Nancy in the house. We started the day off with a “before” photo in our bathing suits— in hopes that our "after" photos will be more flattering =) Ed and I agreed to take it easy today, to go no more than 130 watts for me, about 150 for him, the theory being that the easier we go, the more pleasant the next month will be. And it was a great day!
We took off with our group of about 30 fellow guests and guides around 9:00 a.m. from the Harbor View Inn right near the pier in Santa Barbara. We took lots of group photos, and then we were off. We rode along the ocean for a good bit, and at one point there were dozens of dolphins swimming in the opposite direction as us. The most shocking part of the day is when we biked on Freeway 101—yes, the 101! Eventually, a bike lane is added, but not for a while. It was sort of scary with the traffic going so fast. Eventually we turned away from the ocean, and inland towards the orange and lemon groves.
Surprisingly, most of the group stayed together until lunch at about 50 miles. It wasn’t the traditional over-the-top Trek Travel picnic, but still much better than I expected for a “feed zone”—sandwich stuff, bean salad, green salad, good cheeses, and of course the ubiquitous peanut M&Ms. After lunch we biked through more orchards and then a 10-mile stretch of highway (not freeway, but still very fast and very trafficked, with lots of heavy trucks). We got to know some of our fellow guests on this leg-- many of whom are 50+ years old and in amazing shape. One is turning 65 this year and dropped me because he was going faster than my 130-watt limit would allow.
After we pulled into our hotel, we got to enjoy one of the perks of this trip-- a 30-minute massages with Dana, one of the two trip soigneurs. We get one every 2 days. She was great! Dana says the guides call us collectively “the honeymooners,” and that she’s put money down on Ed to be one of the people who doesn’t get in the van at all on this trip. Hopefully neither of us will!
All in all, Day 1 was good, not too tiring, and we’re ready for more!
