Lars’ Notes: 

Fourth of July! You’d never believe it wa summer, however, this morning we had temps in the 50’s and rain. We had hoped that the rain would end early and have the sun burn things off, but it didn’t, at least not until we were finished. At one point, near the end of the ride, we stopped at a lovely overlook and met a nice women taking pictures of several falcons that were playing or fighting. They were really cool to watch. It turns out, she and her husband were bikers too so we had a lovely chat with them. The husband asked about the trip and where we were headed and he commented, “don’t worry, the sun will burn off the overcast skies…at about 5:00 p.m.!” Anyway, we have been incredibly lucky with weather so far, so no complaints (maybe a few). 

We started in long rain pants, long sleeve shirts and rain jackets. The rain tapered off to drizzle after about 10 miles. The cloud ceiling was probably at about 300 feet, so visibility was fine. We wound down the coast, as yesterday and experienced many of the same, fun hairpin turn declines, but it wasn’t the same. Wet roads, tires and brakes necessitated a more cautious approach. We had 8 climbs today, reaching a high elevation of about 600 feet, Soon after, we descended down to sea level, and then back again. We repeated this routine several times. Kirsten and I made good time, simply because we stopped infrequently. We just wanted to power through this one. 

At about 1:30 or so is when we saw the nice couple and the falcons. We were just about 6 miles from Bodega Bay, our destination. We picked a nice place to complete the ride, a place overlooking the harbor that had both a coffee shop and an outside seafood restaurant. Kirsten and I enjoyed a hot coffee (for me) and latte (for Kirsten) and waited for Lise to complete her round of golf. After shooting a 79 (a score I’ll never achieve!) she joined us and we enjoyed fish and chips and shrimp tacos under the now sunny skies.