Here is yet another way to do it. Jump on a train with your folding bike and extend the range of your adventure. It is extra fun to read posts by folks who come to  your town for an adventure. There’s a great element of rediscovery when you see your own town (or even workplace) though the fresh eyes of a bicycle adventurer.

Our favorite bike shop owner, Sam,  has amassed 100 images of a bike that ought to capture the heart of any bicycle adventurer—the Salsa Fargo.

Here’s a video the kids made on properly fitting a bike helmet. A lot of folks don’t know that:

1. ALL kids must wear a helmet and;
2. It must fit properly if it’s going to do its job.

When this is approved, it may be up on the coast-santabarbara.org website. What an honor, COAST is the MOST.

Do you wear a helmet when you s24o?

Do you know if your helmet fits?

Our final s24o of 2009. Jane’s first! Mom dropped Jane off at the portion of the ride that is not on Highway 101. This one with local student and Bici Centro volunteer, Bang. We rode on the class one path beside Llamas, horses, and an organic farm on the beautiful Gaviota Coast. We were sad to see Rufugio closed for camping due to a State furlough day. But we managed to use the curious ATM to secure a site at the El Capitan bike-and-hike site. El Cap was only partially open.

Bang demonstrated his excellent camping skills as we prepared for the forecasted rain. We set up a tarp with Jane and my tent beneath it along with Bang’s minimalist bivy shelter. The short winter days resulted in us all turning in early. Jane did pages of math homework and then a lot of reading in the tent while I wrote postcards and helped Jane multiply a few tricky numbers with decimals.

In the morning, we packed up and rode over to El Capitan Canyon for a short hike up the Selma Rubin trail to their coastal garden and some fancy coffee. It’s really quite a resort they have there.

Mark’s alcohol stoves worked well for heating up brown rice and boiling water. In the morning, I was able to brew a survival cup of espresso. Nice! Thanks, Mark!

The best thing was watching Jane as she enjoyed the riding, camping, and Nutella consumption. Because half the campground was closed due to our State’s budget crises, we enjoyed a remote campsite and yet another great s24o.

My buddy, Simon, and I did a nice ride on our Xtracycles on Tuesday, December 22nd.  We started out at the bottom of Gibraltar Road in Santa Barbara, up Gibraltar, along East Camino Cielo, and down Painted Cave and Old San Marcos Rds.  The Xtracycles climbed great, and carried along our food, water, beer, and extra cloths.

It was pretty amazing to see up close how much acreage has burned over the last couple of years.  Still beautiful area, and wonderful views of the city and the valley.  Looking forward to this ride becoming a tradition.  We have named it the Sheaf Ride, after Sheaf Stout beer.  I say more riders next year!  :)

Here are some pics of the ride:

Mike

Appreciation to Mike Edwards to sent this along.

Here it is, Grant’s article that captured the rolling yoga of the s24o.

There’s a very nice piece in this month’s Adventure Cycling by Aaron Teasdale on family s24o riding in Montana. Inspiring!

I was doing a search in twitter for s24o and discovered this remarkable blog. Check out how the 7-year-old has a thoughtfully loaded bicycle — excellent and inspiring! Thanks for sharing your trip Ms. Hogaboom!

Solo s24o from Santa Barbara area up the Gaviota Coast to Refugio State Beach

By Don

Another s24o! The site and some lucky schedule breaks have allowed for some camping momentum. The objective of this trip was to see how the rig might handle a little weather. “Severe weather” warnings on the web for Santa Barbara. For we Californians, severe weather is when it might rain. But there was certainly evidence of Ol’ Man Winter as I headed up the coast to Refugio as the sun went below the sea. I got off the freeway just in time; it was getting dark and this is the time of year when a lot of folks are driving under the influence.

I made it to Refugio and got a serve-yourself pass for five bucks using their machine. Well worth it as the bike-hike site at Refugio is one of the nicest campsites in the nation.

Here’s what I learned on this trip:

Old-school multi-fuel stoves are NOT for me. I’m going to join Mark and become an Alcohol stove guy. I really don’t have a great desire to cook. So a very, very simple stove sounds great to me. I like the idea of using various forms of alcohol as my fuel. My whole pannier smells like gasoline now and I am NOT pleased. Getting water boiled for tea was an ordeal.

Also, I learned that my Eureka Solo tent can hold up to 45mph gusts. GREAT.

It took me about 40 minutes to wake up, fold up, and be back on the road. I would like that to, eventually, be about 15 minutes or less. How do the practiced tourists do this? It’d love to learn how to do this with more skill and without swearing a lot.

Don

Sleeping location (atop a cistern with a commanding view of Santa Barbara) for a very imminent s24o.