Day 26 - Paso Robles to Pismo Beach

Glad to be leaving the excessive heat of Paso Robles, bit sad I didn't have time to explore town.  We did at least go to breakfast which was good, so I saw a bit.

We also left town on a highway with lots of wineries which was scenic, bit nothing like the excess of Napa.

No pinot noir stashed in my little cubby 😂.

One big climb for the day resulted in this view.  Look close to pick out Morro Bay.  The descent was awesome.

The sun is out and the temps are perfect both warm and cool.

My favorite stop of the day.  I had samples and stocked up my rest stop bin with a tower of cookies.

They were definitely freshly made.

More beautiful scenery, but today my legs are starting to fade.  Poor sleep and bad nutrition yesterday caught up to me.  I felt great yesterday, not so great today.

More scenery of where we took backroads into SLO.

I did make it, but back to back eighty mile rides is tough.  We'll see how tacking on 94 more tomorrow feels.

Great beach to recover at though.

With a sunset to boot.

Accidentally hit save so a two part strava.

Day 25 - Greenfield to Paso Robles

I had thought it rained on us last night, but discussing it with others apparently it was the sprinklers in the park going off early this morning.  ☔️

49 degrees this morning.

I really liked this picture, the machined lines were amazing.  Everything is tended so perfectly.  I passed parsley, celery, and onions today (that I remember).

My map reading has been good, but the path isn't always clear.

Typical Central Valley picture, before we do our first climb of the day.  10% grade for too long, with more to come.  😬

You won't see too many pictures today, my focus was survival.  Before our first rest stop I had 3 bottles of water already. The forecast was 108 for Paso Robles.

El diablo hath replaced the fog with heat. 👹 which meant I had to forgoe all wine tasting today.  I had hoped to get a bottle to share with my lover.

Chugging gatorade, crushing Klondike bars with a side of teriyaki jerky.  The woman in the store thought we were crazy, she said it was supposed to be 117 degrees where we were at the moment.

We passed a huge old military weapons training facility, tanks, bunkers and targets.

Second big climb of the day, 12% for several miles.

It was a long hot tough day, but having California climbing and hot weather experience I was prepared.  It allowed me to enjoy the beauty of the rolling (or larger hills) today.  I safely made it to camp 1st and having helped pace 3 others along with me.  

8 others were not so fortunate.  The later riders had a much tougher time completing the difficult day.  All the bikes on the vans were hauled in.

And now I'm spent.....until tomorrow when we climb back over the hills to the coastline.

Tan lines coming in sharp.

Day 24 - Sunset State Park to Greenfield

Thick foggy start with full sun to come.

It definitely warmed up today and fun scenic grocery store ride.  All kinds of vegetables to see growing in the valley.

There were a fiew grapes as well.  We took the Monterrey wine trail on our Big Sur detour.

I thought these cactus fields were cool.  I wonder what product they are for?

I'm running low on battery tonight.  I'm having charging issues.  I lost my IPhone charger on the way to find an outlet and someone stole juice off my battery backup 😡.  I still need to charge shifters, garmin and my phone.

I found heat, it was 97 when we rolled into town.  This entire town has an interesting mexico 🇲🇽 vibe.  Great burritos.

Start of the alternative route with a bonus ripping tailwind.

Day 23 - Pescadao to Santa Cruz to Sunset State Park

We've been riding through many groves of Eucalyptus trees this week.  One such example here leaving camp this morning.

The sun desperately trying to come out.

The biggest bird bath I've ever seen.  Thousands of birds (primarily pelicans) of multiple varieties.  We watched them for quite a while.

One of my riding mates, who believe it or not but we were teasing hom about needing a walker at camp last night.  Seriously what are the odds of finding one in the bike lane on todays route for a photo shoot.

After he finishes the Pacific Coast he will have ridden all the US routes available to him through this group.  He's raised the most money cumulatively of any individual.  👍🏻👍🏻

On a recommendation from a friend we found Emily's for coffee and pastries (plus two burritos for a lster meal).

I had to try something with Olallieberries.

Familiar with Santa Cruz and a few sites, we set out to explore, I played tour guide.

Boardwalk, Surf Museum, and the Monarch Butterfly grove (not good until October, they are still in Mexico).

Of course lunch before heading out for another twenty miles to camp.

Primarily city riding until the last five miles when the landscape changed dramatically.

Brussell Sprouts galore with strawberries next.  First ride I've ever done that smelled like strawberries.

A one minute walk from our camp.

The ride leaders made pancakes tonight with strawberries and bananas.  Mmmm. I also added Nutella....

Inland tomorrow where I'm sure we'll be switching to sunshine and excessive temps due to our Big Sur detour.

Day 22 - San Francisco to Pescadaro

We started our morning in the sun and climbing up and over a gentle 😬13% hill to head back to highway 1 (and the fog). Today I would describe it as a warmer fog though.

I was eager to take "The Devils Slide" alternate route.  Several chickened out afraid of adding climbing, but it turned out we did the slide side.  The old highway 1 converted to multi use biking walking road that avoids a tunnel with a narrow shoulder inside.

It was very fun and once on the other side we could see the eroding Devils bunker.

From a lookout.

The other way.

Closeup using the gravel cyclocross route.

I enjoyed this funny sign through Half Moon Bay bike path.

More fog, so more lighthouses, but at this point the first of hopefully many riping tailwinds.

Our campground has an amazing little garden area.  Beautiful artichokes.  We past quite a few already harvested fields.

With the wind blowing its very frigid, so I holed up.  The view from my tent window.  We are camping at the site labeled Eucalyptus Camp.

Movie night.

On the big screen.

I tried to get a sunset picture but my teeth were rattling to much.  Back to my comfortable sleeping bag, with the pleasant aroma of eucalyptus to put me to sleep.

Tomorrow one more short day before we start going big to finish things up.