I think this is my favorite day. We travel from the relatively affluent coastal town of Santa Cruz, inland through Salinas and through farm country down to King city. The views are so wide and open and dramatically different from what I usually ride through.
Last night I managed to get some dinner (actually a third dinner!) with my Dad.
On our way out of Capitola we were greeted with free coffee on the side of the road! Stef was there again, this time much more recognizable.
As cyclists we are incredibly vulnerable on the side of the road. Riding through Santa Cruz I just felt like drivers thought I was in the way. Cars were constantly doing dangerous things around us.
As soon as we got inland to farm country the trucks and cars were almost unbelievably courteous to us. They would pull all the way across to the other side of the road giving us the full lane; This happened every time. On multiple occasions a semi truck loaded sky high with boxes just drove behind the cyclists until it was safe to pass. The contrast from a car recklessly almost driving into the woman in front of me to save a few seconds in Santa Cruz and the way everyone behaved as soon as we got out near Salinas was enormous.
On a lighter note: I bumped into some cycling friends at the rest stops.
I love the contrasts of the ride today: From coastal towns to wide-open farmlands to an old beautiful bridge.
For a while we even rode on the side of the freeway. Then it’s an incredibly bumpy back road for about half a mile to a dirt trail into camp.
