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Day Four, Paso Robles to Santa Maria
Beach Towns and Tailwinds
Today was a much better day. The allergy treatment worked, and now eye drops are a regular part of my rest stop regimen. Also, Benedryl is my new best friend.
It's a day of transition. The half-way point on the ride. Several miles later we cross from NorCal into SoCal. And shortly thereafter we entered Santa Barbara County, where we'll be for the next two days.
Beginning in Paso Robles we headed out to 34 toward Hearst Castle for a stretch known as the Evil Twins. I guess this is because there are two major peaks but the reality is that there are like 7, so you really don't know when you're done. Shortly after this there is a vista point where they hang up 'half way to LA' signs to take pictures with Morro Bay in the background. We skipped the lines for the picture with the sign and got some shots off to the side quickly, eager for the heavenly 7 mile descent down to the coast. A few miles later and we're in Cayucos, a lovely little beach town. Then Morro Bay, where I was able to grab a new battery for my bike computer.
Going into Morro Bay there is this amazing vista as you descend into the town, with a beautiful view of the coast and the ocean. By now the route is familiar when I see it but I often forget what is going to happen when- so that was a pleasant surprise.
Such an interesting progression because you go from Cayucos to Morro Bay to Pismo Beach, each distinct beach towns with cute landmarks and architecture and high points. Then we hit Oceano, "gateway to the dunes"- apparently the only state beach in CA where it's legal to drive on the beach. Now, maybe it's just a trick of the route but the part of Oceano we see is not that picturesque. Pretty much the dunes, train tracks, and a trailer park. Oh well, they can't all be Shangri La, I guess. And now I know where to drive my dune buggy!
Lunch was a Cuesta College, and my tentmate Shawn was talking up how much he loves that stretch, so today I saw it with newe eyes. You can't see the ocean, so I would just consider it filler, but after Shawn's comment I realized it's got some great views of California farmland. Plus it's a rural road with very little traffic. The stretch after lunch was pretty great too.
Rest stop 3 was only 11 miles later, we stopped to refill, but then we blew past the water stop, giving us a 21 mile stretch to rest stop 4, the last section of which is a really annoyingly harsh stretch with severe crosswinds. I was expecting more of the same between rest stop 4 and campn, but for the most part we had massive tailwinds which made it easy to sustain 25 mph on the flats. In retrospect, Shawn and I both felt that the afternoon was way better today than in past years. I averaged about 16 mph today over the 97 mile ride. Yee-haw!
Back in camp around 5:45 and before you know it, we're showered, unpacked (with thanks to our gear + tent guy Derrick for setting up our tent, which was unexpected and totally appreciated), and eating dinner. It's 8 pm already and time for bed soon I hope!
Day Three, King City to Paso Robles
Today we left King City and began a long, gradual climb which culminated in the hill known as Quadbuster. It does go on a bit longer than it needs to, but otherwise it's manageable.
I ended up behind a woman who had an accident- she was just going too slowly, started to tip over, and couldn't clip out in time, so she fell to the right and hit her head on the guard rail. Along with another woman who happened to be nearby, I sat with her until the medical team came. (Update: from what I gather, fortunately she is OK and will be back on the ride again after a day of rest.)
While I certainly have been enjoying the ride, there does tend to be a rotation of irritations I go through, being out on the bike alone with my thoughts- this morning my knee was hurting for a bit, then I realized my bike computer stopped working (but my knee felt better, gratefully), then it was my eyes.
After Quadbuster I pulled into rest stop 2, and my eyes were bothering me so I got another eye wash. It helped a little but soon thereafter I was having trouble again. Rest stop 3- another eye wash. From there to lunch, riding with one eye open, blinking a lot, not very safe. At lunch in Bradley, I had a med tech who just pried my eyes open and flushed them with saline for upwards of 30 seconds each (as opposed to the others who had dripped a little in). This helped a lot more, but with the dust and smoke in Bradley, I'd be back where I was a few minutes later. I got another eye wash after eating lunch but ultimately decided it wasn't safe to keep riding in that condition, so I got on the bus and headed back to camp. I've never sagged out before, but this seemed like the wise thing to do.
When I got to camp my eyes were burning and it hurt to keep them open for more than a few seconds, which made walking around, well, interesting. My nose was also running like crazy. I got an eye wash at medical but they also gave me some medicated eye drops and they sent me home with Benadryl and Claritin. A while after taking the Benadryl I started feeling better. I've never had any real allergies so that didn't come to mind as a cause. Apparently the rain, then heat, rain then heat, we've had recently has produced quite a hard core allergy season, and thinking back to all those fragrant strawberry fields, everything must just be sprouting right now.
I'm just glad to know what's going on. Hope this only lasts while I'm out here in the wild, and perhaps whatever this irritant is will not be present as we move South.
I'm so grateful to everyone who's donated to the ride. It's also great to see the donations coming in even as I'm doing the ride, and if you've been thinking about donating but haven't done so yet, it's not too late. Cheers!
