It’s around 3:30 and I am sitting in front of a fire in the fireplace in my room at the Colton Inn in Monterey. They have done a good job maintaining the motel having large, clean rooms and amenities like microwaves, refrigerators, TVs with DVD players, free wireless internet and really good smelling soap for the shower. We were greeted with cookies and hot tea when we checked in. But I am getting ahead of today’s story.
I was up at 6:30. I looked out at the breakfast area at 7:00 when it opened, but nobody in our group was there. So I went back to my room. At 7:30 there was activity, so I joined some of my mates and had juice, coffee, Cheerios and raisin toast – very close to my normal Monday breakfast.
I was the last to load my luggage at 9:00. Most of the group had their bicycles ready to roll but they were waiting for some showers to pass. I went back to my room, put on my rain gear and pushed off 9:15.
I could tell right away that today would be a good test for my rain gear. The roads were wet and showers came and went. Some of the showers were fairly heavy. All through the inclement weather I was warm and dry. The full fenders on my bicycle worked perfectly – no rooster tails on my jacket.
Our route took us past some farm land where they were growing strawberries and artichokes – good cash crops in this part of California. We then headed out towards the coast. I stopped in Moss Landing for lunch at Phil's Fish Market at the marina area. I had never been to this part of Moss Landing before and I might go there again and order something other than the crab cake sandwich. It wasn’t very good but it put fuel in me which was important at this point in the ride.
I continued on south with about 20 miles to go. The showers had let up but I was riding into a headwind. I guess that a headwind had been slowing me down before this, but I didn’t notice it as much. I was riding solo as usual which made the winds even more tiring. (I seem to end up riding alone on these tours. I don’t like to push hard to keep up with the fast riders and the slow riders frustrate me).
Just north of Seaside after around 10 miles in the bicycle path, I met up with Chip who was taking photos of the ocean vista. This was one of the windows in the day where the sun was shining, The waves were pretty big and blue. I am hoping that Chip and others will share their photos. I haven’t taken any photos for two days. Being bundled up in rain gear makes it difficult to find my camera when I need it. I’ll try harder when the bad weather lets up.
When we were ready to leave, I was telling Chip that my bicycle was shifting radically wrong most of the day. The rear derailleur was skipping and it was driving me crazy and tiring my legs. I lifted my bike to get it in position to leave and we both noticed that my rear quick release was open. It must have been that way for the entire ride because after I closed it, shifting became normal. I’m lucky that I didn’t lose the wheel on a bump in the road. That would have been the end of the tour for me.
Chip and I rode the rest of the way to the hotel together helping each other interpret the queue sheets. Kathy was there with the van so that we could get our luggage and go to our rooms. There was also a hose for us to wash our bicycles. They really needed it after a day with wet, mucky roads. Darrell Athay, who lives in North Bend and is used to this kind of weather, brought a soft brush with him which he was kind enough to use to clean our rims and other grimy places.
I had dinner tonight after our Social Hour with several others in our group at Turtle Bay Taqueria. I had their Pescadero Plate which had fired shrimp, salmon and sand dabs. It was OK. The dinner conversation was much better.
I’m now back in my room with another log on the fire. It’s after 8:15 so I am winding down with cookies from the lobby. Reading sounds good and then bed.
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