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Monday 10 September 2012

Day 36: The last big climb - Lompoc to Santa Barbara

First pot of call for the day was, you guessed it, the bike shop - which never seem to open until 10am anywhere, so we had to wait around. The guy was really hekpful  and didn't actually have any wheels to fit Dave's bike, but managed to rebuild his wheel. Rebuilding a well isn't a quick job, so we had to wait around until lunch, which is just so frustrating when all you want to do is get on the road.

Finally by about 1pm we were back on the road with a new wheel and new front tyres. From leaving Lompoc it's a gradual climb for about 15 miles. It wasn't too bad, but the road surface was just really bad so hard to pick up speed. We finally made the summit of the hill, just under 1k feet and I was so excited to think this was the last big climb, and it was actually pretty easy.

The downhill was awesome about 2.5 miles of straight down, although I realised half way down that this would also be our last big descent - so I made the most of it ha! The road took us back onto the 101, onto a really busy section through massive rock, on the northbound side there is even a tunnel. I was really glad we were heading south and still downhill. Taking a break at the rest stop,I had a cuddle by three lively dogs which helped me relax.

We were pretty much on the 101 then until Goleta, which meant we could keep the speed up and make it to Santa Barbara before sunset.
Coming into Santa Barbara was awesome, we followed a bike path that took us all through the university - which looked more like a holiday complex than a uni - the how town had such a great vibe, wow such a great place!
We finally arrived at our motel just after 7pm, which was pretty good going.
Miles today 54. Total miles 1581.



2 comments:

  1. you're really making me home sick now! GREAT pics - you look amazing and having so much fun - enjoy!! xx

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  2. Its so great here, I can't believe you spend so much time away!! LOVE Santa Barbara xx

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