Ride Day 5

I started my ride very early in the morning today. There was a marine layer of misty fog in the air and it was cold. I put on my rain jacket and both sweatshirts and hit the road from the north side of Big Sur heading South. I had to immediately climb 800 feet so I warmed up quickly. Off with the rain coat and one sweatshirt to cool down. I would rest often on the steep grades just because I am an out of shape fat old man. Maybe if I keep riding I will get fitter at some point.

I stopped for breakfast at the Big Sur Bakery and it was a good meal. Then I rode on down the south side of Big Sur. A wild turkey burst out of the forest just in front of me. We caught each other off guard and I had time to get my camera out to get a pic of the hen as she ran around in circles until she got her bearings and took off again. I had to put my second sweatshirt back on for the downhill because the cold wet air was cooling my sweaty body so fast I was almost getting hypothermia. I started to shake and shiver which is never a good thing, but luckily there was plenty of uphill to rewarm my cold stiff body.

After the marine layer burned off the views of the mountains and coast were just gorgeous yet again. I took a lot of pics but they just do not capture the real world views. The mist in the air washed out the pics and the views are so large of a scale that they just do not fit in a single picture unless you blew them up to poster size pics. When I looked over the pics I was a bit disappointed with them. I will try harder in the future.

I had lunch on the go of just some power bars and some salami and cheese with a trail mix. I drank all four bottles of water that I was carrying. I need to work on my water use. Smaller sips to wet the mouth and then swallow just enough to keep me hydrated. I did not need to pee all day long so I know it was not too much water. Around two thirty I came to a campground just short of Gorda near Pacific Valley and I was tired so I stopped and made camp. I wanted to go further but there is not much of anything along this stretch of road and I did not want to get caught out overnight without a campsite.

I had some pain problems so I took some narcotics and went straight to sleep. A long hard day on the road but I loved it. Despite the pain I slept hard.