange when I think about it how many things could’ve went wrong or in a different direction or not happened, but everything that has happened seems to almost be Scripted because it’s perfect. So today I connected with this guy who showed me out of slow. He was a great guy and had some information about the town. I never knew about. That’s when I connected with Dave who was an absolute legend and help me navigate some really fast sense towards Santa Barbara. Then Roman connected with us and took us through the fastest way possible through Santa Barbara, but also added in the little butterfly Drive, which was amazing. He was a great guide and a strong writer. Roman dumped us off with Victor who did just like every other guide I’ve had on this trip Took us on a more direct and local knowledge route to get us through the town fast.

I also had this guy Kevin, who had his family drop him off 130 miles from LA and then he rode about half of my ride back with me. Kevin helped me film for YouTube and just had a great energy about him.

Combine all of that with a few more riders that sprinkled in and then the people on the side of the road with signs and cheering, all of these people gave me unlimited energy in my legs. I never had that 5 o’clock slump, I never doubted for one second , how the day was going to go, I was just so motivated and so inspired to push hard all day

So like I said, when I needed a fast day and a day of emotional support, I got the fastest day of the trip with the most emotional support of the trip. And now with only one day left, granite it is a very big day, there’s nothing that could stop me now.

COMPLETED ROUTE

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

WHATS THE ROUTE LIKE?

The route is a very common bikepacking ROAD route, plenty of shoulder, endless food & lodging, and EPIC VIEWS! Outside of the first 300-400 miles, this route is almost all along the west coast.

SELF FILMING

This is the #1 OBJECTIVE for me, SELF FILMING. I will NOT have a film crew so all footage will need to be captured by me... while riding ALL DAY. Battery & SD Card management, visual storytelling, setting up shots, and real time commentary.

SLEEPING/LODGING

I will not be riding non stop, I will prioritize proper sleep as much as possible while still going fast. The plan is to ride 15hrs a day from 5am-8pm, get as far as possible, then find a hotel to sleep in. Riding NON STOP through the night could be fast, but I like, wanna live n stuff. so reducing the amount risk of me getting ran over out weights the speed factor.

FOOD/FUELING

This route will have endless places to stop for food and water. PER the rules, I can not mail food ahead or take food from support along the route. I will stop at gas stations, chipotles, and fruit stands along the route. I will track 100% of the calories I burn and consume for a deep dive into what it takes energy wise to complete this insane endeavor.

CLOTHING

I need to be LIGHT, so here is my clothing packing list:

* 1 Bib

* 2 Jerseys

* 1 Base Layer

* 1 Vest

* 1 Thermal Jacket

* 3 Pairs of Socks

* 1 T-shirt

* 1 Pair of Shorts

* 1 slip style Casual shoe

MECHANICAL SUPPLIES

AGAIN... LIGHT IS FAST, FAST IS MINIMAL. Here is my repair equipment packing list.

* 2 Spare Tires

* 1 Sram Charger

* 1 Tubeless repair kit

* 1 Bottle of Sealant

* 1 Chain lube

* 1 Multi tool

* 2 Spare Cleats

BIKE/GEAR SETUP

BIKE: Canyon AEROAD w/ TT bars

WHEELS: Tubeless road wheels w/ 30s

BAGS: USWE Hydro Pack, USWE Frame Bag, Restrap Top Tube Bag, USWE tail bag.

HELMET: KAV 3d printed helmet

SUNGLASSES: Tifosi sunnies

COMPUTER: Coros Dura

GPS: Garmin In-reach

HOW TO FOLLOW

This page will be updated everyday, but REAL TIME video will be posted to Instagram Stories and the GPS tracker will be LIVE 24/7

IG - https://www.instagram.com/vcadventuretime

LIVE TRACK -

https://trackleaders.com/pchfkt24f

DONATIONS/SUPPORT

Below are a donation options. Look, I feel weird about this part, but this project will take 1,000+ hours of unpaid work to complete. Yes, I do have some help from sponsors, but that covers the raw costs. So without the support of the community, this is a personal investment from me to create this film series.

I have added perks to each donation tier level, from a simple name shoutout on IG and the final video series, to a home cooked meal at my home. If you gain anything from this series, a small donation literally will put food on my table. Thank you for your consideration.

PROJECT DONATIONS

Donate to Tyler and the family to help fund this adventure project film. Each Donation comes with special perks, read the description for details. This is not expected, but HIGHLY APPRECIATED.