January 13-16, 2007--We took part
with 50+ other cyclists in this year's "The Ride," a 375-mile
fast-paced tour down the California coast from San Francisco to Santa
Barbara. Four of us--Ike, Peter, Mojo, and Campy Only--rode
fixed gears the entire way, making this a "No Coasting" coast
ride.
Day One: San
Francisco to Seaside
124 miles, 6,000' of climbing
Day
Two: Seaside to Morro Bay
127 miles, 8,000' of climbing
Day Three: Morro
Bay to Santa Barbara
126 miles, 6,000' climbing
Total mileage for the weekend was about
375, with roughly 18,000 feet of climbing. This was about half the
distance and climbing we'll be doing at Paris-Brest-Paris in seven
months.
Day One: San
Francisco to Seaside
124 miles, 6,000' of climbing
Our Quickbeam waits at
the Golden Gate.
Got a little Captain in
ya? Mojo does.
Peter unracks
Peace out
Pump up
Nice retro Paramount,
fully racked and loaded
Morning sun on the Golden
Gate
Gathering at the start
Early coastal
scenes.
Surf's up!
Strange building on this
knoll.
Mojo rests in Davenport,
our lunch stop on Day One
Cycling keeps you slim.
Starbucks in Santa Cruz
Heading for Watsonville
Afternoon shadows
Ike powers on
Bushes
Seaside!
Sunset over Monterey Bay
Day
Two: Seaside to Morro Bay
127 miles, 8,000' of climbing
Ready to roll in Seaside
Photo op
Smile!
Leaving Monterey
Peter flatted. Good thing
he did, or we would have never caught him
First view of the Big Sur
coast
Almost too much scenery
to photograph
Ike and Peter on the
coast ... but not coasting on their fixed gears
Peter takes a photo of me
taking a photo of him
The Bixby Bridge
Our Quickbeam at the
Bixby Bridge
View back down the coast
of the Bixby Bridge
Video of the surf
Heading into Big Sur
Breakfast stop at the Big
Sur River Inn
Inside the River Inn
We stopped here to watch
whales migrating south
Somewhere in this shot is
a whale
Another Quickbeam photo
The Rigdon Drinking
Fountain, a natural spring that was unfortunately dry on this
day
More scenic coastal shots
Gratuitous photo of the
Campy Only Guy
Farther down the coast.
First glimpses of Hearst
Castle
Elephant seals at Point
Piedras Blancas
Off in the distance,
hundreds of elephant seals
Informational signage
Yet another Quickbeam
shot
Leaviong Cambria
Day
Three: Morro Bay to Santa Barbara
126 miles, 6,000' climbing
A somewhat smaller group
gets ready on Day Three
Sandy hands out props to
the folks who helped make the ride possible
Morro Rock
Another Morro Rock shot
Breakfast at Kitty's
Kitchen
Leaving Morro Bay
Hilltop homes in Pismo
Beach
Entering Pismo
Sprinting through
Guadalupe
We tried to snag a county
line sprint, but Peter won out
A dejected Diesel
Cresting a climb on the
way to Lompoc
Gratuitous photo of you
know who
Almost the last
gratuitous shot
After Lompoc
The coast below Gaviota
Finished!! We beat most
of the "gearly bikes" to Santa Barbara
The Diesel, aka the Campy
Only Guy. Last gratuitous photo for this ride