Day Two, Santa Cruz to King City
Salinas Valley Sightseeing
/Recipe for a 107-mile ride: get on your bike, ride 10 or 20 miles, take a break and refill/stretch/etc. Repeat.
Long day today- I didn't get into camp until 6 so I'm keeping it short for now and will elaborate later.
Settling in
Day 2 is always interesting because it's the first day you wake up in camp and go through the routine to get on the road. Get up, dress in the tent, head to breakfast, go back to the tent and pack up, drop off the luggage at the gear truck and head to the bikes.
Even though we were up at 4:45 we didn't hit the road until 7. The route opens at 6:30 and the half hour makes a world of difference when leaving Santa Cruz, in terms of beating the Monday morning rush hour traffic. But, hey, it's the journey not the destination, right?
I rode most of the day with my tentmate Shawn- I spent the morning chasing his back tire and much of the afternoon catching up with him. Challenging but a great pace, averaging 16.1 for the day. Thanks for pulling me, Shawn!
Today's route takes us through a lot of agricultural land, and this year was notable because of the strong aromas emanating from the strawberry fields and cilantro fields. Shawn also noted that the strawberries and artichokes looked huge. Everything is ripe right now. I'm not sure if it's because the ride falls a little later this year or what, but it's very nice to smell!
Today I got to see two pillars of the ALC community I missed on day one- Ginger Brewlay (aka Ric), an ethereal beauty greeting us at the top of the hills in taffeta and sequins, and the Chicken Lady (aka Kenny), who is doing the ride for the 14th time. When I last did the ride Kenny did not participate because he had had a stroke, but he's made an amazing recovery and is back out on the road this year. For the last several years, on the last night of the ride, Chicken Lady has been laying little plastic eggs on each rider's seat, with inspirational messages in them. It's a really sweet thing to do for a couple thousand people. I saw Kenny at orientation but didn't know for sure he was riding until I saw him in his Chicken Lady gear out on the road today, and I knew all is right with the world.
Shawn and I did a pretty decent job of time management today, only cutting it close at the end- as opposed to 2 years ago when we hung out at the artichoke stand too long and saw the rest stop closure crew show up- which meant we were escaping them for the rest of the day. Among the afternoon highlights- the Otter Pop Stop at the mission, a new tradition started 4 years ago by my friend Kyle Tonazzi, who rode the first year I rode and decided he would rather contribute this to the event rather than ride it. Kyle's a burner and he brings a bit of the playa to the ride by getting a bunch of bears to put on tutus and hand out Otter Pops in the dusty parking lot, with a loud techno soundtrack.
107 miles from where we started, we arrived in King City at 6 pm, with just enough time to set up camp, shower, eat and sleep.
Day One, San Francisco to Santa Cruz
And we're off: San Francisco to Santa Cruz
Today's ride was great and everything went off without a hitch. For those of you who are curious, there were no taxis involved today. The day began at 3:45 when I got up, made breakfast, pulled it all together and got to the Cow Palace at 5:15 in time for opening ceremonies and then ride out at 6:40.
At opening ceremonies I met two Dolly's- in glamorous red lame, faux black jeans, gold lame 'boots' and gigantic wigs, all designed to fit on top of bike clothes and helmets. I can't post pictures while I'm out on the road but I bet there are many out there. I later discovered there were five of them in matching outfits, I spent about the first 20 miles passing and getting passed by the Dolly's. It really got me thinking that I may need to step up my fashon game. Beadazzling my helmet just doesn't seem like enough when you've got the Dolly's around.
San Francisco summer's trademark fog was in full effect this morning. It wasn't raining, but nonetheless I had to take off my sunglasses because they don't have windshield wipers. Water was dripping from the front of my helmet. The sun broke through as we made it to San Bruno and up and over hwy 35. At the crest of that hill, we descended into Half Moon Bay and back into the fog. We headed out to the coast and spent a long, foggy time on hwy 1 including lunch at San Gregorio. The fog meant the coastline was more "implied" than "visible". At least this meant that the temperatures were moderate than normal.
Also along the way to Half Moon Bay I got a little quality time with Downtown Julie Brown- actually just as we passed the "Charlie poles", the white plastic dividers affectionately named for Charlie Bergstrom after his unfortunate collision with them during our first year on the ride in 2005 - thankfully, Charlie was only slightly worse for the wear after the incident. Charlie, we miss you and hope you and your family are well!
After lunch we emerged out of the fog and into the sun, in time for rest stops 3 and 4, where I was able to shed some layers and enjoy the sun. I made it into camp in Santa Cruz around 2:30. Certainly not the first (who arrived at 11:15) but ahead of most. My tentmate Shawn got in 30 mins before I did, so the tent was set up when I got there. Score! Also, great to have enough afternoon left to shower, and wander around and catch up with people I only see on the ride.
A spaghetti dinner and two desserts later, I am ready to call it a night. Tomorrow's a long day so I am trying to get out on the road as soon as it opens at 6:30.