Coast Ride - End of Day 1

What a great day of riding. A fast 126 mile blast straight down the coast with only a slight headwind to hold us back.We stopped just north of Santa Cruz for lunch with a lead group of about 20 people. I was in this group earlier but dropped back to see Hailey as we went down into Pacifica. We both ended up in the 3rd group on the road and about 2 minutes back on the leaders as we came into the main town of Pacifica. At this point I told Hailey that we needed to move up. I took the lead and we started the 15 minute bridge up to the next group. I dropped Hailey off into the 2nd group on the road with her friends Beth and Kataya right at the bottom of the climb up to Devils Slide, and then proceeded to try and bridge the gap to the front group. Both Drew and Barkow were in this group. They had about a minute lead and after a while the only other guy trying to bridge up was a friend of Drew's named Jonathan. I could see them a few hundred yards ahead. As we crested the top of the hill they still had 10 - 20 seconds and it felt like Jonathan was easing up. At that point I decided it was now or never and hit the descent hard, using the "caravan" of cars lined up behind the lead group to help me bridge the gap. As the road flattened out at the bottom of the descent I made it onto the back of the group but Jonathan was nowhere to be seen. If I'd had waited any longer it would have been a rough case back on the flat that wouldn't have been good for the legs.

Jonathan eventually caught back on about 20 miles later with a bunch of the Fusion team. I apologized for leaving him on the descent.Here is Hailey taking a lunch break with chips and a coke as usual. She was a little frazzled when she arrived but recovered quickly ready for the second half of the day. I guess the coke really works.














Barkow, Hailey and I at the lunch stop. Love the DODOcase kit today.After lunch we took a little detour through Santa Cruz on what Drew liked to call the scenic route. It took us past all the great surf spots but added about 6 miles and a whole bunch of time. The main group was going straight through town. When we got back onto the main route we came out right behind Hailey and 3 of her girlfriends. We ended up riding the rest of the way with them, protecting them from the headwinds as we crossed the open fields of the Monterey Peninsula. The last 20 miles were windy and not very interesting.

As soon as we arrived in Seaside Hailey and I took a quick shower and went straight out to find a protein shake and some instant food. We found Muscle Milk at Safeway (love our new sponsor) and I then went straight to Burger King for a chicken sandwich and some very salty fries. I even came away with some extra salt for later.There was a package waiting for us at the hotel from 3GO Magazine full of a bunch of new products for Hailey to test, including a really nice Rudy Project helmet and sunglasses as well as a bunch of clothing and food stuff. Its all really nice gear but there in nowhere for us to put it right now. We're going to have to borrow an extra bag from someone.About an hour later we went out for dinner again with the Barkow's and Drew to the Chilie's that was right behind the hotel. Exactly what we needed.Sunday, day 2, is probably going to be the biggest day, there are a few climbs and not much flat riding on the way to Morrow Bay. It'll be another 125 miles.Now we're relaxing back at the hotel. The bikes are all cleaned, chains are lubed and ready for the road tomorrow. I also inspected all the tires for cuts and embedded glass but they all look good right now. I took some time to enter the VOS stage race this evening so it's official, I'm racing in AZ in February.



Ride food for the day:

Breakfast - Assiago Bagel with cream cheese and a banana

On the ride - 4 Totillas, 4 Honey Stingers, chocolate bar, 1 packet of Almond Butter. 1 bag of chips for lunch.

Location:Monterey Peninsula Recreational Trail,Monterey,United States