ALC......DAY TWO 6/6/11

Finally my jacket comes off and there is sun!

Day Two is the longest one of the ride....107 miles.  I started out at about 6:45 am in the fog.  Getting out of Santa Cruz can be a real problem if you don't leave early as there are a lot of intersections with short stop lights and way too much car traffic.  It was a foggy and cool morning.  However by the time I reached the first rest stop at Manresa State Beach on Monterey Bay the sun was out and while not warm at least it was uplifting to see the sun.

This ride takes us away from the coast as we head east through Salinas and through some of the great agricultural lands in California where a whole lot of lettuce, artichokes, and other veggies are grown.

At about noon I rolled into Central Park in Salinas for what is pretty much the standard lunch on an ALC ride week: a sandwich of some kind, fruit, a cheese stick, a grain salad, cookie, and a choice of several different types of potato chips.  Riders bring the water bottles from their bikes and so you have a choice of water or some sort of electrolyte type of stuff that comes in red, blue, or yellow.  This stuff supposedly helps keeps one's blood chemistry in line.  All of the perspiring one does riding can wreak havoc with one's system.


At lunch I ran into Caitlin Lempres Brostrom, architect, mother of six children, wife of a VP in the University of California system, and active parishioner at All Souls' Parish in Berkeley.  She is a charming person and was the captain of the UC Berkeley group of riders.  Lunch was at about mile 47 of the day's ride.

Tent city for riders and roadies

 After lunch I headed on out of Salinas and into the open farm land, some stiff winds, and lovely views.  One of the rest stops in the afternoon was at Mission La Soledad, one of the famous missions in the chain of missions begun by Fr. Serra in the 1700s.  Finally around 5 PM I rode into San Lorenzo County Park in King City. 

Time to find my baggage at the end of the ride.

Day Two route