Surf trip with bicycles Riding down the California coast
The concept was simple: cruise down the Californian coastline from Santa Barbara to San Diego checking out the best surf spots along the way. No big deal, right? Wrong. This is a surf trip with a twist: bikes instead of cars, peddle power instead of fossil fuels. A great way to slash both waves and carbon emissions in one fell swoop.
The brainchild of Chris Del Moro, a talented waterman with flair on both long and shortboard, the journey brought together a small posse of like-minded surfers up for the challenge.
The Malloy brothers, Dan and Keith, were first onboard. Their environmental views and creative choice of surf craft were a perfect match for the unusual road trip. Photoman Josh Kimball was called upon to document the slow journey. Then, a few weeks before launch, Chris offered an invitation my way. The chance to escape office duties for a week, while gaining intimate knowledge of the waves and characters at each stop, prompted the purchase of some bike gear quick smart.
I'd travelled the coastline via highways in the past, most recently while living in LA to set up Australian brand Insight Stateside. And while I’ve stumbled upon some great surf over the years, time and again crowds and traffic have proven to be major spoilers.
Besides the obvious benefits of using a bicycle for transport, like the freedom it gives you to check out each sandbar instead of just the parking lot, we also found ourselves in tune with tides and best waves each day. There was no rush, for a welcomed change.
Local shredders appeared everywhere. Alex Gray and Holly Beck in LA’s South Bay, Alex Knost and his gang of longboard stylists including Jared Mell and C.J. Nelson in Newport, then Warren Smith and his skimboard buddies in Laguna Beach. Entertainment came in every form, but the coolest thing was when people recognised us from peddling past them on a previous day, and shouted encouragement as they drove past again the next morning.
The trip took a total of nine days. We ended up covering about 300 miles, but generally at a steady pace.
The most challenging bit? That came at the end, when the final stretch took us through military land that called for special clearance through Camp Pendleton. Five hours on a bike, towing a trailer with surfboards and all your gear during the midday sun proved brutal... but standup tubes near San Diego the next morning soon washed away the sweat.
This story originally appeared in Huck #004.
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