The schedule had the 3 groups starting at 7:00, and Bill Bliss getting a half hour head start. But, it didn't work out that way. Bill was 20 minutes late, but that wasn't too bad because we were also late in loading up the van. We all didn't get on the road until 7:15. Already 15 minutes behind schedule.
It looked like it was going to be a good day, with clear sunny skies. This weather would manage to hold true for the entire weekend. It was never too cold, and it never got too hot, but was mostly just right.
In Hollister, we had 12 for breakfast, as we were joined by Gary's friend, Josie. We were 20 minutes behind when we got there and were 30 minutes behind schedule when we left. But nobody was too worried about being behind schedule, as we still had plenty of time to spare in Paso Robles. So what if we got there at 5:30 instead of 5:00. It was such a nice day. We were all enjoying this ride.
On the way to Paicines, I was able to ride with Patti, Lucie, and Gary. This was the first time that we were all together in a couple of years. It felt like old times again.
The Big Slide section just before Paicines was now all completed with brand new roadway. No problem here. Looking up the hillside, you could see that it was an awful lot of work to get this spot fixed.
At BitterWater School we had a nice stop. Group A was already off ahead, but we found Group C still hanging out. No hurry here. I was in Group B, so I was glad to be here, as we were to drive SAG for the next section, and we were ready for a break. I had been getting a bit tired, as I had gone for too long on too little food. But now I had a chance to catch up on my eating.
Once on the road again, we saw that the BitterWater Lake (which I didn't even know existed) was way up, and it even covered both lanes of the road. We drove through, but then waited to watch Group C ride their bikes through. They all made it, but the water was a good 6" deep.
We drove the SAG into the Pitts home right about 5 minutes after Group A had arrived. We would have caught them but they had kept their last stop very short. The lady of the house (Mrs Pitts?) came out to meet us. She was very friendly and invited us to use their bathroom if we needed it.
We all (Groups A and B) left at the same time and stayed together until the start of "the wall". Group A split there, with Richard and Duncan behind, and Lucie and Gary hanging with us to the top. This new group stayed together all of the way into San Miguel. We were cruising along at about 25 mph, so maybe the slight downhill and good tailwind had something to do with it. Anyway, nobody was complaining. It was a great day.
Once in San Miguel we hopped on the freeway. 7 more miles to go. LeRoy was now already off the front, and Patti was making her move to. Lucie was finally getting tired and Gary hung back with her, so I decided that I would stay with Patti. Together we flew on into Paso Robles, getting there 8 minutes before 5:00. We had managed to catch back up to our schedule. We even beat the SAG van in by about 5 minutes.
Totals for the day: 107.1 miles, 3870 ft, 18.0 mph
After setting up tents and taking showers, we were off to LOLO's restaurant for dinner. We managed to get 9 people in the van, then 2 other cars supplied 5 more people. Good group. Good dinner.
We stopped to check out the views down the hill overlooking the infamous switchbacks. Pam took a few pictures. Going down Santa Rosa Creek meant that we had now already done this, and so would not have to spend time considering which way to go when it was time to come back up. We would come back up on Old Creek Rd.
Santa Rosa Creek Rd is probably about the same distance as using Hwy 46, but the time is about 15 minutes longer. But then, we weren't in any hurry, as we were taking our time and enjoying the road and the ride. We were the last ones to get into the restaurant in Cambria. The others already had their food.
After breakfast, it was south on Hwy 1 towards Morro Bay. We decided to skip Morro Bay and to just turn up Old Creek Rd when we got to it in Cayucos. David decided to save his knee and to go back up on Hwy 46. So it was just me and Pam now. As soon as we turned, there were Lucie, Gary, Patti, plus Bev and Brian Louw and Claudine. They had stopped in Cayucos and were just starting up again. Then a few minutes later, here comes the fast group of Alan and Sue Kayser, Pete Klein, Karl Schilling, Gary Smart, and Paul Vlasveld. They had just gotten back from Morro Bay. So, for a few minutes we were all one big happy group again.
Then the hill separated everyone again. I hung with Pam, and we were doing a good job of keeping Paul in sight. Once at the top, I left Pam and came back down to check on the slower ones, with the hopes of maybe pulling Lucie up with the bungee cord. It turned out that Lucie was doing ok, and so I went on down to check on the last ones, who were Brian and Bev. They were tired but doing ok, after having stopped to eat a Power Bar, and so I turned around and came back up the hill.
