4: Cambria

The sinuses kept me frequently up, but I managed to sleep until about 8. I wandered back to the general store for some Advil and a breakfast burrito, setting out around 9:30. I was a little concerned about having enough time, since I wasn't feeling optimal (although I decided allergies rather than sickness was more likely given the lack of other problems) and today was my first day of hard terrain after two relatively flat days. I decided I needed to reach Lucia by noon. I succeeded, even with lots of stopping for pictures. Traffic was quite light in the morning.

Past Lucia, the 2 spots where there had been a single lane open last year were still so this year. However, the first was noticeably more constructed than before. Waiting for the signal at the first were 2 other cyclists, one from an organized your, the other from the Sacramento Wheelmen on a club ride to Paso Robles, who said this year he'd seen more cyclists than the last 2 years combined. At Limekiln SP I refilled my water.

I evaluated my lunch options at Gorda, and deciding the restaurant was too overpriced, I had a refrigerated deli sandwich and a moon pie. I watched several cyclists go by going south as I ate.

Climbing to Ragged Point, I passed a pair of cyclists. I saw them again at Ragged Point Inn, where we commiserated over the ridiculously slow service while waiting to order our milkshakes. They were on one of the supported tours, but were from Belvedere. I learned they were a couple when they spoke to reach other as a grumbling old man and growling old woman. Apparently most of their group had taken a SAG option and stopped riding early. I guess you can do that when you're fully supported.

I got a 1.5L water from the store, and unable to fit it all in my bottles, I gave the rest to some cyclists carrying more than I. They were Chris and Matt, from Orange County, and they'd been hammock camping. Their goal for today was also Cambria.

After reaching the flatlands a bit further south, I received my promised tailwinds, and just like last year, I went really fast. This year, though, I did stop for elephant seals.

Cambria is currently full of scarecrows. They're all unique local pieces of art, similar in a way to Cow Parade. I got to the hostel, showered, was given some food that a hostel staffer had just cooked, and went out to look at more scarecrows. I had dinner at a Mexican restaurant that advertised birria and chicken mol err, but sadly had run out of both.

3: Big Sur

After Carmel, I went towards Point Lobos and hiked out to see the lobos. I met some cyclists there from New Hampshire who were day-tripping from Pebble Beach. also, I was passed by the first of two tour groups I'd see in Big Sur. For some reason they didn't stop to see the lobos.

Shortly afterward, I met with tailwinds for the first time. You really get the sensation of flying when they're on your side. I got to experience the part of Highway 1 we had to drive last year, including the wonderful "curvy road next 63 miles" sign, as well as see the rest in the different light of afternoon. Rocky Creek, the site of last year's slide, only had a single lane open with traffic light control. This meant car traffic came in bursts, in between which I could actually experience some peace on the road.

Unfortunately the Point Sur lighthouse was not open. I went on to the store at River Inn for a ginger smoothie and information. Finding that Riverside was just up the road, I set off and checked in. It was a mixed camping and cabin site. I was in a cabin room on the bottom of a slope.

While trying to ascertain the source of good music I was hearing, I met there a guy named Tim from SLO, who had put aside his desire to see the Grateful Dead in concert to treat his wife to a nice birthday "glamping" (in her words). On noticing I had come by bike, he offered me beer, water, and anything really, even his second-to-last can of Red Bull. The next day he would even offer me pancakes and breakfast (but I was too polite to take his food).

I walked back to "town" for dinner at the pub. Sitting at the bar, I chatted with a woman from England named Lucy, who was on a tour of her own through California prior to meeting a friend in LA. Naturally she was impressed to find a pub in such a remote place. Though she'd been on some long cycling trips in the UK, she was having enough of a challenge driving on the right side of the road.

A burger with fries was delicious. I returned to go to bed early, since I'd been having some sinusitis all day and I had nothing better to do anyway; there was no cell service, of course, but there was some free wireless that I couldn't reach from inside my cabin.

2.5: Carmel

Monterey was a pretty exciting dance. But by the end I could tell I was really getting tired. I'll have more to write later.

Today I rode the scenic parts of the Monterey peninsula that we didn't get to do last year because of landslides. Wow. It's absurd that such natural beauty is so close at hand.

I started to notice a floppy sound coming from my rear wheel. I stopped to check I didn't get a flat. Uncertain of my tire pressure, I took it in to Carmel's Bay Bikes, but they said it looked fine. Now enjoying some sanddab and garlic fries as t Flanagan's before heading down to Big Sur.

2: Seaside

The picture of the day is a flat of strawberries I picked up from Pezzini Farms and loaded onto my Carradice Bagman, using my saddlebag to hold it down. I'm pleased to report that it survived all the way to my family friends' home in Seaside, where I'm staying, and my bag isn't even strawberry-flavored.

I can't forget the smell of riding through endless fields of ripe strawberries, which constituted approximately the middle third of the day.

Family friends: they take care of you, they sacrifice their own well-being for yours, they think nothing of doing things for you that you wouldn't even think to ask. You even speak with them in Chinese. They're family, essentially.

Felton

I spent long enough getting showered, laundered in the sink, and pianoed that I ran out of time to have dinner in Santa Cruz. Instead I hopped on the bus to Felton and had a burrito from the taqueria there. With no time to spare, I dashed over to the hall, but it was a large newcomer session so it wasn't exactly on time.

The dancers were a fascinating mix of people from over the mountains like me, most of whom had chosen a saner means of transportation; people who were new to dancing; and the local regulars, some of whom I vaguely remembered from my 2 previous times here, and some of whom I'd seen in Palo Alto.

In lieu of appropriate footwear, I brought a roll of athletic tape for my feet. The tape curled a bit at first but worked as I had hoped. Originally white, it dustified as the night went on.

The dances Lisa Greenleaf called were on the simpler side, given the large newcomer crowd, and I wrote down 2 of them. Dr. Groove with Betsy was amazing - they and Lisa even pulled off a seamless transition from walkthrough to dance. I was offered space on people's floors (that I didn't need) and rides back to downtown, which I eventually got with Steve, a radio engineer.

I really feel like I should be sleeping more, but I seem to perennially be the first one awake in the hostel...

1: Santa Cruz

I learned the hard way that Highway 9 isn't actually all downhill. It's downward-trending rollers. I tried to get down from Felton via a dirt path from Conference Dr, but it was gnarly singletrack that became a sandy quagmire that became a broken road. I'm duly convinced of the folly of biking to and from the dance in Felton. I'll take a bus instead.

In Santa Cruz, I visited Bicycle Trip to get a handlebar bag, since my saddlebag is very hard to sift through. The staff there really admired my setup. Then I came to the hostel, waiting for them to open, and met Jimmy, a touring cyclist with a lot of camping and other gear. He was actually trying to figure out how to move here (interviewing at a bike shop) and having been here yesterday was continuing to a nearby campground.

The cottage I'm staying in not only has a piano; the piano actually sounds really good.

Curfew recently changed from 11pm to 12am. This is cool because *all the things* end around 11 - concerts, dances, whatnot.

Boulder Creek

There happened to be a library sale! I got some food for the mind in addition to some food for the body.