On the road! - Day one

So... after a short warm up ride over the Golde Gate to get the last kinks out of my set up, as well as my legs, I’m off down the coast.  The day started out cool and foggy in San Francisco, with a nice roll up & over the hill behind downtown, then down to the beach via Golden Gate park, a beautiful late 19th century Olmsted designed classic, the clearly reminds you of a California version of NYC’s Central Park.  I then struck out south along the main coast road, the “Cabrillo Highway,” or CA Rt. 1.  The coast if very dramatic through this section, with lots of cliffs and climbs as. The highway stay pretty much within a 1/2 mile or so of the ocean.  Here’s a few of the day’s pics:

Ready to go, at the first glimpsed of the Pacific!

 

Feeling good!

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Yes, those are fresh oysters and abalone, and they are delicious!

Todays ride totaled up at about 83 miles, 4500’ of climbing and 5:15 in riding time, so not too slow.  But there will bne no Strava files today,as my Garmin failed to record the data again... bummer.  Still a great day to ride, particularly with the nice 15+mph tailwind that came up in the afternoon.  The highlight of the day was stopping at the ‘American Abalone Farm, about 15 miles north of Santa Cruz.  I stopped here for some fresh oysters, and even tried an abolone, just for kicks.  The abalone was not terriblly distinctive, but the oysters were delicious!! Tomorrow, its on down the coast through Monterey and past Pebble Beach in Carmel, then on down the coast to Big Sur, where I’m staying at a little campground and renting a “glamping” tent for the night ;-). More when i get there!