Total distance - 1,556 miles
Now up until last month I'd have considered a 65 mile, 5hr ride including over 3,000ft of climbing with a fully-laden bike as a monster day in the saddle. Today, it was just a short and easy day ... well fairly easy.
I was surprised to wake even before my 7.15 alarm and despite yesterday's exertions I felt ok, not great by any means but the 70+ miles day that I thought lay ahead didn't seem as terrifying as they could have. I had plugged various routes into the gps last night in an effort to find the quickest and had settled on the one that looked the shortest. However, the elevation plot for this one was a bit unnerving showing a 2,000ft climb followed by a 1,300ft descent in the first 12 miles. That didn't seem right to me from what I'd seen of the terrain when I'd arrived into Santa Maria and the guy I chatted to in the Starbucks first thing this morning confirmed there was no climb anywhere near that size nearby. Just another on the endless list of gps turd lies I assumed.
So, I set off in the sun under blue skies with no sign of the rain that was forecast for today. My head was down, not mentally but this was going to be a day of just pedalling to get here, not about the sights/photos/food or anything else. It was a bit of a grind out of Santa Maria and, after a while I looked back and saw an ominous darkness on the horizon upwind. The weather front had started it's chase. Seeing it spurred me on faster, but I'm thinking in terms of hours not dash across the car park quick. After a bite to eat at Los Alomos (nope, not that one, but i'll be there at the end of May) I rejoined the freeway to a sign showing 57 miles to Santa B. 8 miles later I was directed off the main road which was 'no bikes' onto a back road. And to my joy, the sign a mile later made it 35 miles to Santa B. The 'back road' was 13 miles shorter than the main road. I didn't try to understand, I was just thankful. So I continued along this route for another 20 or so miles through very pleasant, but-not-worth-photographing scenery.
Then, with just over 15 miles to go and at 800ft the realization began to dawn on me what the gps had been getting at. The elevation profile was in reverse and I was staring a 1,300ft climb in the face. Enter my old friend Tourettes again, though this time there was an air of excitement in my expletives, particularly because I knew that a 2000ft descent lay beyond the peak which I reached some 30 mins and 4 miles later to find today's pic - the best piece of road graffiti I think I've ever seen on my bike.
The descent down was an epic 35 mph 9 mile roller coaster through frighteningly gusty winds on which I only had the one very hairy unplanned off road excursion before cruising into Santa Barbara for the night.
Looking forward to a long but flat day tomorrow on the final leg into LA, and for that matter my very last stint on the pacific coast :(