Earlier, I felt tired on Hwy 1, even though we had a tailwind. But for some reason I felt very good on Old Creek Rd, going up it now for my second time. The first time up I took it easy, just pacing Pam. Now I was free to go my own pace, and I found that I had lots of energy, so I just flew up the hill. I only met Pam and Claudine waiting. Claudine was going to wait for Brian and Bev, so Pam and I decided to wait also. After about 15 minutes, still no Brian and Bev, so Claudine went back to find them and Pam and I decided to ride on in.
Pam was riding strong, and so we managed to catch and pass alot of people along Hwy 46. It felt good to be riding strong, and it was good to see Pam riding strong, also.
Totals for the day: 74.6 miles, 5000 ft, 14.5 mph
This evening was the Wine and Cheese party. Pam wanted to enter her bike in the Concourse de Elegance, so after dinner we brought it over to the hall. Pam's hook was her story about her encounter with the bull. She had a few props, and was telling her bull story to anyone that would listen. There seemed to always be a group of people around willing to listen to Pam's story. They were all impressed, and so we saw lots of people voting for her bike. Pam had the sympathy vote.
After the W/C Party I was scheduled for cleanup. Paul and I ended up puttting up half of the tables in the hall, and then I spent alot of time mopping the floor. Pam stayed also and helped with the cleanup. It made for a very long day and it was probably 11:00 pm by the time we got back to camp.
We loaded up the van and drove north on Hwy 101 to Jolon Rd, then continued on to Lockwood, which consisted of one solitary store. Starting from Lockwood, we rode our bikes 6 miles north to the junction into the Hunter Liggett Army Base. This section was pretty bumpy and had some traffic. Next time, I think it would be better to park at this junction.
The main gate of the army base is not manned, and seemed to be open to the public. The road was now very smooth, with very little traffic. This road is Mission Rd, as it goes directly to Mission San Antonio, 5.5 miles on down the road. We went to the mission, finding lots of activity, as this was a Sunday, and it seemed to be a working church. Mass was in session, so we looked around in the museum and other places. When we came back out, we found the church to have let out, and they had cake and coffee. Not being shy, we all joined in and helped ourselves. We might have spent an hour at the mission altogether. Nice place.
Back on the road again, we had to backtrack for a mile to get to Nacimiento Fergusson Rd. The sign said that Hwy 1 was closed, but there were still a few cars on the road. But nothing to worry about. This was a great road, just as smooth as the Mission Rd. Also, since this is all inside an amry base, there is no agriculture or grazing going on, and so the whole area is just natural grasslands and oak trees. No barbed wire fences. This must be the way things looked long ago.
The road went up and down a few gentle rollers, working its way over to a canyon so that it could follow the stream uphill. After a few more miles, the road headed on up to the ridge, but never got too steep, and always seemed to be in the shade. Just over the top, we found a good view down to the ocean, and so we figured that this would be far enough. We'd gone 32 miles so far, which would be over 60 for a roundtrip. It would have been 8 miles each way to get down to the ocean, plus a 2500 ft climb back up, so we all decided that we could see the ocean just fine from where we were.
The trip back to the car included a few rollers, but also seemed to be more of a tailwind. Anyway, everyone was sufficiently tired by the time we got back. Since the van was still there, and had air in all of its tires, we decided that we should buy some stuff at the store. After some ice cream and sodas, we loaded up for the drive back into Paso Robles.
Totals for the day : 59.3 miles, 3030 ft, 14.5 mph
We were back in camp by 5:00, so it was a full day adventure. We were just in time to start thinking about the chicken/salmon dinner that ACTC was putting on for themselves. Supposed to be 70 people signed up, but I never was able to count more than 52. Still, that was alot of people, and we all had a good time.
For the first time all weekend, some dark clouds started appearing. It looked like we might be going to get wet. But we figured that if we hurried along, then we might just be able to make it back to Paso Robles in time. The clouds kept growing, but we kept moving. No problem, we managed to get back into camp without getting even a drop. We even beat the Templeton-for-breakfast people back. Finally, they started coming back, saying that they did get a bit of rain.
Totals for the day : 29.8 miles, 2200 ft, 14.0 mph
We packed up all the camping gear, loaded up the van, then headed to lunch at The Bakery. It was only me, Dan, and Richard for the drive home, but we had lunch with 8 others. We sat outside, and it still looked like rain, but it never did. Finally we were on the road by 1:30 and back in San Jose just after 4:30.