Governor Opens Final Stretch of New Pacific Coast Bike Way

SAN LUIS OBISPO – June 13, 2021 – Riding a sleek, classic 90’s aluminum road bike, California Governor Michael J. Fox led a group of cyclists out of Diabalo Canyon, marking the official opening of the last remaining stretch of the Pacific Coast Bike Way. The PCB, as its supporters call it, connects the Class 1 BikeWay from San Francisco to San Diego, rarely veering more than a few hundred yards from the ocean the entire way.

The PCB began over 50 years ago, with path-breaking, pioneer cycling enthusiasts harshing along the California coast, riding alongside the whizzing traffic. California cyclists organized, first locally, then regionally. Eventually they won rights, stretches of shoulder, striped lanes, and now, the nation’s first true bicycle highway.

Numerous “pathblocks” along the route had to be overcome, and winning a small slice of right of way from the powerful CalEd Corp last year was the final piece of the pie. Path routes through several stretches of coastal land had to be negotiated with entities varying from the US BLM to local churches to regular citizens to the U.S. Air Force. Many land owners and other entities eagerly donated land in exchange for property tax credits, but some, mostly corporate interests, doggedly defended their resistance. Eventually their stubbornness became a PR liability

The biggest win of all for it’s supporters of course was last year’s opening of the Big Sur Rail & Path Project (a.k.a. BigSurRPP). The Rail and Path hug the spectacular Big Sur shoreline from Morro Rock to Monterey, with the BiRail becoming one of the most popular routes in the entire National Rail Network almost overnight, and the Path registered over 2000 human-powered transits of it’s 140 mile journey in less than six months, an average of 8 people per day.

Widely recongized as one of the most specatular journeys on earth, the path helped give new life to “Sunset’s” a restaurant and hotel near its mid-point, as Governor Fox became patial owner of the establishment earlier this year.

“It’s a no-brainer,” he said when asked why he’d invested in the tiny business, which is 60 miles from any other commercial establishment. “The lease on the land is open ended, and it’s surrounded by BLM property, so essentially it’s going to be the only game around indefinitely. I had a chance to invest, and I jumped at it. Being on the BigSurRPP is just icing on my cake!”

Proudly fulfilling one of his campaign promises, Fox beamed as ever during today’s procession and in the informal Q&A session he held afterward, for anyone who could keep up with him on the bike path. In a series of amazing successes that began with his apparent recovery from Parkinson’s Disease and was followed by a much touted unveiling of a test program where the cure Fox tested on himself was proved effective on a large pool of clinical trial subjects. Today, again showing that irrepressible charm which has enamored his pubic for the upteen-th time, Fox smiled and waved as he fielded questions from the peleton.

The afternoon ended in Pismo Beach, with participants celebrating the triumphant culmination of long series of legal battles, public protests, and ballot propositions. The supporters of the PCB, as it is lovingly known, were in high spirits today, and deservedly so. Their hard work has given the citizens of California a special gift.