Simple Hobby Homesteading

We wake up and it is cold… really cold. It is 37 degrees and I am thankful for my warm snuggly sleeping buddy (otherwise known as Kevin, my husband), leg warmers, and jacket. The sleeping bag zipped together experiment did not work out well because (to use my husband’s exact words) “The whole thing rotated like a tank tread. Next thing you know, you (meaning me, his lovely bride) had everything… even zipped up you had all the covers however that is possible.”

We pack up camp and bike up to the lodge for a delicious and filling breakfast. This is the first day that I can’t stomach potatoes. I put a couple on my plate in hopes my hunger for them will come rushing back as soon as I sit down but alas my love affair with potatoes is officially gone… I can’t stomach another potato even though the tantalizing herb aroma awakens my culinary senses. I want to cook (culinary school was a blast for me) but love being cooked for as well. I gotta tell you, 8 straight days of having to do little else but ride a bicycle all day has left me very spoiled. Others cook for me, dear friends are taking care of our farm, relatives are caring for our kids, and my husband spoils me all along the way and at camp with encouraging words, affection, and back rubs!

Today we head out from Big Sur and ride onward to San Simeon. This is the first day with some fog. The only things standing in our way are a massive wall straight up out of camp, sheer cliffs along the way hundreds of feet above the swirling ocean chuckling at the 2 foot tall stone retaining walls meant to keep us on the road, and these two lovely mountains called the Twin Sisters. Other’s have a not so nice name for them but I liked the “G” rated version.

This is the day I have been worried about. I know from our previous days of riding that southern Indiana has no hills to train on… we have speed bumps and some slight ascending pleasantries but nothing compared to California and the mountain range we’d be biking through!

Today I wonder if my new goat that I got from my husband in exchange for agreeing to this ride was really worth it. The man knows how to get me to do these kinds of things and yes, she was worth it because she was already pregnant with two lovely boys (Mike and Ike) and we also scored a deal to get her yearling daughter (whom the boys named “Debbie”), SCORE! OK, enough about goats… on to the ride.

We head out of camp and climb, boy do we climb. Straight up, a bit over 870 feet. This is tough when your muscles aren’t warmed up and your fingers are freezing. I guess this shows what you’re made of… there’s gotta be easier ways to show what one is made of, ugh!

We finish climbing out of camp and have some fun ups and downs with amazing scenery. Just shy of 70 miles today though we found a couple detours (maybe on purpose, maybe not) to make it a full 71 miles for me and Kevin. I have to say this whole ride our routes have been expertly marked out so that even when we do head off to see a sight or two we are able to get back on the route easily, way to go California Coast Classic (CCC) staff!

So, climb out of camp done and on to some nice little climbs that seem like nothing comparatively speaking. Then we hit them, the Twin Sisters. Never before have I climbed as much as I climbed this day (over 5,500 ft in one day) but I’m impressed with myself for not giving up. I once again get very familiar with the lowest gear on my bike, the “granny gear.” I climb, and climb, and climb some more. I eat my energy jelly beans and continue to climb. Guess what I do then? I climb some more. Like an evil version of the movie “Groundhog Day.”

As I started the climb I had a great idea that might keep my mind off the challenge which loomed before me. So far praising and thank God as I climbed hills has made them go relatively fast and easier than I thought. However, this time I needed something more… I would start at the top of my head and go to the bottom of my feet thanking God for each and every body part. Yes, this would be great. There are hundreds of body parts and I had nothing but time.

I started at the base of the first Twin Sister. Every little body part was named and I thanked God… my hair which kept my head warm, ears with which to hear, hands and fingers to grip my handlebars, spleen to… what does a spleen do? Who knows, but thank You God for my spleen (filter maybe?)… my stomach which I wished had a few potatoes in it at this moment, my knees, calves, ankles, even my little toe, thank You God for my little toe and it’s little toe print (do our toes have “toe prints?”… I would have to check that out at a later time.)

This worked beautifully! Unfortunately I climbed for well over and hour or two and I just didn’t have enough body parts to make it the whole way. About twenty minutes shy of the firts peak God provided me with whales to feast my eyes upon. Another pod of humpback whales and we heard these ones before we saw them. A monstrous BOOM as they hit the water after breaching. It was breath taking! How they hauled those massive bodies that far out of the water was simply awe inspiring. I stopped for a quick picture but noticed my phone was almost dead and decided to reserve the power in case there was a family emergency with the boys or something. I’ll always be able to recreate the picture in my mind of those whales, it was that neat! I was able to watch them as I continued to climb. Thank You God!

Then there was a downhill, Kevi flew by me with a common “On your left” and I didn’t catch him until the middle of the next Twin Sister climb. I hit upwards of 45 mph so he had to have been flying at 50 or 55 mph. Those speeds on a bicycle are sheer madness but exhiliarating. I didn’t pump the brakes as much this time and really enjoyed the speedy trip down because I wanted to gain as much momentum as I could to head up that next sister.

Not surprisingly the down hill didn’t last nearly as long as those uphills and before I knew it I was climbing again. I caught up to Kevin and gave him a cheeky “On your left” as I watched my whales (yes, they were now officially mine) and climbed. Time went fast on this climb though it was probably over an hour. As I enjoyed another down hill Kevin zoomed by me again with beard flowing back in the wind… funny sight and I so wished I could have gotten a picture!

Many great rest stops on this day full of pickles, pineapple juice, sandwiches, energy bars, twizzlers, and cookies.

Kevin’s upper thigh issue had once again been plaguing him all day. We were still a good 15 miles from camp and Kevin had to get some more cream on his issue if he would have any hopes of staying on that saddle for one more second. We noticed a perfect little pull off area just ahead where we could stop for just a few minutes to allow him to attempt to doctor himself up as inconspicuously as possible. We pulled over and just as Kevin pulls out the cream and squeezes a good sized glob onto his hand a big RV pulls over right next to us. We both just look on in disbelief as an entire family empties out and starts taking pictures. We look at them and look beyond us to a beautiful light house scene with a gorgeous ocean backdrop. Yes, that was a good picture… now hurry up and get back on your RV people.

We wait, hoping they will get their pictures, pack up, and leave. They all got back on the RV but they didn’t leave. They just stayed there with an occasional peek out at us from their curtained windows. What was Kevin supposed to do now? We looked at the glob of white cream in his hand and back at the RV… are you serious, just leave already! Fed up, Kevin flung the cream on the ground and said, “Let’s just go.”

We hopped on our bikes (Kevin a bit more gingerly than I, poor guy) and headed off to the campsite. We came along a neat stretch of beach with huge elephant seals and I just had to stop to get a picture. I took pictures of my boys with these seals almost eight years earlier, my how time had flown by!

We rolled into San Simeon State Park ready for dinner and feeling so very accomplished from our day of climbing. Oh, what a great day!

Today was Tiffany’s Honoree day and it was such a blessing to have gotten to know her on such a personal note, this woman is an inspiration with such a phenomenal story to tell. Many riders enjoyed wine tasting with Bristol’s Hard Cider Tasting but Kevin and I were looking forward to showers and some chill time to hopefully get Kevin’s issue cleared up enough to ride the next day, so we skipped on the spirits.

I did get a massage (one huge perk of the ride was a talented team of massage therapists wih very reasonable prices for 25 or 60 minute massages!) this evening to help with a very sore right side from my stupid “at a standstill” fall a few days before and sore muscles from some big climbs. It was just what teh doctor (and husband) ordered!

Separate sleeping bags… sigh… though it is plenty warm this fine night. What will the morning bring?

~Jhenna