Monday, October 1
Today we rode from Monterey to Big Sur. The route took us along the 17 Mile Drive which is a scenic drive along the beach in Monterey. The pictures speak for themselves! It was another beautiful day along the beach. And the houses are so big; it’s hard to believe that anyone really lives in them.
At 38 or so miles, this ride is the shortest of the whole tour. At the same time, it’s one of the longest. There are so many places to stop and take pictures that we kept it at a slow pace. I’m so grateful to be able to ride along and share this experience with Kellie
Today we rode from Monterey to Big Sur. The route took us along the 17 Mile Drive which is a scenic drive along the beach in Monterey. The pictures speak for themselves! It was another beautiful day along the beach. And the houses are so big; it’s hard to believe that anyone really lives in them.
At 38 or so miles, this ride is the shortest of the whole tour. At the same time, it’s one of the longest. There are so many places to stop and take pictures that we kept it at a slow pace. I’m so grateful to be able to ride along and share this experience with Kellie
While Kellie has been in this area before, today’s ride and most of the next two days are in areas of California I’ve only seen in postcards. In fact it was hard to take a snapshot of one famous landmark or another without it looking like a familiar postcard, so I made sure to include myself in a lot of them to heighten the interest. You can thank me later. 
We were thinking about what we could write about besides its beautiful out here. So we’ll write about an important part of the ride: injuries. There are 250 riders riding 525 miles which adds up to 131,250 miles! With that many miles, you know there will be some injuries. You don’t want injuries but they always seem to happen. Sometimes its car vs. bike sometimes its bike vs. road hazard sometimes it’s a careless rider.
We had five riders injured on day 1 leaving out of San Francisco. They were all injured at the same spot: a treacherous railroad crossing about 70 miles into the ride. Not good because you are tired and not as alert. If you don’t ride a bicycle, you might wonder what the problem is with railroad tracks. These tracks crossed the road at an angle that seemed to be designed to capture a road bike tire. If you were not alert and did not swing far to the right before crossing the tracks then immediately to the left you would get caught in the tracks. I have my cycling coach to thank for avoiding that hazard! He is always telling me to look ahead, look ahead, and keep your eyes on the lookout for hazards. I saw those tracks and went over them with no problem.
But one fellow got his tire caught in the tracks, whet down and broke his collarbone. Our friends Rick and Karmen also took a fall there: first Karmen then Rick when he swerved to miss his fallen wife. They were badly hurt with a dislocated shoulder and injured legs and ankles.
So we don’t end this post on a bummer, I will say that today was a beautiful
, short day of climbing and fast downhills. The air is scented with pine trees and salt air here at camp. The sky is bright with the stars we never see in the city. The laughter over a dinner shared is contagious.
We were thinking about what we could write about besides its beautiful out here. So we’ll write about an important part of the ride: injuries. There are 250 riders riding 525 miles which adds up to 131,250 miles! With that many miles, you know there will be some injuries. You don’t want injuries but they always seem to happen. Sometimes its car vs. bike sometimes its bike vs. road hazard sometimes it’s a careless rider.
We had five riders injured on day 1 leaving out of San Francisco. They were all injured at the same spot: a treacherous railroad crossing about 70 miles into the ride. Not good because you are tired and not as alert. If you don’t ride a bicycle, you might wonder what the problem is with railroad tracks. These tracks crossed the road at an angle that seemed to be designed to capture a road bike tire. If you were not alert and did not swing far to the right before crossing the tracks then immediately to the left you would get caught in the tracks. I have my cycling coach to thank for avoiding that hazard! He is always telling me to look ahead, look ahead, and keep your eyes on the lookout for hazards. I saw those tracks and went over them with no problem.
But one fellow got his tire caught in the tracks, whet down and broke his collarbone. Our friends Rick and Karmen also took a fall there: first Karmen then Rick when he swerved to miss his fallen wife. They were badly hurt with a dislocated shoulder and injured legs and ankles.
So we don’t end this post on a bummer, I will say that today was a beautiful
, short day of climbing and fast downhills. The air is scented with pine trees and salt air here at camp. The sky is bright with the stars we never see in the city. The laughter over a dinner shared is contagious. 
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