- Day 2 100 km (62 miles)
- Half Moon Bay to Aptos (Santa Cruz)
- Total 168 km (104 miles)
Unfortunately, I can hardly ever count on sleeping in while on vacation. There is just too much to live for to stay in bed all morning. In the case of this bike trip, it was also out of necessity that we had to wake up before sunrise so we could make the most of the short daylight we had. I was feeling fine, no pains or aches. But yesterday was just the first day and our shortest section, so let’s see how the rest of the trip goes. We made some oatmeal, packed up, and headed to the neighborhood Safeway to pick up sandwiches for lunch since the next major town is our destination, Santa Cruz.
Weather was looking good for us again, and I’m happy to see the forecast shows the rain pushed back a day. I’m hoping that the rain will go away all together, but it looks like we won’t be able to avoid it. This section of highway 1 has a lot less traffic as there are no major towns along the way. Most of the ride was along the ocean and the view was just stunning. We found another easter egg on the side of the road, a Fallhaven backpack. That gave us high hopes there would be something good inside, but it appears that someone else beat us to it. It just had a passport, COVID card, and other personal items. I’m pretty sure there was a laptop, camera, or money in there before. This had to be the ruminants of a smash and grab, because it was a ditch on a random stretch of road nobody had any reason to stop for. Don’t be fooled by the peaceful environments, car break-ins are no joke, heed the warning signs posted at every parking lot. Luckily for the victim, we were able to gather enough information from the documents to look them up on social media with high certainty and tell them about our discovery. We left it at the nearest manned landmark, which was Pigeon Point Light Station 2 miles up the road. Better luck tomorrow, let’s see what highway 1 has in store for us. Third times the charm, right?
A little bit farther down the road, we stopped at the Rancho Siempre Verde Christmas Tree Farm for lunch. It was a lively family place with kids running all over the place, rope swings, big tube slide, tractor rides, DIY wreath stations, and a big campfire. We were hoping to buy some hot chocolate to go with our cold lunch, but instead made do with some marshmallows by the fire. Here in this photo, I couldn’t find one of my leggings, so I rode all day like this. Later I found it in my sleeping bag.
We finally reached Santa Cruz around 3pm. With only 10 miles left, we figured we had enough time to treat ourselves to a drink and arrive in Aptos before sunset. The first watering hole we found was Humble Sea Brewing Company. Doesn’t a cold beer always taste better after a hard day of work? Lil’ buck seems to agree.
It ended up taking us longer than anticipated to cover the next 10 miles. I’ll take the blame; the sunset was magnificent and there was too many good photo ops.
We finally made it to Aptos and I’m so glad we were able to stay at Dustin friend’s house for the night. Our original plan was the New Brighton State Beach Hiker Biker Campsite, but I’m not going to turn down warm showers, a hot meal, and a roof over my head. Alex and Erin were very generous to let us stay at their home, and even provided us with a great dinner (and more drinks!). Their daughter Cora was also very engaging and even led Dustin through some post ride stretches and yoga poses.
Hike a day in my boots 