Never Bored on the Boardwalk!
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Total Distance Ridden: 1110 miles
Cumulative Elevation: 65,056
Today's ride profile: click HERE
Days 19/20 Vlog: click HERE
Link to our first TV Interview! Click Here
As I put Father's Day in the rear view mirror, I find myself thinking about what kind of dad I am. Katelyn has reminded me many many times on this trip that I have never taken her to Santa Cruz, despite living the central California all of her life. I always brag that living the the central CA valley, we are only a couple hours from so many awesome things (Yosemite, Tahoe, San Francisco, SANTA CRUZ!), and yet we don't get out to these places nearly enough. So it was fitting that on Katelyn's 14th birthday, we dedicated the entire day to an amazing spot on our coastline: Santa Cruz and the Beach Boardwalk. But first, we had to ride our bikes. Let's rewind:
Leaving the Pigeon Point Hostel behind, we rolled out on wet roads and misty conditions. This was the marine layer that we had not seen north of San Francisco but was now striking hard. We only had 29 miles to ride and we definitely had something to ride towards; not only was Santa Cruz in front of us, we also had Raquel and Cameron driving out to spend the day with us. And to make it even more exciting, the Beach Boardwalk gave us a couple wristbands to enjoy the attractions and take our minds off pedaling for a little bit--and for a girl celebrating her 14th birthday? That was the best present she could ask for!
We still had headwind but not too bad and we made into town by 10:00. We finally found a restaurant with proper hot chocolate--we all agreed the best we had ever tasted in our lives (Thanks Zachary's Restaurant!) and that melted off the cold from the ride. Then we took a quick tour of the waterfront and stopped up at Steamer Lane to watch the surfers. Some of these little local kids can absolutely shred waves--they are 10 or 11 years old and riding some big stuff! If you have never had a chance to hop the fence and go sit out on the cliff about the surfers, I highly recommend you do it at some point!
Down at the Boardwalk, it was exactly what you would imagine--great smells, great rides, great people watching, and just an overall fun environment. We probably walked 5 miles up and down the Boardwalk hitting the different rides and food booths. At two different occasions, we met up with folk from local media outlets. We had an interview with Ashley from the CBS news team and also Christine who is an editor of a local magazine for the SC residents. The interviews were fun to do, even if both of us looked like we hadn't showered in weeks! I guess that is just part of who we are at this point!
After a long day at the Boardwalk, we headed over to our hotel in Capitola where we had dinner with an "old friend." Remember Dan? He was the Aussie we met outside fortuna a week ago and he popped in to have a bite with us. Since riding with him up north, Dan had pedaled ahead of us to SF, rented a car, drove to Yosemite and stayed at our house in Ripon with Raquel and Cameron. Then he managed to return the car and rode the 80+ miles all the way to Santa Cruz--that guy is flying! He has passed us up once again and we won't be seeing him anymore on this trip.
Hopefully the day in Santa Cruz recharged our batteries because up next we are about to tackle the coastline of Big Sur. It is the most hilly and remote stretch of the ride we have yet to face. First we will take a 49 mile run down to Carmel and then get ready to launch into the tough stuff. We have a couple really cool things in the works that I haven't talked about yet but should no doubt be one of the highlights of our trip. Stay tuned!
And again, if you have any thoughts or questions about our ride, please reach out at bikingthecoast@gmail.com We love getting mail!
