After eight days in the saddle we finish the first part, San Francisco to Santa Barbara. On Tuesday we will begin part two, the six day Santa Barbara to San Diego ride.
Today was unusual; we started with brilliant sun! The temperature was cool compared to yesterday’s 96 degrees. At mile 5 we turn right and leave Santa Ynez Valley.
It’s not a long ride to Santa Barbara but there’s that damned mountain we have to cross. The elevation rises gradually to mile 19 and then there’s 4 miles of fairly steep grades. We have a little head wind which cools us for a while. Then, near the top, it becomes a troublesome head wind. The 2,000 feet descent is fairly scary. We’d been warned of rough road surfaces. But the biggest problems were the very tight switchbacks. We had to control our speed – think I’ll check the brake pads tomorrow.
Santa Barbara must be large geographically; we rode almost 15 miles in the city to get to our hotel.
As we begin the next section of the tour, I think we make the transition from North/n California. to Southern California. What are the differences? Geology? Agriculture? Politics? Personalities and Lifestyles?
CLICK HERE TO SEE TODAY'S RIDE. The hill doesn’t look like much here, but it was. I’ll guarantee it.
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