Perfumo Canyon

Today's ride up Perfumo Canyon Road (shown above), though relatively short, provided the most spectacular views I have had the fortune to encounter thus far. The following pictures will not do the scenery justice but hopefully provide a glimpse of what the ride was like.

Sometimes photos make it difficult to tell if the road is going up or down but in this case (photo above) it was a downhill.

In many cases though the photos depict a combination of both uphill and downhill sections.

Somewhere up there (photo above) is where the road leads to.

It's difficult to tell from the above photo just how steep the drop off is on the road side but I can assure you that it was not only steep but a drop of 50 or more feet.

Much of the road wound around as seen in the above photo.

More winding road and mountain cows on the hill above.

Wishing I had my DSLR with the wide angle lens for many of these shots.

This one is a bit fuzzy. The pocket camera I carry on bike rides has taken a beating in the couple of years I've had it so that it doesn't focus too well when I try to use the zoom.

Remember the cows from a few photos ago? Now I'm above them.

Still a ways to go (above) but getting there.

Caught a glimpse of a cyclist coming downhill from the right and pulled over to get a photo of her as she approached.

The above and below photos were taken fairly near the top. The above shot looks out toward Morro Bay. The below shot pans just a bit to the right to catch a bit more of the mountain range that goes up to San Luis Obispo.

The above photo (taken on the descent) is of the kind of cattle gate I've seen in other parts of California. The cows will not cross it.

Just beyond the cattle gate shown in the last photo the road turned into a dirt road for about a mile and a half. I was able to carefully ride some of it but did have to get off and walk a bit too. Eventually Perfumo Canyon Road turned into See Canyon Road and back to roads that would return me to San Luis Obispo. Because of the strength of the sun at this latitude it is best to get rides in as early in the day as possible. Thankfully, humidity isn't a problem here. 

Lopez Lake - Arroyo Grande loop

Today's ride is the result of a suggestion from one of the LBS dudes and my own interest to explore. The fella at the bike shop suggested Lopez Lake as a destination but that would have only given me about 30 miles for a, back and forth, round trip. After studying the map I realized that Arroyo Grande could work out as a longer round trip that constituted a loop. I had a plan.

The trip out of town was fairly easy, down the hill on Monterey Street, a left on Johnson Avenue and then another left on Orcutt Road, which turned out to be a wide open road with spectacular views as seen in the photo above and the below two. 

Along the way I passed a fellow biker who, upon seeing my NCC kit, declared himself to be a Springfield area transplant to the area. I believe that he was also a UMass and Hampshire alum. I've had many interesting conversations with folks because of that jersey. The below photo taken from Orcutt Road shows that this is wine country too. There were a number of wineries and tasting rooms along the way. 

Orcutt Road t-bones at Lopez Drive where I headed to the left.

More beautiful scenery along Lopez Drive in the above and below two photos.

It's not just vineyards around here, along the way was a large orange grove too.

The first glimpse of Lopez Lake. I didn't know it at the time but the land mass in the middle is an island as may been seen from some of the following photos. 

This photo looks back at the road already traveled. 

Further up along the lake, above. 

The above and below photos were taken from the same spot with the above one looking back toward the headwater of the lake and the below photo showing a marshland separated from the lake by the road. 

More beautiful cycling road along and beyond the swampland but I soon reached the end of the line with Lopez Lake and headed back down Lopez Drive into Arroyo Grande then up Route 227 to San Luis Obispo. Because of time constraints I put the camera away except for the below photo that looked interesting to me at the time.

All in all a very nice ride. 

San Luis Obispo - Los Osos - Morro Bay loop

First ride from San Luis Obispo. Decided to head to Morro Bay via Los Osos.

The first order of business: get out of the city traffic.

Above a view from our motel.

Nice wide bike lanes to the right. This is a view from W. Foothill Road where a clear distinction between the city and open space first becomes apparent.

The above and two below views are from Los Osos Valley Road. Notice the heavy cloud cover almost obscuring the hills.

On the other side of the road is a farming operation.

In California fires are a fact of life and the building codes reflect it.

Heading to Los Osos above and below. The ocean is barely seen in the above photo while the below one is shot to the other side of the street.

The above and following two photos were taken in Morro Bay. Morro Rock is seen in the above and following photo. Morro Rock is just one of a series of seven volcanic plugs that make up the hills seen in earlier photos. They run from Morro Rock up to San Luis Obispo.

On the way back I came across some cyclists standing on the side of the road in the bushes. Usually that's the sigh of a pee break but these were on a black raspberry mission. Of course, I had to join them. The berries were delicious. 

The work Osos is Spanish for bear and the town Los Osos was thus named because the valley in which Los Osos exists was reported to support large numbers of California Grizzlies when the Spanish arrived in the 1700's. On each of the two roads that lead to Los Osos visitors are greeted by monuments like the one above. 

The above and following three photos where taken from a side road (Turri Road) that offered more beautiful views, and almost no traffic.

That's all!