Over Christmas break myself Jeff ‘Business 3000′ Spence and James `2006′ aka ‘Butch’ Searls biked about 800 miles in the Baja Peninsula of Mexico. A plane, a train, and a bus brought us to our starting location.

For the first 2 hours of our last day, we endured the most torrential rainstorm I had ever biked in.

The previous night our newly-made professional bike-tour-guide friend had assured us you couldn’t get lost going to the city. Earlier I had left my camera and phone in my front bag, and when we stopped at the Safeway in San Rafael ( to ask for directions since we were lost) I found them floating in two inches of water.

A super-amazing police officer who was attending to a purse snatching we witnessed in the previously-mentioned Safeway gave us absurdly detailed directions.

Later, the wrong directions from a well-meaning local sent us through Tiburon on Paradise Dr, a lovely road, with houses worth more than I will make in my lifetime.

The sun arrived and dried up all the rain.

The Golden Gate Bridge reminded me why it deserves every bit of praise sent its way.

My brother Davy met us outside his apartment. We did about 20 bonus M’s that day.

Day 10. Another amazing day of riding on the Pacific Coast. Strong tailwinds all day. If you ever want to bike the Pacific Coast, I can’t stress the importance of biking north to south enough. I cringed every time we saw people heading north.

From Richardson Grove State Park to Van Damme Beach State Park.

One of my favorite days. The road went inland so it was warmer, and much of it was spent biking on the Avenue of the Giants. 30 miles of almost zero traffic through monstrously large redwoods. We also came across a free barbecue that a local business was putting on, complete with hippy sodas and a dj who was surprisingly good given the circumstances.

This was a big day of biking, around 80 miles or so. I remember being quite tired by the end of it. We ended up staying at a commercial campground, there was a brewery nearby we had been told about. By the time we got there, we were too exhausted to check it out though.

Highway 101 is now the Redwoods Highway.

With two amazing Jalapeno Burrito’s in tow, we had a much more reasonable day of biking. The woman at Harris Beach State Park said we were the first hiker-bikers she had seen of the season. This was our last night in Oregon.

My favorite aspect to bike touring is the simplicity it brings to your life. While you are on tour your life consists of biking, eating, and sleeping. The only choices you have to make are directly related to accomplishing those things. Jeff and I went without the internet for over 2 weeks. It was glorious.

Day 3 was our biggest day of riding, 87 miles, including a big uphill starting at mile 80. The ride was basically beside the ocean the entire time. The weather had much improved.

The first two days. PDX to Lincoln City and the Pacific Ocean.

Another snowy day in Missoula. I reminisce of warmer times. This trail was serious extremo.

On day 14 we finally made it to the heart of Vancouver in the early evening. The final 20 miles or so of biking into a large city are rarely very fun. Downtown Vancouver itself is very pro-bicycle though, with lots of dedicated bike lanes.

We had camped up in the mountains, and the day started with a big downhill. It was also raining, which made going 35-40mph on your bike that much more exciting. The rain stopped once we got down to flat ground, which was certainly welcome. After that it was pedal pedal pedal to Hope, a lovely city about 100 miles east of Vancouver. Our first shower in some time was taken at their aquatic center.