Day 1complete at Santa Cruz

what a great day's ride to Santa Cruz, 104 km. We started near the Foothills and climbed up the Skyline and then rode down route 84 to Alice's restaurant. Here is mike and rocket enjoying a coffee.


The climb was through magnificent redwood forest where the road only just fitted through the trees.



Then it was a long downhill to San Gregorio and then we turned left and headed along the coast with a strong wind at our backs. The weather then turned sunny and was very pleasant. We are now recuperating at our hotel and I can feel a clam chowder coming on.






These are kites surfers, also saw otters in the water at the lighthouse. A big thanks to penny who accompanied us on the ride and planned the route so we had such a great time. Points for today saw u2 try hard to defend his jersey but pedals shone out in the intermediate sprints. The stage was won by eighty who crept up on the peloton and shot away at the end. Tonight pedals sleeps content in his unwashed yellow jersey. Rocket still needs to work harder as he has 'red' for the second day.

Points for today are:
Pedals 104
M2. 88
Pw. 86
Ferdy. 66
Penny 60
Goose. 47
Rod. 36

-posted by pw from ipad