Day 4: Santa Cruz to Monterey
Our second day of cycling from San Francisco to LA began in Santa Cruz. After a filling (but cramped!) breakfast, the team rode down to the waterfront passing early-morning volleyball players and the famous antiquated theme park that runs along the waterfront.
South of Santa Cruz is a surfer’s delight, with great breaks just metres from the road. Local surfers littered the glossy blue bays, all waiting for the next wave. Morning strollers, mothers and their prams and the odd cyclist joined us along the way. Everyone was thinking the same thing…what a place this must be to live. “Thank goodness you stopped Tom, I had to get a photo of this” said Katie as we pulled over to take in the views.
Leaving the suburbs of Santa Cruz behind, we were soon out into the vast agricultural fields south. The long black rows of plastic-covered ridges glistened in the sun under which strawberry seeds were beginning to grow. This was farming on an industrial scale as countless labourers toiled in the sun individually picking the harvest. Behind me the subtle tones of Strawberry Fields hummed across the air (thanks to Helen and Sarah for this serenade!).
We rode on the highway for a short while, passing some interesting looking models of motorbikes and a couple of shops selling 6 avocadoes for $1. Our lunch spot was the town of Castroville whose claim to fame was The Artichoke Capital of the World. The group pulled in to The Great Artichoke, a restaurant on the outskirts of the town. No surprises as to the flavour of the soup of the day! We had artichoke soup, artichoke burger, artichoke salad…there was a definite theme to the restaurant (the huge artichoke outside also gave the game away).
After our artichoke assault, we were onto a cycle lane than ran parallel with the highway. We looked up to see our first sign to Los Angeles – 367 miles to go! Just as we did so, everyone gasped as Helen went flying into the verge. Shaken and scraped she picked herself up and gave her leg a rinse off. It was badly scuffed and bleeding but she didn’t want any fuss and was keen to get going again. The bike however had taken much of the force of the fall. The rear derailleur had been bent inwards so I gently bent it back out. The real damage however was to the right gear shifter which now hung by a thread from the handlebar. Helen was forced to ride the final few miles with just two gears, using the front cogs only. In true Helen style however, she just got on with it, still smiling!
Soon we were in the sand dunes, back onto the Monterey Bay with amazing views of the sea out to the right.
The fabulous Monterey Bay Recreational Trail took us the final few miles into Monterey. A scruffy looking man with a dog and cardboard sign that read “Love You” greeted us as we dropped down towards the town. We rode to Fisherman’s Wharf before riding up to the motel. Along the way, a few dropped into Bay Bikes (highly recommended) to get some bicycle TLC. The shop fixed Matt’s broken spoke, Helen’s damaged gear shifter and even solved the problem of Hector’s gears once and for all.
The group made their own eating plans for the evening, most opting for the busy Fisherman’s Wharf area, which is apparently home to the greatest mussel chowder in the world. Some of the group were now becoming experts in this field (three days on the trot Sarah?), so the jury was out.
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