Cambria, CA

6.15.2010

Our ride today was supposed to be 110 miles, but we got racked for 7 of those miles due to a golf tournament at pebble beach. As you can see we were a little cramped in the car. Even though we got racked, it was still the longest ride that I have ever done. It would have been nice to have been able to see the golf course on my bike, but there were plenty of other sights to be seen as we continued along U.S. Route 1. I was riding with the lead pace group for the majority of the trip, and we were making great time. I got much better at riding in pace lines, staying close in line with the person in front of me to break the wind, but I was still working pretty hard.

The beginning of the trip was pretty hilly, with two (painfully) memorable hills about 25 and 45 miles in. We got up them mostly by using the “life story” strategy, where each person takes turns talking about themselves and their interests to divert attention from our burning legs. Another great distraction that I was able to use throughout the day was my new birthday present, a battery powered speaker that fits into my water bottle holder. I made a sweet play list for the trip, almost exclusively mash ups and techno, but a few miles in I hit a bump and shuffled the ipod. I’ll have to remember to turn off that feature for tomorrow. We continued on, I didn’t stop to fix it because I’m not sure I’m allowed to have it in the first place. I was really impressed by the battery life of the whole apparatus. It went for about 6 hours until we finished the ride.


In any case, we moved on from the mountains to rolling plains later in the day, and stopped to take a look at the sunbathing seals along the coast. When we finally got to lodging we were all pooped, and there was no friendship visit to provide a pick-me-up. We showered up and went out to get dinner. I really like this whole burning 5,000 calories a day thing. Today I ate a pbj bagel, a banana, some cinnamon toast crunch, a sandwich and chips, about 7 or 8 clif bars, 3 slices of pizza, some french fries, and a 1,200 calorie quart of Ben & Jerrys ice cream. Life is good.

It’s 9:00 right now and everyone is in bed. Omar snores like an ogre.