And They're Off........

First a brief recap of yesterday, which was the first official day of the trip. I spent the morning in bed with ice bags on the tender spots. I figured I would be good for a day before trying to get back on the bike. Our first meeting was at 1, and our numbers have declined to just 13 riders. It seems that at one point there were 28 riders registered for this trip. That number was down to about 16 by the time the rosters were first sent out, and now with 3 more hit by injury or illness we're down to 13 on the start line.  I'm sorry to hear that all those folks couldn't make it, but am thrilled that we have such a small group. We had a dinner at the hotel with family and friends before retiring to our rooms to get ready to pedal today.

Up at 6:30 for breakfast at 7. I should know by now....... waaaay too many keeners on these trip.  I arrived at breakfast at the trailer at a few minutes before 7 and was one of the last ones there. We were also waaaay early for our planned departure time. So much so that poor Barb missed the whole photo session, but was technically still "early".

Here's the route and elevation profile for today. Thanks to Linda/Hermione/Nurse for providing this.

First up - a trip to Dog Beach for another departure photo opp.  I think we did this simply because we're doing the same day 1 route as the Southern Tier and they start there by dipping their wheels in the Pacific Ocean. Not quite so meaningful on a trip where we finish on the Pacific as well.

We spent about the first 15 miles just getting out of San Diego.  Finally a bit of a break at Mission Trails Park before getting back on the roads again.

Not a whole lot to see today.  Just getting to the outskirts of SD and starting to do a bit of climbing.

We ended up at the town of Alpine, and at the cozy Ayers Lodge.  Rooming with Gail tonight.  There are only 6 of us in the room-sharing pool, so we'll be seeing a lot of each other!

Some people have been curious about our setup.  We have a van and trailer plus a Honda CRV (SAG).  The front half of the trailer is for luggage and the back half is Emily's kitchen.  When Emily cooks, then we sit on lawn chairs around the trailer to enjoy the fruits of her labour.  I'll throw in a few of these pictures from time to time.  Here's one of our SAG vehicle with our driver-de-jour, Kat, checking us off her list as we leave the parking lot in the morning.

Stats for the day:
63 km / 39 miles
2647 feet up
953 feet down
Weather: overcast and temps from 17C to 20C.  Very comfortable for riding.