Day 30 Report - Half Moon Bay to Capitola

Total Miles 54.2
Average Speed 12.7mph
Total Ascent 743m

It was a day of many showers and I had a 100% waterproof overshoe day (team Endura style) and almost a full day of Altura's excellent Pock Rock to keep my top half dry.

This ended up being slightly shorter than I'd really have liked. I forgot the pre-booked motel was a little short of my optimum 60 miles for today. Never mind, with the showers and (yet again) a headwind I'm not too fussed about having to add a few miles to tomorrow. Can anyone remember the last time I mentioned a tail wind? No? Neither can I.

I actually started off in a break in the showers but I wasn't naive enough to begin without overshoes and pock rock on. Sure enough 45 minutes later and there it was - a rain shower. It was quite cold too and I missed my full finger gloves (at home) but only for a moment - it's not practical to take everything and it wasn't all that cold really.

The Highway 1 took me along the coast in pretty open country until quite late in the day at Santa Cruz. I stopped at a lovely spot between showers just after 11 - Pigeon point. There is an old lighthouse there and some stunning views (pics another time). It was also nice and quiet until a couple of big school buses showed up - time to move on! It's great for them to have such lovely coastline on their doorstep. I don't remember too much about my school trips but expect they were mostly rainy days too.

After Pigeon point I even took the pock rock off because the sun had come out and I made it to lunch at about 1 in this way. I took off my overshoes at lunch but as there was another shower brewing they went on together with pock rock as the afternoon session commenced.

I will always remember Santa Cruz as being the wettest place on the Pacific coast. This is probably very unfair as it is only based on the short while it took me to get through it - and the deluge that welcomed me. Deluge it really was - rivers flowing down the gutters and big puddles in the road. This does add a few extra things to think about for the cyclist - are there potholes in those puddles? - better avoid all drain covers as they'll be slippy - no sharp turns as these roads are so slimy. Anyway - I'm used to this from cycling at home so no big deal as long as you're careful.

I've noticed there have been far fewer touring cyclists since San Fran (by the way I forgot to mention how big cycling is in and around that city -great!).

I did however pass a couple of cyclists in the deluge (commuters I think).

cyclist 1 - swearing and ranting at the weather
cyclist 2 - laughing at the absurdity of the suituation

cyclist 2, I like your style!

I also briefly met a couple of (French I think) tourers. They were looking for a motel and I said I had one booked. Unfortunately this came about right at the most busy and complicated junction in Santa Cruz. It really annoys the motorists if you are in the road at a junction (even a bike lane) and stop - the turn right is then blocked for them. I can understand this, so I don't stop at a junction to look at maps/gps unless I get the bike right off the road. The lights turned green just as we were slowing down (always a bonus with clip in pedals) so I went through the complicated junction and looked back. They had stopped and were discussing right at the junction. Ah well, "there's two of them, they'll be ok" I thought. Sorry guys I guess I was looking out for number 1!

It wasn't long until I was safely at my motel and getting dried and warmed.

I interrupt this blog for a rant

"Leaf blowers - why on earth did anyone invent such and thing and even worse why would anyone use one!!! They are incredibly noisy, probably expensive to buy and run and do not solve the root cause of the problem. Presumably they are used because leaves look messy - correct me if I'm wrong but blowing them around a bit is not going to solve that. Please just get a rake and a suitable leaf container and deal with it!"

Ah, that feels better - there was one of these going at the motel.

Tomorrow I will finish near the small town of Big Sur. There is practically nothing for 20-30 miles either side of that, hence the planning ahead with accommodation. By my (sometimes faulty) calcs tomorrow and the next day will both be c70 milers. There will be climbing too. Here's hoping for dry days and if I could have a wee tail wind for a change that would be nice too.