August 4 Santa Maria to Santa Barbara

Santa Maria to Santa Barbara 74.8 miles 5 hours and 8 minutes.

Back on the bike.  I was prepared to stop and ride in the van if necessary depending on how I felt on this new antibiotic and how my energy the Staph infection had sapped from my body.

I was a little sluggish into the first rest stop, but overall I was feeling pretty good.  I rode with several different people and rode by myself for a number of miles. My pace was not as fast as other days, so I could not keep up with the faster riders and it was not as slow as some of the the other folks, although everyone was riding a bit slower after 105 plus mile day the day before.

The thing I most remember about today's ride was the long slow climb between rest one and two. The rode was bumpy due to the type of pavement, which makes one slower to begin with becuase one's rolling efficiency is so much less. I was pedaling at a good cadence and only able to maintain a speed of about 10 or 11 miles an hour, which is very slow on fairly level ground.  There was also a bit of a headwind.  Riding long strentches under such conditions becomes very demoralizing.  I started to wonder why I was putting myself through this and praying for smoother pavement and less wind.  What I did not realize at the time was I was going up hill as well.  This became clear when the climb got more steep and then I rode downhill for 5 minutes or more at 28 miles an hour.  Not only had I been riding on very rough pavement, I had also been pedaling uphill.

Much of the final stage into Santa Barbara was along the ocean.  It was beautiful and soul renewing to ride along the seashore. 

Santa Barbara is the end of segment 3 and Dean the rider who joined us in San Fran will be leaving.  Our host church is the First Baptist Church of Santa Barbara, an American Baptist Church.  Hans, the longboard skateboarder is the senior pastor.  He is what one might imagine a So. Cal surfing pastor would be like.

Tomorrow we have a free day in Santa Barbara.  I have always heard good things about the town of Santa Barbara.  I'm looking forward to exploring the downtown and the waterfront.