So You Think You Are Hardcore?

The best place I have found to have a conversation.

"Have you met the family yet?"

I heard that question over and over again along the way.  I hadn't, but since those asking me were already intriguing people in their own right, my interest was definitely amplified.  It was more than a week after hearing it for the first time that "the family" and I finally crossed paths.

I was doing an abbreviated version of a self-supported bike tour down the Pacific Coast when this took place.  Due to the limitations of life as a working stiff, I was denied the time I needed to ride from Canada to Mexico, or the B2B (border to border) as I learned it was called.  Instead, with only two weeks off, I had to settle for riding the Oregon and Northern California Coast down Highway 101.  Nevertheless, it was a spectacular compromise.

Bleeding Tooth, aka Strawberries and Cream

The myth of "the family" became a reality for me at Elk Prairie Campground in the redwoods.  I had been at the campsite for only a few hours with my tent pitched and busy preparing my dinner when a tandem bike rolled in.  Aboard it was an adult up front and a youngster, about 8 or 9, pedaling in the rear with a kid trailer in tow in addition to front and back panniers stuffed tight with camping gear.  Incredible!  The sheer weight alone made it a Sisyphean task. The climb up the road into Elk Prairie was a steady 6 to 8 percent grade.  I examined the set-up from afar when shortly thereafter another cyclist pulled up, fully loaded with panniers and another kid trailer.  This was the family, five people in total ranging in age from their early 30's to 3.  Later on we got to talking and I learned that this was their 3 month summer vacation.  They were riding 500 miles, self supported and camping the whole way.  The couple were both Montessori teachers and each day along their tour they crafted various lessons for the kids.

The following day I opted to stay in the splendor of the redwoods and do some hiking when we bumped into each other again.  I had shoved off quite early that morning for a ten mile hike out to the ocean and back, the whole way humming the theme music from the Forest Moon of Endor scene in Return of the Jedi.   Fern canyon lived up to every bit of its name and my expectation to see Ewoks turned to dinosaurs.  About halfway back on the return leg I was accosted by some very exuberant kids wielding dip nets.  It was imperative that I help them find, or at the very least direct them to, a pond or stream where they could catch minnows and frogs.  School was in session.  Soon their parents appeared and apologized, albeit unnecessarily, and explained that this was Biology class.  I was in even greater awe now than on the previous day when I saw them pedal into camp.  

By all appearances these people were the antithesis of hardcore.  If you met them at the grocery store or in a mall (although I suspect they don't spend much time in malls) you wouldn't have thought twice about what they were doing.  There was no entourage or hipster soundtrack to accompany them.  I saw no Go-Pro cameras or indications of sponsorship and there appeared to be no gnar shredding when school was in session.  They were just "the family" on a summer vacation ... but they were legendary among bike tourers on the coast that season.

If you ever ask me to give you an example of the most hardcore thing I have ever seen, you can be assured that "the family" is in contention for number one.


http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEPED/docs/oregon_coast_bike_route_map.pdf
This map is a little older but it is one of two that I used in Oregon and it proved indispensable.  Kudos to Oregon for supporting bike touring and cycling like it does.

http://adventurecycling.org/routes/pacificcoast.cfm
Always a good resource when planning a bike tour.