Monterey Peninsula
Today's ride, while only 31.8 miles, took 3 hours 27 minutes to complete. Even though we left earlier than yesterday (7:50 am) we were caught in violent gusting winds between Big Sur and Carmel. At one point I literally had to step off my bike as the wind was surging at me directly sideways almost knocking me over. It can be frustrating, as we're riding through such beautiful terrain. The wind factor really takes away much of one's ability to enjoy the ride.
Amanda rides past the Point Sur light station into a cold breeze this morning.
Some of the scenic views along the road on the way to Carmel
An interesting rock garden in the Carmel highlands.
We arrived at our deluxe accomodations in Monterey around noon and checked our bikes with the valet (!)
Amanda tips the courteous staff.
Abby and her friend Jimmy, who generously made our accomodations tonight possible.
Jimmy drove up to Big Sur with a friend last night to join us at our impromptu roadside bar gig. We had fun playing for a handful of friendly locals, even though we were a bit wobbly on our knees.
My room at the hotel
A small portion of the view from my balcony (you can look right into the water and see the coral landscape)
Greg, pianist (accordion, too) and tour manager with his wife Boo.
We had lunch at this cool vegetarian restaurant "Tillie Gort's"
The show at Monterey Live was great. Wonderful sounding intimate 100 seat room. We could hear so beautifully on stage, it felt like playing real acoustic music. Thanks to Dennis who drove up from LA for letting me catch a nap in his van this afternoon. Now it's a race to wrap this up and get all our gear in the van so we can get as much sleep as possible before our ride to Santa Cruz first thing in the morning. I plan to get up even earlier and eat an actual breakfast.
By the way.. I did squirt some Tri-Flow on my chain the other night and it's whispering like it should now. I was so happy to climb the hills of Big Sur minus the annoyance of noisy shifting. Next I need to address some squeaky front brakes. Not a big deal, My friend Neil in Ventura gave me some suggestions of how to fix the problem. (He was a bike mechanic for many years)
Amanda rides past the Point Sur light station into a cold breeze this morning.
Some of the scenic views along the road on the way to Carmel
An interesting rock garden in the Carmel highlands.
We arrived at our deluxe accomodations in Monterey around noon and checked our bikes with the valet (!)
Amanda tips the courteous staff.
Abby and her friend Jimmy, who generously made our accomodations tonight possible.
Jimmy drove up to Big Sur with a friend last night to join us at our impromptu roadside bar gig. We had fun playing for a handful of friendly locals, even though we were a bit wobbly on our knees.
My room at the hotel
A small portion of the view from my balcony (you can look right into the water and see the coral landscape)
Greg, pianist (accordion, too) and tour manager with his wife Boo.
We had lunch at this cool vegetarian restaurant "Tillie Gort's"
The show at Monterey Live was great. Wonderful sounding intimate 100 seat room. We could hear so beautifully on stage, it felt like playing real acoustic music. Thanks to Dennis who drove up from LA for letting me catch a nap in his van this afternoon. Now it's a race to wrap this up and get all our gear in the van so we can get as much sleep as possible before our ride to Santa Cruz first thing in the morning. I plan to get up even earlier and eat an actual breakfast.
By the way.. I did squirt some Tri-Flow on my chain the other night and it's whispering like it should now. I was so happy to climb the hills of Big Sur minus the annoyance of noisy shifting. Next I need to address some squeaky front brakes. Not a big deal, My friend Neil in Ventura gave me some suggestions of how to fix the problem. (He was a bike mechanic for many years)
posted by Ian at 3:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home