Day 4 - Pismo Beach to Santa Barbara - 118 Miles, 4,500' climb

Wine, Ice Cream, Hills and Freeways 

A little sore from yesterday and today's ride is almost as long and still a lot of climb.  Some of the climb is on 101 freeway and  there are a few miles (25) along that same 101 that is undergoing construction.  So fog follows us again so we are cool almost all the day.  Lunch is at mile 55 and as we headed inland towards the Zaca Mesa Winery, I was really dragging.  Luckily, Glen Fellman was there to pull me up the long grinding hill to the winery.  Glen is from North Carolina and has been heavily involved with Challenged Athlete Foundation since his daughter had her foot amputated when she was 6 months old.  He has ridden with me for many miles and is a really strong consistent rider.

Glen Fellman

The family got a little lost but caught me at the winery as I was finishing up.  Great to have my family here and I am the only rider who brought a spouse and their children for the whole ride.  It wasn't that much more expensive and it was a great opportunity to spend time with the kids before they become true teenagers and don't want anything to do with us.

Me, Luke and "New Bike" Mike Carlson

So again, I ate too much at lunch, but we are sponsored by J & L Pie Company, so we have treats along the way.  So 6 miles from lunch, we stopped in Solvang for ice Cream.  Again the family was able to see me before they got their own ice cream.

So we left Solvang, headed towards the big hill up the 101 and then another 25 miles along the freeway. I got stuck i a group of riders that were much faster than me.  That may seem great but I was using every bit of my effort just to stay on the back of the pack.  The family drove by and was honking but I didn't see them.  I didn't have time to drink or eat either so when we got to the next SAG stop, I let them go and I left on my own down the freeway into Santa Barbara, to the Fess Parker Resort.

View from our room in Santa Barbara

But now the hardest part of the ride is over.  We had one rider go down and break her collarbone after hitting a construction cone.  She was in the emergency room for a few hours but made it back with us but no more riding for her this week.  But she has a great attitude and I'm sure she'll be back next year.
But every night, you realize that you have to get ready for the next day.  Get your clothes ready, take a look at the mileage and climb and try to get some sleep.

But the hard part is over.