Day 26. The Hills are Annoying

Actually, it's not so much the hills I am getting annoyed with. It's more at the time I am going downhill, after just climbing a hill, and looking ahead to see another hill. It's annoying because you've just made so much effort to get up to that height, but then the road starts to take you downhill. Why take you downhill when you are only going to have to go up again, I mean, it's just rude?!



I'm glad I did a short day yesterday. I had toyed with the idea of trying to do a big one all the way from Monterey to San Simeon. I am so pleased I didn't try it. The section after Big Sur was one of the hilliest sections of the trip. The hills maybe weren't as high as some of the ones I have come over. But they were well and truely relentless.

It's getting harder to get the legs going in the morning. I usually try to take it easy for the first hour just so I get properly warmed up before I start to push it a bit. Today I didn't really have much option as you are straight into the coastal hills early on. My legs did not enjoy the first couple of hours and it reminded me a bit of the first couple of days in Washington, except then it was raining, at least today was pretty much all blue sky.

It levelled out for the last hour or so and as I came into San Simeon I saw a sign saying Cambria was only 6 more miles down the coast. It was still light and from what I could see it looked pretty flat all the way in, so I carried on. 6 miles less to do in the morning and all that.

I'm starting to get a bit excitied. Not just with how for there is to go - about 235 miles according to google maps - but also with how far I have come. I've managed to cycle, or maybe the term is struggle, over 1350 miles, which I am finding difficult to comprehend myself. Further than London to Budapest according to one of my sources. It's amazing how it adds up over time.

I actually find it best not to look at the speedo while I'm riding. The first few days I was regularly checking it to see how far I've gone, and it nearly always disappointed me by being less than I thought. Now I try and avoid looking at it at all, and just start to see how far it is to the next town late in the afternoon, when I have to start to think about where I am going to be stopping for the night. 65.42 on the speedo. Getting so close.

 Another picture of the ever expanding Pacific coastline