California Coast: Day 6 – Ahead of schedule for once!

I don’t think we have ever known what it is like to be ahead of schedule. But after our 55 miles today, we are only another 55 miles or so from Santa Barbara. So when we get there tomorrow, we will have a day to relax and enjoy the city. Today’s ride was mostly inland and away from the coast, but was still a great ride. We dropped the rental truck off at the airport, grabbed breakfast next door, and headed on our way. It was our warmest day so far, but still only mid 60’s (Meanwhile its pushing 100 degrees at home)! After about 20 miles of rolling hills, easy riding, and a brief stop in Pismo Beach, we stopped for lunch near Oceano, CA. The afternoon ride took us back to Route 1 once again.

When we reached Guadalupe, we were feeling pretty good and decide to put in another 28 miles to get us within a day’s ride of our destination. Shortly into the ride Zach recorded the first flat tire of the trip, and then just a few miles later, the second. We repaired the tubes, and even replaced the tire the second time to get us back on the road. Anticipating a few steep climbs near the end, we cruised along before taking a brief rest with the final climb ahead of us. We made pretty quick work of the winding two-mile climb, very reminiscent of parts of the Rockies. When we reached the top we could see our destination, and we took off down the hill. We picked up speed on the very nice five-mile downhill and were on the outskirts of Lompac, CA in no time. We rolled into town and spotted a deal at the Motel 6, so we checked in, showered up, and headed down the street to a Chinese Buffet. We are looking forward to a challenging, but enjoyable ride tomorrow as we head into Santa Barbara. Tired and sunburned (sorry mom), we are ready for bed early once again to prepare for our final ride tomorrow – this week has flown by! (Maggie)

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Day 3 – Increased hills and decreased fluids.

Today we made our way to Santa Cruz, CA. As I write this it’s 8pm PST and everyone is asleep – we are exhausted! 60+ miles today.

We left Pacifica early and were immediately greeted by a huge hill. After powering up the hill we took a short stop and enjoyed the view. Each hill is tough (easy compared to NY, VT, & NH) but is very rewarding because the views are just flat out AMAZING. Check the pictures out on the flickr feed to your right. Today’s ride was 99% ocean view.

Staying on route 1 and most of the bike trails the entire way  allowed us to be no more than 100 feet from the beach for the entire day. We took advantage of this and stopped frequently to take it all in – and also nap ☺

Somewhere along the way Dad’s stomach stopped agreeing with him and he lost his appetite. I think its dehydration. The problem with the weather here is it’s not warm enough to warrant constant drinking of water – so we often forgot to drink. Dad skipped on dinner and went straight to bed as Maggie and I found dinner at a nice (we were very underdressed, as per usual) spot in Santa Cruz. Maggie and I put down 2.5 pitchers of water during dinner, so I guess we were all a little dehydrated – I don’t think any of us felt 100% today. Dad is still not feeling well and I just put him to bed with some ginger ale and crackers. Get better old man.

Tomorrow morning we will rise early to take on some more miles, but not before doing some bike repairs. Maggie broke a spoke coming into Santa Cruz today and fell asleep before we could get to fix it, and Dads bike and mine could use some tuning. I guess we forget that we need to treat these bikes like fine tuned instruments. Beautiful California awaits us in the morning and I’m falling asleep. Good night everyone, and if you’d like to drop some tips of how we better share our experiences email me @ zwoodward at Comcast dot net

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Also check out youtube.com/somewhereonabike to view all the videos from the trip, updated daily.

Cheers, Zach