Racing The Clouds

Day 35: Santa Maria to Refugio
Today's Distance: 58 miles
Total Distance: 1,705 miles
It rained last night, so it was nice to be indoors and dry.  I hung out with Nate and his family for most of the morning.  It just so happened that it is their anniversary today, so that makes two couples I got to 3rd wheel it with on their anniversary.  Natalie was nice enough to pack me a lunch for the day as I set off toward Southern California.  Happy Anniversary guys and i'm so grateful for your hospitality!
Even though it rained pretty hard last night, today started as a cool, crisp fall day, which isn't so bad for a long bike ride.  I was on the Highway for most of the day until I hit Harris Grade, a 4-mile gradual climb into Lompoc.  After a fun downhill I stopped at a Starbucks to eat my lunch and charge my phone up. After lunch the weather got a little worse and after I got out of Lompoc I was being chased by rain clouds.  I really didn't want to get rained on so I booked it and went as hard as I could.  When it was all said and done, I lost the race and was completely soaked.  But after climbing continuously for the last 13.5 miles, I was hitting around 40mph going down the other side.  That dried me up a bit.
I was really energized for the rest of the ride to Refugio.  I definitely felt like I was on the side of a full on Freeway at this point, but the miles just ticked on by.  I arrived at Refugio State Beach at just the right time because I was out of gas at that point.  My legs were shaky and energy was low and I almost ate it pretty hard when I hit a patch of soft sand at the hiker/biker site.  I recovered, although a little embarrassed in front of a group of older cyclists.  There were 7 of them in all, possibly all retired, and they were on a 4 day bike packing trip.  They were so excited to hear about my trip that I barely got my tent up before dark.  Very nice people though!  I set up my tent under a couple of palm trees and it looks like i'll be sleeping about 30 steps from the ocean tonight.  It's good to be back in Southern California!

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