Photos from Day One: San Francisco to Santa Cruz.
I rode 79.3 miles (by the official count; 82 by my odometer), up and over the Skyline ridge, ate lunch at San Gregorio State Beach, and took a lovely ride down 1 to Santa Cruz. Along the way I met some Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and a woman carrying a memorial sign to Gary Stainback, who passed away from AIDS in 1996.
Day One is (for me) always one of the most difficult days on the Ride. Partly because of the climbing – there is more overall climbing on Day One than any other day (I think) – but mostly because you have to get up so darned EARLY. Cyclists need to be at the Cow Palace by 5-6am, and because I like to leave nothing to chance, I generally aim for 5am. Which means getting up around 4 or 4:30am. Nothing like getting up before dawn!
As with all my photo pages, click on the thumbnail to get the larger photo.
