But I'm happy to report a crash free tour for your's truly!
If your interested in learning about my goals and efforts for 2017, I'm doing a lot more behind the scenes this year in various leadership roles. It's been very exciting! You can read more about them here:
2017 California Coast Classic: http://ccc17.kintera.org/kyle
2017 Arthritis Bike Classic - Marin: http://arthritisbikeclassicmarin.kintera.org/kyle
Thank you for your support!
Day 0: Registration
Some ask me what my favorite day of the ride is. Lately it's been Day 0! I get to see all the people I've missed over the last year and excitement for the upcoming week is at peak!
I also host a few people on a ride over the Golden Gate Bridge if they are interested. This year there was a number of people that rolled out ahead of us. I had 2 other riders go with me: Derek (who came with me last year) and James, my main wingman on the tour who had to work during this particular day last year. We went out and hit some vistas, went up to Hawk Hill and rode down and around the Marin Headlands. It was a blast!
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Day 1: San Francisco to Santa Cruz
This was the warmest roll out I've ever been a part of on this tour! We met at the Hard Rock Cafe in Pier 39 for breakfast and a little bit of a rally. Afterward, we all huddle around for a group shot!
Here's all ~220 of us.
I've never had it this warm on Day 1 of the tour before. I was counting on having to wear by new jacket the whole day. I didn't need it, that's for sure!
Here's the lighthouse out by Pescadero. You can travel down this street and go check it out. It's really cool! This is about the time in the day where I'm ready to be done with my bike. 60 miles done. 25 more to go today.Day 2: Santa Cruz to Monterey
We stayed at a different spot this year. It worked out very well! It is a shuttered school in Santa Cruz, but the city cleaned it up nice for us.
Sometimes I find I pack maybe a little more than I absolutely need. It's hard to carry all this stuff in one trip in these ridiculous cycling shoes!
Our first rest stop of the day is about 20 miles out. A few miles away from it I met a local rider on his weekend training ride. We talked as we rode and I told him about the tour. He asks me if we stop out on the lookout for the La Selva Beach surf check. I have no idea what he's talking about. He smiles and tells me to follow him.
He leads me out to this gorgeous cliff where you can see the beach below for MILES! We've got to add this stop next year. It was incredible! 
Day 3: Monterey to Big Sur
Day 3 has been really special for me the last 2 years. As a founding member of Team Carter, I took it upon myself to design and facilitate distribution of our team jerseys. Day 3 is team day, where if you are on a team it's encouraged to wear that jersey. It's a short day so it's a good one to ride with your team. Teams are just a fun way to group you with some other people and help you fund raise, so skill varies widely within team groups.
This is the day I get to see all of my team members in the jersey I designed. It's a really special moment for me, especially in 2015 (our first year). This year was even better because the pressure was off.
I'm still very proud of this jersey. Some people say it's too bright, but bright gets attention, and attention means safety for my riders and draw to our cause!
I grabbed these pictures from the back of the pack. Probably not the safest thing to do, but worth it!
I tried to help my buddy with his rear derailleur. I'm not sure if I helped or made it worse!
This is one of the views from the edge of Pebble Beach
Many people don't know, but pickle juice works wonders for cramps. When you're riding all day over 8 days on a bike you need to stay ahead of cramps!
Here, I'm introducing a few newbies to the wonders of pickle juice shots! They keep dixie cups out for us and save the juice from the pickle jars for when I come around! It's pretty intense at first, which it why it's best taken like a shot.
After we come out of Monterey, the big climb up up over the Bixby Bridge and the southbound peak awaits us! This section can be intimidating to a new rider, but it's not nearly as steep as it looks.
Gotta get a team picture in front of the famous Bixby Bridge!
As I was climbing up, I started to pass our team captain, Jerry. Jerry is Carter's grandfather and he and I started the team together back in late 2014. He's a very proud man and doesn't like getting help. So, of course, when I started to pass him on this climb, I offered some!
Here's a picture of me very generously pushing Jerry up the hill with one hand and him swatting away my help. I was laughing so hard I almost fell over!
Victory! There's a turnout at the top of this grade and it always feels great to have that climb behind you.
It's a pretty easy ride into Big Sur from this point. The views continue to be stunning.
Day 4: Big Sur to Cambria
This is my favorite day! The winding section between Big Sur and Ragged Point provide the most challenging climbs, the fastest descents, and the most epic views! I didn't take as many pictures today as I was hoping I would.
I did, however, take a slight detour to check out a section of Julia Pfifer State Park. The McWay Falls and McWay Beach are really beautiful in the morning.
This is a long day in the saddle, particularly after backtracking and doing hill repeats on the biggest climbs of the whole tour just for fun-sies!
