Tour de California Mar 2016 Day 4

3/25/2016, Santa Maria---Ventura, 106 miles, 10h30m, Sunny, 60°F

After 3 days of riding, I started to lose my morale. Should I keep on riding? The pain knees, sour muscles, heartburn, and dangerous route on the highway, and less attractive views—all kept me from riding to the next destination. But the 4th day is very different, there will be different view on the seaside, I will arrive the Pacific coast at last!

I had the banana and milk for breakfast, which made me feel better with the stomach. Then I was on the way at 7:30 am. The long day started. The road is flat for all the day, though with undulating terrains, the elevation is about sea level. My first stop was Buellton, where is famous for split bean soup, which I saw from the advertise board on the roadside. But I was there too early and no restaurant was open, so I only had some radishes at MI Pueblito market. 

Then after some slight climbing, I was at Galviota, a scenery town on the coast, where the 101 highway turns at 90 degrees. It was very windy here and I was shaking on the bike. Then I began to enjoy the broad seaside view, seagulls, ships, beaches, bridges, and the Pacific rails. I was riding along the coast till the destination. 

Around 2:00 pm I arrived at Goleta, a beautiful, quiet town on the seaside, with a state university campus there. I tried to locate a Subway for my lunch, but when I was there, everything was closed. So I went back to the main road and ate a Hamburg at the McDonald's. At 3:30 pm, I was on my way again, passing Santa Barbara, crowed at the beach for the good Friday. The sunset on the Pacific sea was terrific, and I enjoyed the riding along the coast, before another kind of boredom began, when at last I arrived the Pacific Inn Motel at Ventura before dark. After bath, I had my dinner at Hong Kong Inn, where there was a small party going on and some black musicians were playing flutes. I had sizzling combo of meat and vegetables, the best dish I had so far, and my stomach was recovering now.

Tour de California Mar 2016 Day 3

3/24/2016, Paso Robles---Santa Maria, 61.8 miles, 6h, Sunny, 60°F

I waked up around 8:00 am, and walked to the nearby CVS to buy some drug for my heartburn. After taking the medicine, I felt much better and had my breakfast at House of Bagels, eating very slowly the sesame bagel with scrambled eggs, and a bottle of milk. Then I left at 10:30 am.

The road from Paso Robles to Santa Maria is mainly through undulating vineyards, with some great mounting views. The elevation is high about 1552 feet in the beginning until San Margarita, where it drops abruptly to about 60 feet. It was at the dropping moment I had the free fall happiness again, together with the running cars and trucks besides me. 

At the Souther Station Restaurant in Santa Margarita, I had some great salad, a fresh vegetable mix with salt and pepper. Then at Arroyo Grande, a small but elegant town, I had an ice cream (strawberry and mint chips) at Doc Burnsteins. I spat out all the chocolate chips to avoid the stomach stimulation. Around 18:00, I arrived at the Motel 6 in Santa Maria. After bath, I went to have the dinner (Teriyaki chicken) at D & A HAWAIIAN BBQ and bought some strawberry, banana, and milk for my next day breakfast at Foodmaxx. 

Tour de California Mar 2016 Day 2

3/23/2016, Marina---Paso Robles, 120 miles, 13h, Sunny, 60°F

The road is mainly flat from Marina to Paso Robles, with slow elevations to 1339 feet as close to Paso Robles. It's open California valley with vineyard after vineyard. The new green leaves on rotating vines wander along acres of grids, drinking eagerly from the sprinkling fountains, what a promising season!

I had heavy breakfast (Omelet with potato chips side, strawberry and banana smoothy, coffee) at Denny's before setting out on 7:15 am. It was a mistake because soon I had hiccups again and the heartburn bothered me all the day. The first four hours were OK with undulating roads. My first stop was at Greenfield, where I had a strawberry smoothy in a McDonald's since my stomach was still full. Then in the next 2 hours, I was riding along the Pacific rail, which made me sleepy, almost closed my eyes for a few moments. I had to get energy now. So at San Ardo, a tiny town, I stopped to have a chicken salad sandwich and an ice cream bar in a roadside liquor and gas. The sandwich was terrible, also because my heartburn, but the ice cream bar relieved my pain temporarily. 

