Day 5: Paso Robles to Oceano — Pacific Coast Bike Tour

Day 5 · Wednesday, September 9

Paso Robles → Oceano

Distance: 59.0mi95.0km

Elevation gain: 1907ft581m

Elevation loss: 2634ft803m

Max elevation: 1476ft450m

Paso Robles → Oceano Switch basemap (elevation / vegetation / plain) top-right; click any point for Google Maps, Apple Maps or Street View.

Download GPX — Day 5 Open in Google Maps Open in Apple Maps

Route options still being decided

Day 5 has 2 candidate tracks. Choose one to highlight it on the map and see its elevation profile — the day’s stats above stay on the current pick either way.

Highway 41 Current pick

59.0mi95.0km · 1907ft581m climbing · 6% shaded

Paved throughout via Atascadero and Morro Bay. Steadier grades — the main climb averages 5.4% — but ~19 mi on highways.
Download GPX — Highway 41
Quieter inland

58.8mi94.6km · 2667ft813m climbing · 4% shaded

Also fully paved, with roughly twice the back-road mileage, but steeper: sustained pitches to ~9%. Skips Atascadero.
Download GPX — Quieter inland

Elevation profile

Climbed 1907ft581m Descended 2634ft803m

Vertical scale exaggerated ~20× for readability.

Notable climbs

mi 17.03–17.4km 27.4–28.0 73ft22m 3.7% avg
mi 17.58–18.95km 28.3–30.5 388ft118m 5.4% avg
mi 34.8–35.11km 56.0–56.5 67ft20m 4.1% avg
mi 51.45–51.95km 82.8–83.6 100ft30m 3.8% avg

Afternoon shade

Measured at 15:00 on Wednesday, September 9, with the sun 49.0° above the horizon.

Tree cover: 6% of the route
Blocked by terrain: 0% of the route

Terrain shades nothing at this hour — the sun is still too high for a ridge to block it. Tree cover is the only shade on offer while you are riding.

Effectively an unshaded day. Start early and carry more water than the distance suggests.

Tree cover from OpenStreetMap, within 30 m of the road; terrain from a horizon-angle test against elevation data. Both are estimates — unmapped woodland reads as no shade.

Conditions

Near Oceano, where the day ends.

Air quality

AirNow smoke map

Weather

NWS forecast

The day at a glance

Starts in the Paso Robles AVA, one of California's largest, where hot days and cool nights suit cabernet and the rhône varieties; the vineyards run right up to the edge of town. Crossing the range on Highway 41 the planting stops abruptly, and the coastal side is vegetable ground and pasture around Los Osos and Oceano.

Worth looking up for

Crosses the coast range on Highway 41 and drops to Morro Bay, then runs south past Los Osos.
Templeton and Los Osos are both on the route; Morro Rock is the landmark at the coast.

What to watch for

The Highway 41 climb is mi 17.6–19.0, 388 ft at 5.4% — steady rather than steep.
Highway 41 over the grade is a main road between US-101 and Highway 1, so expect through traffic. Nobody has checked the shoulder — worth asking someone who has ridden it.

Towns along the way

0 Paso Robles 0.7 mi off
7 Templeton
14 Atascadero
20 Morro Toro
31 Morro Bay
35 Baywood Park 0.7 mi off
52 Avila Beach 1.6 mi off
54 Shell Beach
58 Grover Beach

Stops along the way

Mapped in OpenStreetMap and carried in the GPX as waypoints, so they show on a head unit too. Distances are miles from the start. Tap a name for Google Maps, or the arrow for Apple Maps. Not verified on the ground — opening hours and whether a tap actually runs are anyone’s guess.

Water 5

44.4 Water ↗
45.4 Water ↗
53.3 Water ↗
54.6 Water ↗
56.6 Water ↗

Shops & markets 8

Food & coffee 8

Tasting rooms & bars 4