We only had 30 miles to cycle today so it was nice to lie in almost until 9am. I must have eaten my own body weight in granola and fruit so that I was feeling guilty about our short day ahead.
Tim had to change his saddle and check the bikes over so I got to be a lady of leisure and enjoy my book. As we were leaving, Georgia gave us the best pack of fruit, cereal bars and dried fruit. It was exactly what we were going to stop and buy on route.
Back on the road after almost a week was so much fun. My muscles were well rested and my bottom ready for the attack. We headed up Euclid into a strong head wind, onto Clement where 8th took us into the park. The sun was shining, and the old bay fog was nowhere to be seen ;-) On Sundays the park is closed to traffic so we enjoyed our only calm of the day. It was also good to see lots of people - yesterday it had been empty which defied belief. Even if it were cold Hyde Park would not be empty...
Out of the park we joined the Great Highway along Ocean Beach and Thornton beach State Park. It felt like the first day of our trip that we were seeing truly golden sand, and were close enough to it that we could have enjoyed it - if the wind hadn't been so strong.
Before Daly City we had to climb along SR 35. There wasn't a great shoulder and it was all a bit built up. At Daly City we again had a few climbs but they seemed easy after our rest as the route wound through side streets. Daly City turned into Pacifica where we rejoined hwy 1.
We had one sharp climb of the day out of Pacifica. It was pleasant enough, but there was no hard shoulder and it's route needless to say was winding. Luckily we were sheltered from the wind, but as we came up along the shoreline the wind was blowing a gale and the roads were thick with Sunday tourist traffic ;-) I have to admit that these winds make me cycle a lot slower. They are generally tail winds which are brilliant but when they whip round into the side of you teetering at the top of a cliff edge it all gets a little scary.
As we drew into Montara and Moss Beach the road stepped inland as we enjoyed flat roads and the jet propulsion of the tail winds. Through El Granada, Miramar and into Half Moon Bay where we pulled into the campsite for our first night on a State Beach. I am hoping that not all nights no a State Beach are as windy as the one we experienced!
With the tent pitched we cycled back to hwy 1 and drank coffee for a couple of hours whilst we looked at our next few days of cycling. Tim reasoned that the wind should have died down so we returned to the tent for dinner. If the wind had died down we couldn't tell. Our incredibly light cooker struggled!
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