At the route report, Michael had mentioned there was a "climb" out of Paso Robles on our way to Santa Maria, via a coastal visit through Pismo Beach. This is supposed to be the best day, actually, since SAG 4 is at Avila Hot Springs. It was foggy in the morning, and cold, but not nearly as bad as before. I was up at 5am this time, because I wanted to make sure I got in at about the same time as always, but I certainly wanted to hit the Hot Springs! So, I leave just before 7am, and start the climb. Turns out it's an 8-mile climb! -- up Hwy 46. However, it *was* within a comfortable cadance in my 1st gear, so it just took patience and determination...well, okay, stubborness. And most of you know I've got plenty of that! SAG 1 was at the top of that climb, at which point we turned southwest and headed down towards the coast, taking not the more populated and trafficked Hwy 46 but instead turning down Old Creek Road, a very narrow, very steep, very beautiful downhill/climb/long downhill combination, 3.5 miles long. We reached Hwy 1 at Morro Bay, turned south to reach SAG 2 in Morro Bay proper, and it was developing into yet another gorgeous day. We then followed Hwy 1 into San Luis Obispo for lunch, where we took over a fairly large section of a parking lot, and the very nice people at one of the delis in the shopping center brought out chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and graham-cracker/carmelized sugar/walnut concoctions. Mmmm, they were good! Then, not more than 6 miles from lunch, SAG 4 shows up...at the Hot Springs! Now, I haven't mentioned this yet..SAG 4 does cheers. They take songs and make up ride-relevant lyrics. Day 3's cheer was a "yes you can you can-can we know you can you can-can, ....you get the point. So, I always stopped at SAG 4 long enough to hear that day's cheer. This day's was something about riding to LA...didn't know the original song...but I still have a few pictures of them! A SAG is staffed by about 8-10 people usually, pouring water, doing impromptu massages, a small triage center, and a granola bar/fruit monitor (or two! ...the early riders took lots on the first couple days and the last people through didn't get any! so they made it 1 each at each SAG after that, which worked well). I did go in the Hot Springs... you can rent towels and absolutely hideous bathing suits, but it was great! As long as you remember to shower off afterwards so you don't smell like sulfer for the rest of the day. heehee. that would have been bad. Many people didn't go into the hot springs for fear that they wouldn't be able to get back on their bikes...but really, I just felt more energized. I made it up the hill which was right after the Hot Springs w/ no problem, and the knot which had been over my right scapula all Ride had finally gone (for a while). We then rode into Pismo Beach, and the top of the downhill along Pismo Beach's freeway access road, one of the local coffeeshops had a little table out w/ fresh locally-grown strawberries and oranges, and I won a free coffee because the business card I got (from the many they were handing out) said "One free coffee" on it, good anytime. I think I'll use that on my way down from SF if I take the coastal route. *grin*. As I reached the bottom of that hill, a couple girls were stopped by a flat, and I had the kind of pump they needed, so I stopped to help them. Well, they hadn't attended any of the technical reviews, because they were all set to put the patch on the tire, so the glass wouldn't get back in. And, they put the tube on the rim (no tire yet), and started inflating it, wondering if the tube wasn't too big for the rim since it just kept getting bigger. So, I gave them a 2.5 minute course in "changing out a flat"; their spare was in perfect working order. *grin* Just my luck to have been a bicycle mechanic for my first job! SAG 5 was further inland (Willow Road, in the Santa Maria Valley), as we turned east to get to Santa Maria, via Guadalupe. There were *several* rolling hills, some rolling more up than down, actually! Plus a major construction site on one of these "rolls"...we all (cars too) got stopped at the top and proceeded through one lane down this *really* steep downhill which was almost steep enough to let us get to the top of the hill on the other side w/o much work. Almost. After about 5 miles of that we got to SAG 5, where a very nice person let us use the front yard of their house (and the bathroom out back). SAG 5 was, by this time, le arrete cinq du sag, the SAG of love, an attitude-free zone. It was such a wonderful day that I had absolutely no desire to hurry back to camp; after all, why not just get there with just enough time for the towel to dry after the shower! so I did just that. Now, we all greatly appreciated dry towels and clothes at this point (see the weather report for the first two days!), so that was a driving motivation. So, I eventually hoisted my butt back onto the bike and dealt w/ 5 more miles of "rolling" (more like *diving*) hills, then 10 miles of flat ground into Santa Maria. That was both good and bad: going south the wind (from the west) was enough to blow you into traffic with some gusts, but once we turned east the tailwind let me push hard in 10th gear with no problems, for a solid 4 miles. The Santa Barbara County Fairgrounds, Santa Maria, were next to the circus (visiting) and a roller skating rink (permanent), but I didn't visit either (turns out someone broke their arm skating too, now *that's* a bummer!) My allergies weren't so bad this night, either, and I hung out after dinner, listening to Lori Jean, Michael Abels, got my cards back from Justine, avoided this guy Chris who was talking to *every* woman with long blonde hair, so both Lise and I were trying hard to be civil. However, we just heightened the lesbian element of our conversation, and we think he got the point. the next day he'd found another female with long blonde hair to stand too close to. *grin*. The entertainment this night was really good...another band, don't really remember much about it though. I was teaching Angie and Lise how to play hearts...
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