Saturday, June 16, 2012
Carmel to Big Sur
29 miles
The road out of Carmel went right past the Mission, so we stopped briefly to take pictures. People were gathering for a wedding there, so it wasn’t a very good time to tour it, anyway.
What a sweet day of riding! We kept looking at the elevation profile nervously,
and we probably have a big climb out of here first thing in the morning, but today was gorgeous. There were certainly hills, some of them long, but nothing really steep. The views were fabulous and the weather was spectacular. We had a bit of a tailwind. It was warm, but not too warm. We had a swooping two-mile descent. The roads were smooth and the shoulders, generous. Some areas didn’t have much shoulder, but the steady stream of convertibles and Priuses was generally polite if we took the lane.
We saw Porsches and Corvettes and a Lotus. Mustangs were the most common. Maybe that’s what you get when you rent a convertible? Of course there were motorcycles out in force. But we had the best convertibles, the kind where you don’t feel bad about eating eclairs when you get to the top of the hill, as Sadie pointed out.
Sadie, who started riding in Portland, turned over her 1000th mile right at the top of the biggest hill of the day! We stopped and snacked and took pictures, and several people parked at the overlook were amazed at how brave we were for riding all the way up there! I was only a tiny bit jealous of having an odometer work long enough to celebrate such landmarks.
Looking ahead!
Looking how far we’ve come!
We had a late lunch at the Big Sur River Inn, PB&J and Ginger Peach Smoothies. They have a terrific grassy area on the shores of the river, and some deck chairs in the river, where you can sit and soak your feet. Then, three miles later, we were at our campground at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.
Our terrific campsite is surrounded by redwoods.
We took a walk through the campground and by the river for nearly an hour,
and when we got back, I did yoga for a bit. I had to convince myself, but I did my hollow body rocks and all, basically rolling in the dirt. It was fun, and then I had my shower after. You can get so much done when you get off the road by four o’clock!
The steepest hill today was coming back up a restaurant driveway to the road. We only stopped there to fill up our water bottles. It seemed like the sensible thing to do as we were expecting lots of tough climbing and the weather was warm.
I was expecting a grueling day, and it turned out to be one of my best riding days ever. What will tomorrow bring?
2 Comments
Kyna on June 19, 2012 at 5:43 pm.
Love reading about your adventure. Your pictures are beautiful.
admin on June 19, 2012 at 10:08 pm.
I was just thinking about you! Thank you!