10 September 1997 (sunny; mileage = 2 [A] 225 [X]; Alex's place, San
Francisco) -- A - Chris got up and was ready to leave by 6:30. I had orders
not to wake D&N up before 7:10, so I went and took a shower after I packed
all my stuff up. I rode the 2 miles to D&N's motel and WOW! was my bike
heavy. What an amazing difference. Hopefully, Chris felt the same magnitude
of change in the opposite direction. The 3 of us managed to finally decide
on a Ryder Truck in Morro Bay. It was expensive, but we were getting so
tired of dealing with it, we did it. D took a bus down and picked it up. We
loaded it up and looked around in the adjacent shops to their motel and ate
lunch at the Mexican place. We left around 2. They wanted to stop at Hearst
Castle gift shop and decide whether to buy a statue. God, what a process!
It took forever and they were trying to guess what the other one wanted
because they were both afraid to make the decision. It began to give me a
headache, so I got the keys and waited in the truck. We stopped in
Davenport for food and as we were going in, Dennis told a guy he'd left his
lights on. We went in and got carry-out (including the best chocolate shake
I've ever had) which took maybe 10-15 minutes. When we came out, we
laughed, because we'd left OUR lights on (there was a section of road with
signs to use them), only our battery went dead! Unbelievable. Luckily, some
guy there had cables and jumped us. Dennis drives like a maniac, of course,
so we made pretty good time, except for the 20-30-minutes construction
delay. We got here around 9:30, I think. I had bought some candy bars for
Chris and watched carefully for him, but we didn't see him. He did show up
at Alex's around 4:30 AM, though, and he'll have to document his journey. X
(rolling time = 20:15:43; average = 12.4 mph; odometer = 6602) - I left at
6:30 before the sun came over the mountains. I wanted to get to the 1st 2
climbs before the sun. I did and I CRANKED up them. I was feeling great. I
ate mangled Pop Tarts on the descent (#2). From there, I cranked to
Plaskett Creek (where Dennis and I stayed 5 years ago). I got and left
behind some water. Even with this stop, I was at Limekiln by 9:30. My
average here was 14.2 mph! There was a 40-minute construction delay here. I
adjusted my derailleur, ate some cookies, put on sun block, switched
shirts, and waited. When I got going again, my pace was still great. At the
last climb, however, I started to run out of energy. I knew I was very
close to the top, but I needed to stop and eat. I had more Pop Tarts and
fruit snacks and rested for a total of about 7 minutes. Then I finished the
climb (~ .2 miles left). After descending to Pfeiffer Big Sur, I pulled my
bike through the guard rail to the store. I bought a pint of Ben & Jerry's.
It was too hard to eat, so I rode down to the lodge down the road before
stopping to eat it and get more H2O. From this point, it was EXTREMELY
windy. I had considered resting through it, but decided that slow progress
was better than none. The winds were almost ridiculous. On the morning
climbs, I barely ever dropped below 10 mph. Here on flat ground, I couldn't
go more than 8 mph. The break came at the last Big Sur hill just south of
the big bridge. The wind was blocked by the mountain and I could climb OK.
It was still windy as I got into Carmel. I pulled over into the park south
of the "hills curves" sign. My rack, which was behaving badly, was broken.
Actually, the frame mount was broken. I put it in place with wire ties and
hoped for the best. I also ate some bread and had a weird guy talk to me. I
climbed out of Carmel in the blazing heat and rush-hour traffic. The wind
was still against me, but not so bad here. As I went through Monterey, I
remembered a bike shop on the way. I stopped there and pulled them away
from rad-Mt. Dew talk long enough to get some rack clamps, which they
didn't charge me for. I decided to leave the wire ties and add clamps only
if necessary. Leaving Monterey, I played
"my-bike's-got-a-better-motor-than-yours" games with 2 cyclists. Once I got
on the Marina bike path, I was making good progress again. I had head winds
that weren't 100% opposite of my direction (cross winds). I stopped at the
fruit stand (where I talked to the new Swiss) and bought berries and a
bottle of really bad juice. It was grapefruit with sodaH2O. Yuck! Once
underway again, I was back to horrible head winds, as I rode all over the
place in the strawberry fields. I tried to reverse the southbound route
near Watsonville, but picked the wrong road. I rode through a migrant
community, then up a dirt path back to the highway. Then I started
following "Pacific Coast" bike route signs. This was very frustrating, as
it included a lot of backtracking. Once I got into the Santa Cruz area, I
bumbled along following these half-assed signs. I finally tagged onto a guy
on a Trek 2300. I told him what I wanted to do and he said, "Follow me,"
and then he tried to drop me. That didn't work, of course, but I did get me
out of there a lot faster than it could have taken. Now, I was back on a
deserted Highway 1. It was completely dark now and I was hungry. I was
hoping to make it to Davenport and have good Mexican food. I cranked away,
getting used to the night riding and enjoying the dying wind and cool air.
When I got there, it was locked and my one word of Spanish (comida) was not
enough to get me some after-hours food. I went a couple of doors down and
they said they'd get me some food. So I had bread and a not-so-good tostada
-- totally non-Mexican. They were nice, though -- they filled my H2O
bottles and gave me a day-old muffin to take. From here, I rode a long
stretch past the Huster Lighthouse. There were many deer out and about.
Also, a lot of parked vans, etc. Some people were out on the beach (I could
hear them). One deer ran right across the road in front of me. I apparently
startled them. There was a lot of rustling on the side of the road as I
went by. The moon was bright, but sometimes there was fog. One guy stopped
and asked if I needed a ride. Very thoughtful. I pulled into Half Moon Bay
at about 2:00 AM. I sat on a step outside the closed grocery store and ate
my muffin. It tasted much better than muffins usually do. Not long after I
took off, my tire gave out. It was worn very thin, and I had anticipated
this. As I was changing it near an aircraft navy beacon, a cop pulled up to
be nosy and non-helpful. I finished changing it in the dark and I was on my
way again. I had no trouble climbing the hill north of Moss Beach. But I
was getting a bit tired as I got to the Sky Park Bypass (or whatever). I
did get up it and hustled the rest of the way to get here at 4:35 AM.
Shower. Sleep.
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