113 miles in 10 hrs 5 mins (incl 1 food stop and one wheel rebuild)
Total Distance - 1,490 miles
So, if you hadn't guessed from today's mileage, I'm going for the big push into LA in three not four days.
The morning started early - it always does when camping - to the strangely engaging combination of the calls of birds and elephant seals rousing me at 6.30, easily in time to see the sun's rays emerge from behind the Big Sur mountains and announce the start of another beautiful blue-skied day.
I was feeling good and, as much as the Treebones Resort is expensive, I'd have to say it's worth it. There's a certain air of tranquility about the place that I really needed after too many days clocking up the miles.
After a waffle fest breakfast I finally got on the road at 8.30 and very soon passed a mileage sign. 271 miles to Los Angeles. In three days...can I? Hang on, that's 90+ a day. No, don't think about the big picture, Fraser. I had to repeat to myself. Let's just see how I'm going by midday.
For the first few miles the rolling coastal roads were mine, no really they were as it wasn't until after 5 miles in that the first car passed me. By then I had started on the curves and climbs that the guy at Treebones had kindly told me about. Namely the climbs! But those early climbs were a spectacular way to start the day and got my engine turning nicely - considerably better than my ipod which decided to go on some bizarre skip and pause fest. Still, I didn't really care on a day like this and I soon reached the end of the climbs and took a moment to look back on from where I'd come (see pic).
Following on from the calls this morning, today's marine mammal of choice was very definitely elephant seals as after 25 miles I rounded a corner to see thousands of these gigantic blubbery sausages sunning themselves on the beach. They really are quite weird creatures.
By then it was 11.05, and I knew that if I was going to have any chance of making it to LA by Saturday then I'd have to get some serious miles in. And I did just that. 15.6 miles in the next hour, my best of the trip, followed 15.7 in the next hour. So before I knew it it was 1.15 and I was in Morro Bay eating lunch with 57 miles chalked up. LA in 3 was back on.
But as I climbed out of Morro I heard the a distinctive twang from my rear wheel. It was a spoke giving up. Not disastrous, but the second twang 8 miles later got me more worried. Still, as long as they aren't nearby and on the same side of the wheel I should be ok til at least the end of the day. But they were, so 5 miles later twang number three - same side and adjacent - meant I was in very urgent need of a bike shop. I soon managed to track down Wally's in San Luis Obispo who were great and replaced the casualties there and then. Still, it'll need another full rebuild in LA.
I set off on the final stint down to Guadalupe, which seemed strangely to be getting further away on the GPS. I knew then that today was going to be the day for my first 100. I didn't get there without incident though as at about 95 miles in a little insect got caught up in the vents of my helmet. After half a mile or so of feeling it still crawling around my hair and with it having failed to free itself I decided to give it a poke of encouragement. However, it poked back, and some. Yup, it was a wasp and I was suddenly growing an extra forehead. So, wasps can sting more than once can they? Err, not once they've been caught in a non-existent gap between the California soil and a shimano cycling shoe they can't. Harsh, but.
The mileage finally ticked to a hundred a few miles outside Guadalupe and I felt surprisingly much more proud about it than I thought I would so paused by the side of the non-descript road to take a moment to reflect on the cycling moments in my life, and to take a fair few pics.
So I cruised into Guadalupe, my stop for the night. Or so I thought, but I cruised right through and there wasn't a motel or B&B to be seen anywhere. And to make it worse, my phone was dead so I couldn't search for anywhere. Oh, oh cr@p, was my thoughts. There's nothing down the road for 20 miles. But, hang on, I don't need to go down, I can go across 8 miles to Santa Maria, and to make it better the breeze will be right at my back. I set off, fast and got faster, perhaps with no small bit of anger in my legs, I covered those flat 8 miles in 20 mins - which 100+ miles and almost 10 hours in was a fitting high on which to end this very, very long day.
