Day 5 & 6, friends in Paso Robles

Yesterday

With no ride planned, I leisurely spent the morning drinking coffee, researching suitable pants for biking in the rain and airing out my tent.

Yes, the rain fly is upside down, I'm airing it out.

I've been having an issue with my crank arm loosening slightly while riding - enough to get annoyed. After the four of us went to grab sandwiches for lunch, we stopped at Home Depot to pick up some blue locktight. I applied it to the threads on my bike's spindle; hopefully that works.

Seeing the sights in Atescadero. Home Depot didn't make the cut.

Mike and Karen cooked a fantastic Easter Sunday dinner of Tri-tip, potatoes and asparagus. Paired with a solid Pinot Noir (and then a Merlot, and finally a Zin) and political conversation, we had a wonderful dinner.

I stayed up until 11pm, the latest all week (camping bedtime is before 9), perusing Mike's collection of maps and books on the etymology of city names in the United States.

Absolutely fascinating.

Today

Dave and I loaded up our bikes after a hearty breakfast of homemade waffles and pomegranate jam. We said farewell to Mike and Karen and rode out of Paso Robles.

Mike & Karen are incredible hosts and fantastic people - I cannot wait to see them again and I hope their bicycle tour adventure in the Netherlands is breathtaking.

I'm loosing my faith in weather apps. Not that I really trusted or relied on them heavily before, but today, the app was wrong. And when you're riding 50 miles on a bike, that makes a difference.

Dave and I got on Highway 46, a vineyard laden road going west from Paso Robles to Highway 1 on the coast.

Despite the weather app claiming 20% rain between 10am and noon, the entirety of the journey we rode in a downpour - a relentless barrage of tiny drops and fierce wind. Everything was soaked. Even with my rain jacket on, I was just as wet underneath it as the jacket was outside.

Venturing into the fog

Eventually, we arrived at Highway 1, the sky cleared up and our clothes started to dry out.

Mike suggested we eat lunch at Ruddell's Smokehouse in Cayucos. Fantastic suggestion - I ate a delicious Ahi Taco.

Quiet street in Cayucos

Since Dave and I didn't really have a place to stay for the evening, we headed over to the Brown Butter Cookie Company for some sweets and coffee. But mostly to have a dry spot indoors to research a place to camp. One of the cookie masters gave us a great location on the cliffs to camp, but it was too close and we opted to ride a few more miles to a state park in Morrow Bay.

I picked up a local IPA from Goleta at a store nearby and had a relatively uneventful evening.

The weather report claims 80% chance of rain for the next twelve hours. Nothing so far.

Joe