This was the first year I felt compelled to do a repeat of "The Sisters". This would usually be a 70 mile day with about 6,000 of climbing. On paper it's the hardest day, but with the terrain, most of us serious cyclist consider it our favorite ride day. There's a big climbing section affectionately referred to as the "Twin Sisters" or the "Twin Bitches". It's two fairly big climbs back to back. The two of them together are about 1000 elevation gain over about 7 miles, with a 2 mile decent in the middle. So really it's about 1000 feet over 5 miles. Comparable to the climb up to the summit of Diablo from the Ranger Junction. Almost all of the riders do this section once. Some of the meat-heads go back 10 miles and do the whole thing again, effectively climbing the Sisters 3 times. A couple even go back for more and come out with 5 times in the end. I just wanted to do the one repeat, for 3 effective times. I had never done it before and I can't really explain why I wanted to this time. I think I wanted to feel even more connected to the experience. I was thinking about those people we ride for. This was going to hurt for sure, but for me when I hurt I lay down and go to sleep and feel better. The pain goes away for me. For people with arthritis, the pain never really goes away. This was for them.
At the rest stop at the end of the first climb I asked around for someone who was interested in going with me. Safety in numbers, even small numbers. Israel was interested and we set out.
We took this victory shot having made it back to the undisputed "Repeat Marker". Thanks Israel! Great job! Great wingman!
Coming into San Simeon and seeing this lighthouse in the distance is always a welcome sight on Day 4. Almost to camp!
Day 5: Cambria to Oceano
Today is only about 54 miles. Nice to have a break after a big day like yesterday. Now that James has had a few days of cranking hard at the front of the pack, he's a little spent and rides more with me. HAHA!
As silly as it sounds, in the four years I've done this ride I've only actually gotten into the ocean once before this day. Isn't that silly? So many opportunities. I made time today to go to the beach. On the way out I flagged a few friends over with me.
James (of course) and my friend Gavin from the UK were the brave souls that joined me. The water was COOOLD but it felt so good!
Day 6: Oceano to Buelton
I think this day is my least favorite day. We spend most of the day going through farmland and the road is jacked up from all of the heavy truck traffic. There's usually a lot of mud in the road too from all the irrigation. And it's one of our longer days coming in at 70 miles. The Santa Ynez Valley can get really hot in the afternoon this time of year, so it's best to blast through this day as quick as you can.
This particular morning was really foggy, which helped a bit.
Before James was my cycling buddy he was my chess buddy. My first year on the tour (before he started riding) I found this chess set at Zaca Mesa winery and I knew someday I would have to play with him here! 2015 was his first year on the tour and the first game we played. This game below is our second on this board (our first was last year when he was a CCC rookie!), and the first time he's beaten me in quite a while! My strategy recently has been to get a couple of drinks in him before we play. I didn't have anything with me this time.
This game was really aggressive and bloody. We don't usually trade pieces as early and as often as we did in this game. He ultimately took it down. Good game James!
I grabbed this one of him on one of the peaks in the SYV. I really like this one!
Here's a selfie that our teammate Jorge grabbed of us at a rest stop. Team Carter!
Day 7: Buelton to Ventura
This is a LOOONG day at 87.7 miles. Especially this late in the week. I don't think I grabbed any pictures today. This is one that another rider took around our rest stop in Santa Barbara. While it's a long day, it is really pretty. Southern California beaches almost all day. This time of year, the beach is really clear.
As we get closer to Ventura there's a long stretch near the ocean where motor homes set up shop for the night. On sections like this it's nice to have someone like James to ride with while we take turns blocking the wind for each other.
Tonight get in right as the resfreshments are closing up. We've splurged for a hotel tonight, our last night on the tour. It's a good decision!
Day 8: Ventura to Los Angeles
Last day! Today is a little over 55 miles, and with a tailwind on relatively flat land it goes fast! Right out of Ventura there's a really cool outdoor air museum.
There's something memorable about this rock... A lot of riders always feel compelled to grab a picture by this rock. Here Jessica steps in for a picture with me and James. The three of us had a blast on this section. On some parts I was laughing so hard I was tearing up and had trouble seeing!
The unofficial meetup is Gladstones in Santa Monica. They have a lot of great beers on tap. It's hard to keep it to one, but safety first! And the calamari... oh man!
After Gladstones we roll another mile to the field by Pacific Palisades
We gather up here with a few refreshments waiting for all the riders to come in, then we have a big parade finish down the street to where our friends and family have gathered to receive us. The sea of riders going in is really quite impressive! This year they had the great idea of lining us up by How many rides we've done. First year riders got to go in front as they experienced this very powerful moment for themselves. I'm a 4th year rider, so I was toward the back. Of the ~230 riders we had this year, only about 45 have done this ride more times than I have.
Finish line! Fourth California Coast Classic in the bag!
