July 9, 2010
We caught up on mileage today, did 62 miles instead of 46. Took some Advil for my knee and it worked like a charm, didn’t bug me at all today. We started off the morning with a 900 foot hill (went up it like pros). Only had about 4 other hills of any notable size the rest of the day. We stopped for lunch at the 44 mile mark at the Catch Café (aka Hippie Café). The food was absolutely delicious. I had a philly cheese steak and Taka had a turkey sub with homemade gravy. I’m at the point where it doesn’t really matter what I eat, as long as I eat something. Heavy foods don’t really slow me down anymore, just as long as I don’t eat too much. We’ve started eating really big breakfasts because we tend to have great cycling days when we do.
The only other thing from today of note is that the 101 officially turned into a freeway today. Meaning that the speed limit for cars went up along with the traffic. Good thing is that the shoulder is consistently adequate now (at least it was today). Bad news is the number of freeway exits/entrances that we have to pass. Crossing freeway onramps/off ramps going 10mph on a bicycle with cars and trucks coming at you going 70mph will put the fear of God in you; it’s pretty nasty business.
Side Note: Remembered some stuff looking at the pictures I’m uploading right now. We rode the first 30 miles or so (before the freeway) through some pretty awesome redwoods forest. Nice scenery to look at when there’s a lull in traffic or when we stop for a quick rest. Also, we’ve been riding through some fog the past few days. Luckily it hasn’t been too heavy on us, but there’s just enough of it to look really cool over the ocean and in the hills.
-Chris