In a big open field besides the Pacific rail near San Ardo, there are many machines swinging their iron arms and pumping a rod into the earth. I was not sure what it was, but it labeled as Chevron Water Treatment Facilities on the map, though it was more like pumps in gas or oil fields. I was lost in the field until a nice man looked like an engineer stopped his car and asked me if I needed any help. He did show me the way out to the freeway 101 south. However, the google bike map gave an alternative way to a dead end, which made me come back to 101 high way. Moment later, the google map gave another alternative way, which led me into the river covered with grasses (it's called river road). So 1 hour was wasted on looking for the alternative road, and I had to go back to 101 highway. I tried to avoid the highway because the roadside stands said biking is prohibited on the highway. Yet, the google map always give you the choice of ride on highway, seems there is no other ways available, and the shoulder is wide enough, so I rode on it when I had no other choices.

I made another stop at San Miguel to buy some water in the roadside gas station, then I switched to a local road paralleled to 101 highway. It was dark now, I rode carefully and slowly to shun passing cars. The moon was rising above the horizon, full and big, throwing shadows of old trees and farm house, above the broad and undulating vineyards, what a pastoral view! I began to feel lucky to bike at night now. At last I arrived at the Paso Robles Inn on the Spring street, it was 21:00 already, and I slept without eating anything.

Tour de California Mar 2016 Day 1

3/22/2016, Mountain View---Marina, 72.4 miles, 7h30m, Cloudy, 60°F

The road is flat from Mountain View to Los Gatos, then it is elevated abruptly after the Lexington reservoir, reaching the peak at Lexington hills to about 1631 feet. The climbing is through the old Santa Cruz road, and the falling is through the Soquel San Jose road, which takes a long time. After Soquel, the road is flat till Marina.

I had light breakfast (pancake, coffee, milk), and bring with me 1 litter water, and a backpack of 10 pounds carrying with emergency tools and some changing clothes, though the tools were never used on the way. I had to walk my vintage bike without speed gears to climb the hills. Walking in the redwood forests was a meditation with doubts, which reminded me of Dante's Devine comedies, where in the beginning he said, "In the middle of the journey of our life,  I found myself lost in the dark forest..." And true the sunlight from the top of the mountain led me walking on with efforts, until I reach the top of the mountain.  Then, a huge release, a free fall like flying in the heaven, with wind passing and wheels rolling, the moment of freedom and happiness after the painful responsibility, the total energy remains constant.

After 4 hours' riding, I had lunch (Mongolian beef and soup) in a Chinese restaurant (Golden Fu Wah) in Soquel, not too bad. Then I continued to ride to the end of the trip, the Motel 6 Monterey in Marina, where I found only one soap for bathing. I met a very open guy named Mark, who invited me to have a slice of pizza together with his mother. Then at night, I invited Mark for a beer in the only local bar Kula Ranch Marina. I ate some nuts before going to bed, then I started to have hiccup, which will torture my stomach for the next 2 days.

Foot hill ride Mar 2016

Bay trail to San Francisco

The first ride: DISTANCE 50.3 miles, TIME 04:14:14, MAX ELEV 200 ft, AVG speed 11.9 mph, MAX speed 37.8 mph.
The second ride: DISTANCE 50.2 miles, TIME 3:44:06,  MAX ELEV 156 ft, AVG speed 13.7 mph, MAX speed 36.9 mph.

Bay trail to facebook

This trial is about 14 miles, including Stevens creek trail and part of bay trail. The scene around the bay is wonderful. The ride is enjoyable with biking only roads. The first ride: AVG speed 13.5 mph, MAX speed 31.3 mph, TIME 01:05:00. The second ride: AVG speed 15.5 mph, MAX speed 35.1 mph, MAX ELEV 155 ft, TIME 00:54:27. The third ride: AVG speed 15.6 mph, MAX speed 38.5 mph, MAX ELEV 158 ft.TIME 00:52:54.