PIERLY 4 FUN – Summer Solstice Challenge
300km/6100ft ACP Brevet
Start time | Saturday June 21, 2025 5:42 am |
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Time limit | 20 hours |
Ride ends | Sunday June 22, 2025 1:42 am |
Start location | Santa Monica Pier Arch, 81-99 Colorado Ave Santa Monica |
Nearest parking | TBD |
Finish location | Santa Fe Depot, Downtown San Diego |
Map | rwgps |
Organizers | Wei Sun |
Registration info | RUSA memberhip is required to ride this brevet. Ride fee is $35. Online registration is open until Thursday June 19, 2025 12:00 pm. |
Register | To cancel a registration, email the ride organizer. |
Registered riders | There are no registered riders. |
Near the day of the year when Helios, the Greek god of the sun, has the longest duration to travel from horizon to horizon, the Race Against the Sun is hereby commissioned for those audacious randos who endeavor to start at sunrise and strive to finish before sunset. While RUSA frowns on competition with other randos, racing against Greek deities representing celestial objects is fair game!
For this year’s challenge, we are definitely racing it “Pierly 4 Fun“. This new point-to-point 300k is designed to visit all 15 ocean piers of Southern California. You’ll start at the famous Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles County where Route 66 ends and for those familiar with Race Across America’s history, it was the start line of the first Race Across America back in 1982.
Leaving Santa Monica, you’ll follow the course that hugs along Southern California’s coastline. After Redondo Beach Pier, you’ll head to Palos Verdes for some variety as you follow the peninsula’s horizonal and vertical contours. The Yellow Vase is a cozy cafe to enjoy a coffee with pastry as you look out into the Pacific Ocean. You’ll stop by the USS Iowa for a quick look at a maritime relic as you ride around the Port of Los Angeles, the largest seaport in the US followed by the adjacent Port of Long Beach, the 3rd largest. While there ain’t much to see in the industrial complexes of terminals and berths, there will be few freight truck traffic on a Saturday as you wind your way down to Long Beach Aquatic Park. After Seal Beach Pier, you’ll leave Los Angeles County behind you.
You’ll continue your trek in Orange County searching for more piers as you ride by Huntington Beach Pier, the second largest on the West Coast in the seaside community often called “Surf City, USA”. Entering Newport Beach, you’ll stop by 2 piers less than 2 miles apart. At Balboa Pier, you’ll board the world-famous Balboa Island Ferry to cross the 800 ft span over to Balboa Island. Continuing down the coast, you’ll pass the site of the former Aliso Pier which has been demolished. At Dana Point, you’ll descend down to the harbor on Cove Rd passing through Doheny State Beach to see San Clemente Pier, the last one in Orange County.
When you enter Trestles Beach on the San Clemente Bike Path at the end of Avenida Del Presidente, you’re in San Diego County. The route connecting San Onofre State Beach and Las Pulgas Rd is an extended section of road uninterrupted by any traffic lights. But at Las Pulgas Rd, you will need to enter a 7-mile section of Interstate 5 in order to reach Oceanside, unless you have the recreational bicyclist base pass issued by Camp Pendleton. On Pacific Ave, you’ll see the majestic Oceanside Pier, extending 1,954 feet out into the Pacific Ocean. You’ll ride through all the San Diego coastal communities before reaching Scripps, Crystal and Ocean Beach Piers. Passing through Downtown San Diego, you’ll head to Imperial Beach Pier, the 15th and final pier of the brevet as Helios races toward the western horizon. Doubling back, you’ll return to San Fe Depot in Downtown San Diego for the finish.
For finishing before sunset at 19:59, you’ll receive a tube of sunblock and eternal bragging rights as your prize.
The alternate title/theme of this brevet is “Surfin’ USA”. While going coastal on the ride, don’t be surprised to catch yourself singing loudly or in your head that famous Beach Boys anthem as you pass the iconic surf beaches and communities mentioned in the song that this 300k connects: Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Haggerty’s (Palos Verdes), Sunset Beach, Doheny, Trestles, San Onofre, Swamis (Encinitas), Del Mar, La Jolla.
Be it surfin’ or randonneurin’, SD RANDOS endeavor to do everything Purely For Fun!
Travel to/Lodging Near the Start
The recommended transportation from San Diego to the start is to park at Santa Fe Depot (pay) or Old Town Transit Center (free but need to notify NCTD Security at (760) 966-6700) and board the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to Union Station the day before the start. Depending on how late you arrive in LA, you can bike or take the Metro to San Monica. You will be responsible for arranging your own lodging in Santa Monica.
At the start, we will take your bag that you have brought up with you or take down to San Diego and drive to the finish at Santa Fe Depot train station for pick up. As of November 17, 2024, the last train heading north on the Surfliner is 9:01PM. If you are not going to make your train Saturday night, you will need to arrange your own lodging in San Diego.
Amtrak may halt train services between Santa Fe Depot and Irvine to conduct track maintenance work and offer bus transport.