We began our trip from the hotel in Santa Cruz to Big Sur around 7:!5am. Breakfast is at 6 each day, and then we suit up, get all of our water bottles and day packs ready, and start riding. Many of the faster groups leave around 8am, but Group 4 isn't about break-neck speeds and setting records, but having fun and enjoying the ride. After all, when else do you get to see the California coast from a bike! and yes, it's completely different than looking at the coast while driving a car.
The night before, Brian and I decided we would ride together and stop where we could for pictures and good food. I left today with Group 3 -- Brian, Joy, Colonel Mustard and others were all in the group. About 10 miles into the ride, we started to hit some really bad fog. Even worse than San Francisco yesterday. I could probably see only 100 feet in front of me. The fog lasted for about 20-30 miles, and we were soaked in water by the time we got out of it.
The first SAG came, and I loaded up on some food. Brian, Joy, Mark and Joe all decided we'd drop off from Group 3 and keep our own pace. Continuing through the fog, we saw some other riders stopped at what looked like a lunch truck/taco truck. It turned out to be a truck that sells deep fried artichoke hearts. yummm!!! they were soooo good. You have to try them if you ever have a chance. I think the area we were in, Moss Landing, had a lot of artichoke farms.
Our small group (unofficially name G3.5), continued down the towards Big Sur. We hit the bike path and around mile 40 arrived at a SAG. My front brake was acting funny, so the mechanic took a look at it, and found that my rim had a big gash in it. Probably from the lunar sized crater we hit earlier, and where another rider got a flat.
We jammed through more bike paths, dodging and weaving through people, and then we hit Monterey. That was quite nice. We took a small pit stop for some pictures on a cliff. Then Pebble Beach was around the corner and all I have to say is "Oh my god!!". The golf course and the houses are amazing!!! At least 30-40 million per house. These houses sat directly on the coast and had beautiful views. The golf course was pretty awesome too, since we were so close to it. For those of you that bike, you definitely have to ride on this route... it's amazing!
Around mile 60, we had our lunch stop. Some yummy wraps, chips, and chocolate milk at the beach! Perfect!! After lunch, we all joined back up with Group 3, but I couldn't keep up with their pace once we hit the hills. With about 14 miles to Big Sur, I got dropped from the group and was on my own. For the next hour or so, I enjoyed the amazing ocean views and took my own sweet time. There was one mountain of climb, followed by an awesome descent. Windy down the mountain curves with oncoming traffic and even catching cars going in my direction. I ended up hitting speeds of 35-40 mph.
After 86 miles, I finally got to the Big Sur lodge... and yes, there was another climb to get up to the hotel. I don't know what's up with these steep climbs right before every hotel. I think the organizers are making us work hard to get our rooms!!
Today was a good day in all. It was fun riding with Group 3.5 and the artichokes were a nice treat. The views in Carmel and Pebble Beach were unreal, along with the Cabrillo Highway route we took. Riding with the ocean a 200 feet below you on your right and hearing the wave crash is serene.
One major incident where Dana fell on the bike and hurt her hip. She's ok and riding now. Dinner was good too. Adam was officially deemed the Grand Poobah for winning the radio contest. We saw the Garmin-Slipstream team and we'll be riding with them the rest of the way down the coast. "Riding with them" is a very loose way of saying -- we'll be lucky to see them fly by us.
Tomorrow we are going to tackle some massive hills. Let's see how bad they are.
Miles ridden today: 86 miles
Total miles ridden: 162 miles
Multi-million dollar houses I would love to live in: 15
Multi-million dollar houses I can afford: 0
The first SAG came, and I loaded up on some food. Brian, Joy, Mark and Joe all decided we'd drop off from Group 3 and keep our own pace. Continuing through the fog, we saw some other riders stopped at what looked like a lunch truck/taco truck. It turned out to be a truck that sells deep fried artichoke hearts. yummm!!! they were soooo good. You have to try them if you ever have a chance. I think the area we were in, Moss Landing, had a lot of artichoke farms.
Around mile 60, we had our lunch stop. Some yummy wraps, chips, and chocolate milk at the beach! Perfect!! After lunch, we all joined back up with Group 3, but I couldn't keep up with their pace once we hit the hills. With about 14 miles to Big Sur, I got dropped from the group and was on my own. For the next hour or so, I enjoyed the amazing ocean views and took my own sweet time. There was one mountain of climb, followed by an awesome descent. Windy down the mountain curves with oncoming traffic and even catching cars going in my direction. I ended up hitting speeds of 35-40 mph.
After 86 miles, I finally got to the Big Sur lodge... and yes, there was another climb to get up to the hotel. I don't know what's up with these steep climbs right before every hotel. I think the organizers are making us work hard to get our rooms!!
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