As we prepared to depart Pismo Beach, I checked my tire inflation. Horrors! My rear tire had worn completely through the rubber to the cords. Thankfully, I had followed Alison's advice to bring a spare tire and after a half hour's effort we were ready to go.
The riding was initially pleasant through beachside towns, but then turned much more challenging as we passed through the small agricultural town of Guadalupe. Lots of truck traffic, little or no paved shoulder for miles long stretches, and chewed up road surfaces from heavy local agricultural activity.
Conditions improved for the second half of the ride, first with less truck traffic beyond Guadalupe and then with a good tailwind as we rode southeast. A bit beyond Orcutt, we entered an amazing stretch of freeway riding with broad, well-paved and clean shoulder, plus almost ZERO traffic!
The last push of the day was a challenging climb along Harris Grade Road followed by a quick descent into Lompoc. After lunch at a Thai restaurant, we checked into O'Cairn Inns & Suites, a great place to stay! Two highlights of this stop: a huge reclining chair in our room, and free "happy hour" including beers on tap plus pizza plus chicken wings plus foosball plus billiards plus ...
Cycling stats: 46.0 miles; 5:20 elapsed time; 12.4 mph average speed.
 |
| Amazing stretch of freeway riding near Harris Grade: no cars! |
 |
| All roads lead to (or from) Guadalupe? |
 |
| Along Main Street in Guadalupe; Katayama was a jeweler. |
 |
| Valley Theatre in Lompoc operated 1959-1998. |
 |
| Hothouse crop along Harris Grade Road |
 |
| Arriving in Lompoc |
2 comments:
Kayayama sounds Japanese.
Amazing to see this rural part of California.
Who won at foosball?
You captured such different landscape/visuals than you usually see. Nice.
Post a Comment