Microadventures

We have been experimenting with microadventures of late.

“A microadventure is an adventure that is short, simple, local, cheap – yet still fun, exciting, challenging, refreshing and rewarding.” -- Alastair Humphries

Our ‘take’ on the definition:

• Short: Saturday - Sunday
• Simple: No planning allowed
• Local: Leaving and returning from front door
• Cheap: As there is no expenditure for transport or accommodation, feel free to splurge on 5 for $1 avocados or gas station tacos

We have summarized our research results in this handy table and look forward to participating and hearing about more from fellow WCACers...

	TRIP #1	TRIP #2
Moment of inspiration		Scene: Katie telling hilarious stories about the trials and tribulations of her day. Iain staring off into space. Katie: “Do you not get my joke?” Iain: “No I was just thinking about the weekend.” Katie: “You mean where we will camp?” Iain: chuckles Katie: We do now own a camp stove… Iain: It’s not going to use itself...
Original “plan”	Set no alarm for Saturday morning. Aim to leave approximately 7 minutes after consuming flatmate’s day-old baguette for breakfast and stuffing layers, head torches and sleeping bags into rucksacks.	Set no alarm for Saturday morning. Aim to leave approximately 7 minutes after consuming leftover shakshuka for breakfast and stuffing layers, head torches, *camp stove* and sleeping bags into rucksacks.
Leave time on Saturday	12:00pm	12:00pm
First detour	Flat tyre (Katie) two miles in. Detour 1 mile to bike shop. $7.	No gas cannister for camp stove. First detour Big 5, no dice, then Dicks. $5.
Route Day 1	Map Hugging the coast all the way through Pescadero, to Davenport. 70 miles, 3900 feet up ’n’ down.	Map Daly City, onto Skyline, along the reservoirs, Cañada to Woodside, up King’s Mountain Road to Skyline (5 mile climb, 2k ft), down Tunitas Creek road (8 mile descent) to the coast and the along the (surprisingly hilly!) final 10 miles of coast to Pescadero. 60.7 miles, 5,800 ft up ’n’ down.
Pit Stops	Half Moon Bay. $1 Hot cross bun at HMB bakery and a tea next door. Midway between Pescadero and Davenport. Duped by promise of cheap avocados. They were tiny and not ripe :( Probably for the best as our rucksacks were already bursting at the seams.	Woodside. Robert’s Market for some overpriced German bread twists and soup. (Mile 36, 2.5 hours) The Bike Hut on Tunitas Creek Road east of Half Moon Bay. Snack (incl. Chocolate malted ball found on floor), tea, and return of circulation to Iain’s hands in a little red barn at the bottom of an 8 mile descent - payment on the honor system.
Dinner	Shrimp tacos a la diabla from the place next to Whale City Bakery that doesn’t have a name on Google Maps. Followed by ice cream and pie from the WCB.	We packed fixings for a meal to pop our stove’s cherry, but we thought we’d stop in town for an “appetiser.” The bakery with infamous artichoke bread closes at 6pm, so we “settled” for fish tacos, bottomless chips and pico, and horchata. The face says it all.
Evening	Walking to our chosen bivvy spot, the inviting sounds of some jazz standards wafted out from Davenport’s third and final eatery. It would have been rude not to pop in...	To get us in the mood for cherry-popping, we nipped to the pub for a quick beer, striking up conversation with fellow cyclist Todd, who was waiting on a pick-up from his brother after missing his original turn-off. Aside from telling us about a mystical norwegian community on Skyline (where he lives with his step-brother), buying us beer, and providing a bowl of fries to cram into any gap left by fish tacos, he intrigued us enough to arrange to meet for drinks in the city a few weeks later. That turned out to be at a construction industry networking event, but that’s another story... For those worried that the stove didn’t get the love it deserved... We burnt a ton of homemade popcorn (complete with innovative sports-bra-lid) and then made some burnt-popcorn flavored tea!
Night abode	Shark Fin Cove - a hidden gem!	Pescadero State Beach
Middle of the night visitors	This little critter emerged from our towel/pillow approx 2 seconds after we woke up.	A large group of mexicans spent several hours attempting to make a camp fire on the beach, before disappearing as mysteriously as they appeared.
Breakfast	Cauliflower soup alongside the hippies in Santa Cruz.	Pan Dulce (good ol’ Pescadero Gas Station) and as much day-old challah bread as we could face.
Route Day 2	Map Along the coast, cheering half marathon racers, to breakfast in Santa Cruz. Over the hills on Mountain Charlie Road (a real beauty is Charlie), then down through the reservoir at Los Gatos (not recommended road bike surface!) to the wrong Caltrain station in San Jose. Then mile sprint to correct Caltrain. Leisurely cycle to Lee’s after we missing the hourly train. Sprint back to Caltrain after forgetting the time (see below…). 45 miles, 3200 feet up ‘n’ down.	Map Back into Pescadero for breakfast and putting on our ‘rain gear’. Along Pescadero creek road to La Honda, where the rain started. Down Old La Honda in pouring rain with a grim haul to Peet’s Coffee in Menlo Park. 35 miles, 3000 feet up ‘n’ down.
Pit Stops	Lee’s Sandwiches for Iain’s first and one of Katie’s best Banh Mi, when we missed our first Caltrain.	Peet’s in Menlo Park to raise core body temperature above hypothermia with tea and two egg and cheese sandwiches.