Day 16, September 24, 2007
San Francisco, CA to Santa Cruz, CA
88 miles, 13.5 mph, 6h 28m 8s (max speed 36.2 mph)
Up at 6:00, 7:00 breakfast at Café Lombard, 8:00 load luggage, 8:00 on the road. Weather forecast for today was for cool a 56F early, warning up to 65F by mid afternoon and sunny all day. That is exactly what occurred. It was a very nice cycling day with 4,500 feet of climbing. I don't mind the climbing but it makes the day longer.
We had breakfast at Café Lombard where I had spoken to the manager yesterday about my cycling experiences for the Alzheimer's Association. He was very interested in getting a bike and starting to ride. He assured me that he would do it. We will be in touch. I hope he follows through. Our route went by the Golden Gate Bridge again, this time it was a much clearer day and that made for a nicer view. Shortly after that I began to recognize the route, for a few miles it was the reverse of the beginning of the Cross Country Challenge ride I did in 2005. I stopped at Ocean Beach where we did the ceremonial wheel dip on day one of the 2005 ride. It brought back many fond memories.
Further down the route we passed an area where there were many artists doing their painting of a scenic view that included an old abandoned house. I guess it is a famous place to paint. When we got to SAG 1, there was a pleasant surprise. Jan Medina, a rider from this years Across America North ride, had brought us scones, apple turnovers and a cold fresh fruit mix. It all was delicious. She is such a special lady do such a nice thing for us.
We passed many vegetable fields of brussel sprouts, pumpkins, onions, corn and beans. I also continued to take many photos of scenic ocean views. We passed a "slide" area that has given way before and covered the road with several feet of dirt. This probably occurred during heavy rain. Apparently, Santa Cruz is a huge surfer's paradise. We saw many surfers doing their thing and some quite well. We also went by an ocean amusement park. We are staying at a nice Comfort Inn.
Oh, by the way, I had a crash today. I am just fine, but have a bruised left knee. You will notice that Vivian has a band aid on her left knee also. She insisted, wanted to look like me. I was leaving SAG 2 today and clipped into my pedals. My shoes have cleats on the bottom and they snap into the bike pedals. This makes it easier to develop a "cadence" which occurs when I push down with my right leg quadricep and pull up with my left leg hamstring and then continue to reverse the leg motion. If you do this, it makes it easier for you to cycle more efficiently with less effort, but it takes a lot of practice to sustain a cadence. Anyway, I had to go up a small hill to get back up onto the road but I didn't put my bike in a small enough gear to climb. So when I got to the top I was barely moving and tried to clip out with my left foot and I couldn't do it. So, I fell over on my left side and bruised my left knee. My camera crashed to the ground again and the lens fell off. This is the second time I dropped my camera. I felt like a complete jerk. "Florence Nightingale" (Barbara Monk) came to the rescue. She has had nurse training and usually is our SAG general. Actually, this type of "accident" isn't that unusual for a cyclist.
Tomorrow is a 72 mile ride to Carmel Valley. Wednesday is 111 miles to Paso Robles.
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