sm to slo bike tour, day 1

from september 19th to 23rd, hops and i took our first self-supported credit card bicycle tour, beginning at our place in san mateo and ending in san luis obispo. along the way we had many adventures, a whole lot of fun, and not a very difficult time at all. i will attempt to recount the hilights. in the meantime, here are some pictures from the trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27257&id=1643019056&l=726b00c824

We were credit card touring, meaning we stayed at hotels and took no camping gear. as such, our loads were relatively light, although, as beginners, i felt we took way too much stuff (overpacked), which is exactly what i did on my first couple of backpacking trips.

Day 1: Left home (san mateo) at 9:30, arrived at comfort inn, santa cruz
The climb up old la honda was difficult but very manageable with our lightened loads. day 1 was by far the most difficult day, with the old la honda climb accounting for at least half of the climbing of the entire trip! we took old la honda to 35 to 9 to santa cruz. i didn't study the route too carefully and was expecting 9 to be all downhill -- i was in for a surprise around felton, where, nearly at the end of our day, we ran into a rather steep hill. i found the energy to make it up and over, hops had to stop and walk a little bit. after that, it was an easy downhill straight to the hotel.

Comfort Inn SC: overpriced, they put us on 2nd floor (claimed not to have gotten my 1st floor request). coffee was decent, but the breakfast was a joke: no fruit, packaged danishes. bleh.

Dinner that night was at Tavernetta Limoncello, recommended by the internet. We were starving from our difficult ride. Limoncello had warm service, great bread, fantastic bisque, and a so-so, overpriced entree. After dinner we went in search of first-aid items, not because we needed any, but because we'd somehow forgotten to bring any. Santa Cruz gets real cold real fast, and I had forgotten this and left my fleece at the hotel. Nobody in that area of town could quite grasp the concept of "we have no car" and kept giving us driving directions whenever we asked. We ended up with a reasonable kit after a lot of looking.

Next time: stay closer to downtown SC, try a different route to avoid felton's hill