Day 6 end

Made it the 76 miles to Santa Barbara.  Winds picked up and a few storms rolled in.  Just sprinkles and cold for a few miles for me.  

Met a rider that crashed pretty bad.  He had lots of road rash so was heading to doc in a box to get cleaned up and checked out.

Tracy is coming up to spend the day with me tomorrow so probably no more riding updates now that I'm in the hood.

Day 6 the climb ahead

When your GPS screen shows this you wonder if Uber can fit a bike.  My location is the blue dot.

Day 6 lunch

Day 6 midday

Fixed my first flat in Los Alamos.  Tiny piece of wire.  Rear tire.  Could not have happened in a better spot to do the work.  Down the road now and having lunch.

Day 6 start

On 101 headed to Santa Barbara for last overnight stay.  Tired and going slow but should be able to make it.

Day 5 ended

Really nice ride by the ocean and then inland through farms and vineyards.  67 miles today.  Reached Santa Maria early.  Doing laundry and trying to recover from the damage from yesterday.  Most things hurt for the first time.  Onwards to Santa Barbara tomorrow.

Funny Bernie sign by the 1.

Day 4 ended

Made it safe to Cambria after a long day and another 72 miles with huge climbs all day.

Best stop was to see the elephant seal beach near Hearst Castle.

Momma and baby whale migrating north.  Saw many over last few days.

Day 3 ended

Reached Big Sur Lodge without any problems.  No cell, telephone, TV, or WiFi here so just paid $5.95 for 2 hours of private WiFi to send this update.  I'm safe and had great day.  This leg was 76 miles.  Cabins are in a redwood grove.  Saw a fawn.  Also saw a freaked out mom that got separated from her tween daughter on a hike.  Took her to the office and sure enough there she was.  Heading to Cambria tomorrow.

Day 3 midday

Approaching Monterey peninsula.

Leaving Carmel-by-the-sea and heading to Big Sur.  The title of this picture is oh crap LA is still far away.

Ubiquitous bridge pictures. 

Day 3 start

6 miles into the ride and reached the start of the huge Monterey Bay.  I'm much happier than I look.  Can only imagine my subconscious is saying idiots take selfies.

Day 2

Just did 60 mile ride from Half Moon Bay to Aptos.  Bike near perfect, body better than expected.  Santa Cruz was nice but saw lots of crazy driving.

No pics today.  Best thing I saw was a hand made wooden sign nailed to a power pole saying "keep going" and pointed my direction.  Wish I stopped for a photo a second after I passed it.

Day 1

Made it safe to Half Moon Bay by noon.  Easy first day of 35 miles.  Met Tracy and we walked around the town.

Had one setback, we were all set to drop me at the Golden Gate Bridge but it was closed to foot and bike traffic for a 10K run so we had to drive over and I started on 1 at Geary, rode down Geary to Cliff House.

Here is Tracy's pic.

Gorgeous day.  No mechanical issues.  Body holding up.

Best part of the ride was the Devil's Slide Bike and Walking Trail.  It's on the ocean side near the tunnel where cars travel so I had not ever seen that coastal view.

I stopped and took one pic at the Half Moon State Park bike trail.

Heading to Santa Cruz in the morning.  Much longer day.  Tracy heads home.

Sunday 4/17 might be the day

Bike is ready to go

Trek Domane 4.3

I replaced the saddle with a more comfortable one.  WTB Speed Comp Saddle

I changed to tougher (but so much more heavy) tires and tubes.
Forté Road Puncture Resistant Presta Tube 700c x 23-26

Continental Gator Hardshell Road Tire

I added a headlight and taillight.
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/cycling-accessories/bike-lights/bontrager-ion-700-r/p/10945

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/cycling-accessories/bike-lights/bontrager-flare-r-tail-light/p/13202

I added a rack and rear panniers.
Bontrager BackRack Lightweight
http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_563342_-1___

I bought a cheap cell phone holder on Amazon.
http://amzn.com/B0170OJPKY

No way I'm going to weigh my bike now.  I can't wait to get home and remove all this stuff!

When can I start?

Now just watching the weather for a period of time with dry days and sun.

https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/USCA0099:1:US

Happy it's an El Niño year because of the drought, but it is making Northern California rainier than normal.

Getting Ready

Okay it looks possible to finally do this ride after 30 years of thinking about it.

I've put together the gear and got my Trek Domane 4.3C ready.  

I created a 7 day plan using the "Ride with GPS" app.

Here is an example of the ride plan.  Day 1 is short, rest are 60-70 miles each.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12896522