Day 1 Newbury Park to Santa Barbara

The day started out early by riding first to Giant's headquarters about 2 miles from the hotel. There people met us and cheered, we heard from all kinds of sponsors, fueled up with water and bananas and were on our way. We had been warned about a "technical descent" at mile 6, a warning which kept Julia from having a descent night's sleep, but in the end, was no worse than some of our descents coming out of our UT mountains. The ride was divided in fours by 2 breaks and one lunch break and then the final destination. The first portion of the ride found us riding in the "bread basket" of the nation, past fields of cabbages, sunflowers, strawberries, cilantro, and many other crops we couldn't identify as we sped by.
The first rest stop proved to be a bit of a tire hazard for many of us...the goat heads were out in full force. i had two in my back tire, so before exiting the rest stop i had to stop at the SAG wagon to get the repair. By the by, having the SAG wagon really makes you feel like a princess...one could get really used to such treatment :) We were then on our way, and about a half mile later I was down in the back wheel again. Julia had a flat too, so after changing them out again we were on our way, riding our little hearts out to catch up with the rest of the group. Evan suggested that we should jump in the van to catch up with the other riders, but we said we would like to try to catch up with them first...and we eventually did.

We made it to the lunch stop on the Buena Ventura beach...sandwiches and snacks. Janice had met us at the first rest stop as well as the lunch stop. It was so wonderful to have her there and cheering and taking pictures.
"She joined the following vehicles through the rest of the ride, and it was wonderful to have her along. The beach was beautiful, and it was hard to leave it and get back on the bike.

Next up, UP being the operative word, we made our way to lake Casitas...a lovely lake in the foothills/mountains above Ventura. We had our share of climbing, but it was nice to have had a lot of climbing time in SLC at higher altitudes, it made climbing the hills here much easier. Julia got yet another flat, and that put us towards the back of the pack again. We made it to the third rest stop...the last stop before the REALLY big climb up over the hills. We were met by lovely views on our climb. I had my chain come off on the uphill climb, and had to have the SAG guy help me get it back on the bike...it was so jammed that he had to take the chain apart in order to get it off and back on the bike. That would be our last time SAG would have to help us out for the day, but we have become good buddies with Evan and crew, and I am sure over the next couple of days, that friendship will continue.

The climbs and descents through the Casitas area were lovely, with yummy whiffs of eucalyptus throughout. We made our way to Santa Barbara and were met with HOARDS of trick or treaters all dressed up and collecting candy from local shops along the main drag. I almost hit a few, but Julia seemed to be able to dodge them with great success. We kept thinking that we were close, and then we would be met with yet ANOTHER hill. At one point, I said to Janice, "REALLY....ANOTHER HILL???????" I had to stop and mentally gear up to go up yet again. By the way, Julia treated the hills as though they were nothing. As I was sucking air, she seemed to be out on a Sunday ride and barely broke a sweat.

We finally arrived at our destination, the Fess Parker DoubleTree Resort...it really is a lovely property right on the beach.

We were thrilled to finally be off our bikes and have a shower waiting. We had dinner at 7 and then it was back to the room for an early-ish night.

Overheard and Observed:

• Julia wished the last 10 miles were cut out of the ride
• Dustin announced he got "chicked" by Julia and me today
• Record 2 flats in less than a mile
• Fresh strawberries and raspberries direct from the fields
• Sun shining on the ocean...the ocean folks, that's where we are :)
• I wish I could trade my painful feet in for some new ones, I may have to settle for new cleats
• Julia was shocked that picking strawberries involved complete manual labor
• Waving to the field workers as we zoomed by
• Janice loved watching the lame bird on the beach
• Huge appetites during lunch and dinner (hey we burned a LOT of calories)
• I learned what kind of tool you need to take a chain apart (after I got mine jammed while going up a hill)
  
• 4 Flat tires between Julia and me
  
• Taking pictures of SAG support guys with black underwear
• Janice's friendly "tapping" honks scaring the riders
• Nearing the end of the ride, stopping and waiting for Julia to catch up. Waiting and waiting, and then thinking that she had another flat tire, doubling back (up a hill) to find her. Making it all the way back to the roundabout thinking she must be lost. Figuring out that MY roundabout exit was the wrong one, and that I was the lost one.