Coming into Cambria

Monday, May 15th

The start of another cycling vacation with The Boyfriend, arriving in Cambria.  But first, we spent the night before in King City at Motel 6 and feasting at Denny's.  "Nothing but the best for my woman," so said The BF.  Wow, who could ask for anything more .... though I admit, the meal at Denny's was alrighty.  Especially since it was the only joint open.  We arrived bright and early to begin biking in lovely Cambria, doing a favorite loop that goes along Highway 1 to Cayucos and Old Creek Road, and onward to Santa Rosa Road.

The winter rains provided us with a lot more greenery than we've seen in previous years. We stopped in Cayucos at our favorite cafe to eat their delicious cheese and bacon quiche.  With our bellies full, we were ready to speed along.

The lake was full.  I stopped and danced on the side of the road.  A woman driver stopped to see if we were okay.  How nice but gosh, could she not tell that I was not in distress!

Lush and beautiful.  I don't have photos, but, we came across some odd trees and wondered about them.  Turns out they were avocado trees.  Who knew!  I don't know why I thought avocados grew in the ground like potatoes.  Omg, I got a flat tire.  Occasionally, The BF proves useful ... he fixed my flat.

This was the first time doing this ride that we encountered wildflowers.  It was spectacular.  A great way to start our vacation. 

Quimby Road At Last

The Moo Moo laughing at me and wondering why I am torturing myself climbing Quimby Road.

In all the years biking, The Boyfriend and I have never climbed Quimby Road to Mt. Hamilton.  I opted out the year Low Key Hill Climb Series did it.  That was some time ago.  It's not as bad as I imagined. If you can climb Sierra Road, you can climb Quimby.  Well, I say that, until I reached this switchback.

And this doozy of a climb.  That's where I panicked and got off the bike and walked.  The rest of the club riders were way ahead of me on their way to climbing Mt. Hamilton.

So I took photos.  A few days ago, we were in the midst of a heat wave.  Today, we were bundled up and cold. 

The climb is worth it for the views.  The sun tried to make an appearance and I appreciated any warmth it provided.  I was able to get back on the bike and do the last bit of the climb.

Last view from Quimby before descending Quimby to continue to Mt. Hamilton.  Except I was so wet from sweat that I knew to stop.  Descending Quimby was like being in a bucket of ice cubes.  Turns out that Mt. Hamilton was open after all, and I was able to ride it back to the start.

I suppose I should have taken photographs to show the progress in the repair of the road after the washout from the winter storms but this sort of shot was much more appealing.  For a brief spell, there was a bit of blue in the sky.

One last lovely shot before finishing the ride. It was darn chilly.  After biking Quimby, the bits of climb on Mt. Hamilton were easy peazy.  I waited an hour at my car for The Boyfriend.  He and everyone else did the entire ride.  He said it was probably 40 degrees at the top of Mt. Hamilton.  I would have demanded a limo to get me down.  Or a horse drawn carriage.  Proud of him for doing it all.  And delighted that we both finally did Quimby Road.  In a week or so, the pros will be doing Mt. Ham and Quimby Road for the Amgen Tour of California.  I hope they have perfect weather.

One last thing, while at Chili's for a meal afterwards, we had another first, watching The Kentucky Derby.  Neato peato. 

Happy Earth Day

Been awhile since I've blogged.  Lots going on but no time to really write.  Today, I joined 5 others on a club ride that included Cienega to Pinnacles National Monument with a return on Airline Highway in Hollister.

There was a fair amount of traffic though not evident from this photo.  Ha ha.  There was a lot of climbing as well.  And boy did I feel it.

A little while into our ride, I thought we'd done 12 miles but turned out we'd only gone 7 miles.  I was done.  That's the weenie woman in me.  But I stuck it out, mostly riding with Lou.  Along the way, I met some other cyclists who chatted with me and said I was the "little engine that could."  Yep, that's me.  They tuckered out, stopping and starting, and then turned around but I kept going onwards to the Pinnacles.

The hills as you can see are still green.  I've done sections of this route in the past for the Low Key MegaMonster but everything looked so different in technicolor, you know.  It was spectacular. Every now and then, I'd catch a glimpse of poppies and wildflowers as well as cows.  Nice.   I rode alone the remaining 30 miles to our start location.  Given that my cycling has been sporadic this year, and with today's climbs and some wind, I was pleased that I did 65 miles in 6 hr. 24 min.  I'm ready for the next club ride!  Meanwhile, Happy Earth Day.  Please respect and cherish our environment.