Day Four Summary

Today we're going to start our summary with the end of the day.


Woohoo! GB made it all the way to, and across, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco! There's just nothing like following up a difficult day cut short with a really, really great day -- the longest ever, in fact! I know I'm using a lot of exclamation points, but it just seems appropriate for today.

I have to confess I was a bit dejected after Day Three's ride, that it was going to be all over. I was hoping we'd get to Half Moon Bay for the day, but was expecting a similar knee-induced end of the day about Santa Cruz. Instead, I left the hotel in Monterey in time to meet up with him in SC, but he was doing great, and just kept going. I then proceeded to get lost trying to follow the route. And now I understand why GB was getting lost -- there are large sections of highway where bikes are not allowed (primarily through cities), and so you have to take these winding routes through residential and city streets. Just find one turn not labeled, or the street name changes since the maps we have were made, and you're completely out of whack and trying to find your way back on track. This time, he had no problems, but the Soquel Drive to Soquel Avenue transition was too much for me. Go figure.

I did manage to take some pictures, though. As I proceeded past this cliff up the way, I found they were growing strawberries up there. I hope those berries are as happy as the cows and sheep from the day before.

Since he was continuing on, I continued, too. When I passed him back on the highway, we went with the five-minute refueling stop, and he kept going. I stopped to take a picture of the beach village of Pacifica in our rear view mirror, first, though. I do love how I managed to catch this lunch-time surfer with a wave building behind him. I have no desire to learn to surf, myself, but I like watching them. This guy was the last one finishing up, or I would have tried to get some pictures of them catching some waves.

I don't really have a reason for this picture, but I took it the same day, and just like it. It's where the train meets the beach, and resulted in me getting sand all over the car.

Since things were going well, so far, I went on to Half Moon Bay, got gas for the car and found a cafe to sit in and use the internet connection to get a little work done. GB wandered in behind me within about fifteen minutes (how does he do that??). He sat there about 10 minutes, reloaded up with food and liquids, and said "Golden Gate or bust!" as he headed back out the door. I worked for a little bit more, and then collected my things and headed north. My plan was to find a hotel for us to stay in near the bridge, and then if I had to go back and pick him up, at least we'd have a stopping point already lined up and ready for us. And then I kept not hearing from him that he was too tired to go on and needed me to come get him. After getting settled into the room, I headed out to the far side of the bridge to pick him, and the timing worked out pretty much as perfectly as it could have, and I caught him just finishing the ride across the bridge.

What changed for today? A lot, actually. GB wrote a retired cyclist coworker asking for strategies for riding with a bum knee. He heard back on two primary pointers -- keep the knee out of the cold wind and let it warm up slowly for the first hour or so. He did that -- he wore his warm polar fleece-lined pants, and rode real slow for the first hour. But that wasn't all. There was also the hot-tub therapy and the rest day the day before for at least an hour. And there was the mountain of Advil consumed to keep inflammation down. Or that the sun actually came out for the day, lifting one's spirits and making for a more pleasant day in the outdoors. And he didn't eat anything but Clif bars the whole ride, after a day of eating lots of carbs. Who knows what actually did it, but I'll take the results.

Statistial Summary:

• Time on the road: 10 hours
• Time in the saddle: 9 hours, 37 minutes
• Maximum speed: 65.5 km/hr (40.7 mi/hr)
• Average speed: 24.9 km/hr (15.5 mi/hr)
• Distance ridden: 193.6 km (120 mi)
• Calories burned on the ride: 6573
• Calories consumed: 3670
• Protein consumed: 120.5g
• Unsaturated fats consumed: 61.5g
• Weight: up 1kg from the start
• Number of wrong turns: 0 (but 473 or so for Heather)