Ride Summary

Distance: 40 mi
Climbing: 2894 feet
Descending: slightly more (we started at the top of a moderately tall hill)
Difficulty: medium
Link to workout in Strava

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Link to photo gallery from this trip

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That windsock graphic was pretty spot on. Except we were the windsock.

I had suggested last night that we should roll really early, since the wind, weekend traffic, and heat were all predicted to get worse as the day went on. But we were both pretty tired when we got back to the place last night (pretty strenuous hill climb to get back there, on foot or bike) and we didn't really prepare for a super early start beyond having some yogurt and fruit on hand to nibble before we rolled. Still, we set off moderately early - 7:45ish - without breakfast and then stopped 5 miles in (as planned) at a cafe for seaside ham, eggs, coffee, croissant, and bathroom.

Not sure what to make of this, but it was just parked on the side of the road

From there it was essentially the same as riding on highway 101 between Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz - hot and sunny, variable shoulder size, lots of traffic, stunning ocean views and occasional big climbs and descents between the cliffs and the sea.

Pretty straightforward warning sign. Don't be that guy!

Traffic was mostly kind today, so that was nice! We got passed by at least a thousand vehicles - including 0 bicycles - and the sun beat down until we got to the ferry, which featured 2 beers, some Pringles, and reapplying sunscreen as we crossed. Fortunately, Lori was paying more attention to me as we pulled up to the ferry terminal as I had blown past the ticket booth and it was a fair distance back up the road to get there from where I'd stopped. But, Lori bought us both tickets to save me the work!

On the other side of the short ferry ride was a 500' climb in "the moonscape" - just barren rocky emptiness (except for one guy DJ'ing with his film crew, on a hillside, with the moonscape behind him). There was one final 500 foot huff-n-puff up the hill, before we bombed into town to our very friendly B&B on the B...each.

This sign was a few hundred yards down the shore from a bar where they clearly had wet t-shirt contests during the high season

We got cleaned up, had some food, and people watched on the boardwalk for awhile. This town is famous for being "spring break europe" but it's pretty chill on a pre-season sunday night.

Despite riding almost twice as far with nearly identical amount of climbing as yesterday, we spent only 30ish more minutes moving (4 hours vs 3.5). That speaks a bit to how hard yesterday was to maintain speed...

Also, It was not over 100 degrees as far as I know but it sure felt like it to me and Garmin.