Ride day two

I woke up this morning to everything covered in frost. That was sort of a surprise. I packed up my bike and headed to the coffee shop for my morning caffeine fix. I then headed South. The entire ride had fantastic coastal scenery that was truly epic. My legs were a bit slower today because I rode hard yesterday. My one big mistake was that I did not bring enough water. It was 40 miles before the first service along the way. I did not know that. My fault for not checking my plans close enough. I will try not to make that mistake again because it proved to be a bad mistake.

The day may have started off cold but the sun was bright and the temps climbed quickly to around 70 degrees f. I was sweating heavily from all the long grades and was using my water liberally. When the water started getting low I stopped at a state park to ask about where I could get water. She told me the next place was just before my destination of Santa Cruz. I was taken by surprise. I knew I was in trouble but I also trust that people would help me if it got critical.

I started conserving my water. That quickly proved to be a big mistake. I got thirsty and then my energy started to slowly go down. All of a sudden the hills that I had been climbing became mountains to my tired dehydrated old body. I had to stop frequently to rest and all that did was make it take longer for me to get water. Finally I decided to take an 8 mile detour to go to a small town off my route. I got my water and sport drink to try to rehydrate me. I never recovered from the dry spell. My energy stayed low the rest of the day.

I bought some Girl Scout cookies the night before and I was glad I had them with me. They were the Somoa ones with chocolate and coconut. High fat high energy food. I was still hungry. I dreamed of a big cheeseburger or a roasted chicken and lots of other foods. It just made it worse thinking about food.

The last few hills were brutal for me. I felt weak and light headed. Had to rest a lot. The twenty somethings in their fancy low friction Italian jerseys started to fly past me on their lightweight racing bikes. That just made me feel worse. I toughed it out. I had to get angry at myself and force myself to keep going despite the huffing and puffing and the burning weak rubbery legs.

I learned a lot today. Bring more water than you think you need. Bring more food. Spend more time learning about what is along the route. And trade my tired old body in for one of those twenty something ones.

I took a lot of pics because I had to stop and rest so often and I figured I would not look so much like a woooose if I took a pic each time. I won't post them all here just a sample of them. The scenery was worth every burning muscle and all the thirst issues.

Tomorrow will be a lighter day. I will post when I am able to find a wifi.