Total Distance Ridden: 1110 miles
Cumulative Elevation: 65,056
Today's ride profile: click HERE
Days 19/20 Vlog: click HERE
Link to our first TV Interview! Click Here
As I put Father's Day in the rear view mirror, I find myself thinking about what kind of dad I am. Katelyn has reminded me many many times on this trip that I have never taken her to Santa Cruz, despite living the central California all of her life. I always brag that living the the central CA valley, we are only a couple hours from so many awesome things (Yosemite, Tahoe, San Francisco, SANTA CRUZ!), and yet we don't get out to these places nearly enough. So it was fitting that on Katelyn's 14th birthday, we dedicated the entire day to an amazing spot on our coastline: Santa Cruz and the Beach Boardwalk. But first, we had to ride our bikes. Let's rewind:
Leaving the Pigeon Point Hostel behind, we rolled out on wet roads and misty conditions. This was the marine layer that we had not seen north of San Francisco but was now striking hard. We only had 29 miles to ride and we definitely had something to ride towards; not only was Santa Cruz in front of us, we also had Raquel and Cameron driving out to spend the day with us. And to make it even more exciting, the Beach Boardwalk gave us a couple wristbands to enjoy the attractions and take our minds off pedaling for a little bit--and for a girl celebrating her 14th birthday? That was the best present she could ask for!
We still had headwind but not too bad and we made into town by 10:00. We finally found a restaurant with proper hot chocolate--we all agreed the best we had ever tasted in our lives (Thanks Zachary's Restaurant!) and that melted off the cold from the ride. Then we took a quick tour of the waterfront and stopped up at Steamer Lane to watch the surfers. Some of these little local kids can absolutely shred waves--they are 10 or 11 years old and riding some big stuff! If you have never had a chance to hop the fence and go sit out on the cliff about the surfers, I highly recommend you do it at some point!
Down at the Boardwalk, it was exactly what you would imagine--great smells, great rides, great people watching, and just an overall fun environment. We probably walked 5 miles up and down the Boardwalk hitting the different rides and food booths. At two different occasions, we met up with folk from local media outlets. We had an interview with Ashley from the CBS news team and also Christine who is an editor of a local magazine for the SC residents. The interviews were fun to do, even if both of us looked like we hadn't showered in weeks! I guess that is just part of who we are at this point!
After a long day at the Boardwalk, we headed over to our hotel in Capitola where we had dinner with an "old friend." Remember Dan? He was the Aussie we met outside fortuna a week ago and he popped in to have a bite with us. Since riding with him up north, Dan had pedaled ahead of us to SF, rented a car, drove to Yosemite and stayed at our house in Ripon with Raquel and Cameron. Then he managed to return the car and rode the 80+ miles all the way to Santa Cruz--that guy is flying! He has passed us up once again and we won't be seeing him anymore on this trip.
Hopefully the day in Santa Cruz recharged our batteries because up next we are about to tackle the coastline of Big Sur. It is the most hilly and remote stretch of the ride we have yet to face. First we will take a 49 mile run down to Carmel and then get ready to launch into the tough stuff. We have a couple really cool things in the works that I haven't talked about yet but should no doubt be one of the highlights of our trip. Stay tuned!
And again, if you have any thoughts or questions about our ride, please reach out at bikingthecoast@gmail.com We love getting mail!
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| As you can see in this picture, our tan lines have evened out... |
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| An awesome way to spend Father's Day and Katelyn's birthday! |
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| Thanks to Brigid and the great people at the Boardwalk for giving us a reprieve from our bikes for the day--it was time well spent! |
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| I'm sure missing my oldest daughter, but happy I got to spend the day with these kids! |
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| Brigid used her connections working for the Boardwalk to set up an interview with the local CBS news team. We will have a link to our fundraising page and a whole lot more awareness about our cause in the local community--awesome! |
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| Too bad we didn't have the means to "freshen up" a bit. A shave would have been nice as well! |
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| We talked about this day so many times during the ride that I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the hype. I think it did though! |
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| Hanging out on the point for a couple minutes before heading over to the Boardwalk |
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| This location is called Steamer Lane. It is one of the most famous surf spots on the West Coast and is said to be where surfing first originated in California--all thanks to three Hawaiian princes that introduced the sport here. |
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| A couple quick pictures of the lighthouse presentation at Pigeon Point. This was the light/prism that was originally in the lighthouse but was removed during restoration and is on display now. Really is an incredible light! |
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