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Day 39 – Thursday,
July 26, 2001 San Simeon State
Park, CA 96.69 Miles We awoke this morning to a light mist that had been falling for most of the night and left all of our stuff nice and damp. Amazing how fast you get ready to go when it's cold and wet outside. We cruised into Cambria and bought supplies for the day. As we negotiated the business loop that led us back to Highway 1, we came to an intersection where a left turn would put us back on the coastal route. The light suddenly turned green with us still about 100 yards away. Anyone who knows Rocky knows that he is a big time morning person and feels like a million bucks at the start of the day. He definitely had too much energy this particular morning. He saw the opportunity to make the light, decided in his mind that we would make it, and urged the rest of us on. "Come on, come on, it's green, let's go!!!" Rocky had turned his head to look at us as he shouted these words and assumed that the two cars in front of him in the turn lane were proceeding as well. You can see where this is going. The SUV in front of Rocky slammed on it's brakes, Rocky turned his head just in time and stopped just short of the rear bumper (about an inch short, that is), and with no time to pop his feet out of the pedals he slammed to the pavement. We were still in the turn lane, the light was still green, and there were cars coming up behind us. I made sure that Rocky was all right, he got up and made the light, and the rest of us couldn't stop laughing for the remainder of the day. Andrew does a fantastic rendition of Rocky's new mantra, "Come on, come on, it's green, let's go!!!" The Game evolved quite a bit on Thursday as well, with the addition of new players, new questions, and more dirt on the subjects of the previous day’s discussion. It sounds pathetic, and believe you me it certainly is, but nothing makes riding time fly by faster than talking about nothing…er, girls. Before we knew it we were in the town of Guadalupe and we might as well have been in Mexico. It looked EXACTLY like a small Mexican village. We stopped for some fuel and talked to the women who ran the convenience store about the trek. After being treated to some complimentary donuts (Dan was heartbroken when he saw us eating free donuts without him), we threw it into high gear for the rest of the afternoon. We needed to get to the bike shop in Lompoc to fix a rim and under the inspiration of the Tour de France we began shifting positions after the style of the U.S. Postal Team. With a slight tailwind at our backs we cruised at around 22 miles an hour until we hit the last climb of the day. The Game stepped up to the plate once more and got us up the last hill and down into Lompoc with time to spare. We also came to the realization that when Dan Hoopes wants
to ride fast, NO ONE can catch him. That night we sat in the hot
tub, watched the Tour de France, ate a 30 inch pizza, and passed
out. My idea of heaven. |
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| day 40 | ||||
