Riding 17 Mile Drive...
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| Me and Jules at Spanish Beach (Pardon my Helmet Hair) |
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| Who's that hot chick in the pink jacket? |
For some time now, I've been wanting to tour 17 Mile Dr. on a bike. We did it! We rode from the Pacific Grove gate to the Hwy 1 gate and back. We actually started off from our hotel located on Reservation Rd. in Marina, CA. All told we rode 47.7 miles and 4.5 hours out and back. I started the day with a high carb breakfast of bagels, waffles, cereal, and a cinnamon roll. Julie had a bagel and a banana I think and coffee. We were originally going to just do a late check out so I could leave the mountain bike in the room until we got back. We decided that it would be to our advantage to just break down the bike and put it inside the car along with the luggage and check out early. That way we didn't have to rush our bike ride and just enjoy it. There is just something about the vastness of the ocean that amazes me every time I see it. Listening to the waves crashing on the beach is so soothing. I can feel all of my cares and woes just melt away. On one hand, I'd love to live here and be close to the ocean all the time. On the other hand, being around it all the time might make it lose it's magic. I'll just settle for visiting from time to time. Back to the ride. After we stopped at Spanish Beach for a quick photo op, we continued on winding around the loop. We stopped in at a little deli at Pebble Beach for a light lunch. We had a couple of club sandwiches (at 10 bucks a pop! Yikes!) and coleslaw (BTW, best coleslaw I've had in a while!) Julie was at that point of "I don't care how much it costs, I'm friggin' hungry!" After our lunch, we continued on "The Drive" when it started going uphill fast! Dang it! I knew there would be some climbing involved but, Damn!! I started having flashbacks from the previous days journey up the mountains in my race. The difference being that I was on my road bike this time and a paved road. I could maintain a slower speed without falling over and overheating. I still had to rest a few times going up, but nothing like the day before. it took us a while to get over to the Hwy 1 Gate, but once there, we had to figure out how to get back to where we came in at. As I'm looking at the map, I see the way back, and Julie says "Yeah that'll get us back, but its probably all hills we'll have wind around to get there!" "Let's just go back the way we came!" I said " Let's just see where it goes. If it gets too tough then we can go back." As we started up the road I started thinking "Damn it! I hate when she's right!" Because the first thing we had to do was climb some more. As we get a little closer to the top, I see a sign that says "Crest Rd." I start to think out loud "Does that mean we finally at the top? or is it just a name?" Low and behold it was the top of the hill, and boy did it start dropping fast!! All of that climbing finally paid off. Jules and I coasted almost all of the 4-5 miles back to the Pacific Grove gate. Julie was partially right, we did have to wind around the hills, but at least we didn't have to climb them!!! Once we got there, it was a pretty "easy" ride back to the hotel. We took the "Coastal Bike Trail" or as I like to call it the "Bike Highway" When I get out on that path I keep feeling like a car is going to pass me at any minute. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by Jessica's (oldest daughter) School and said our goodbyes before we headed home. All in all it was good trip. we had some fun had a few laughs, saw the sights, spent quality time with one another. A great weekend indeed!!
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| Fisherman's Wharf |
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