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67.8 miles today. Cold and foggy most of the way, same rugged coastline with constant ups and downs. For me it brought back memories of cycling Northern Ontario with Lake Superior forever on my right and rocks on my left with civilization feeling very remote, small communities great distances apart, no services.
It also became a very mentally challenging day partly because of the endless climbs - we climbed a total of around 4500 feet (see cover photo) yes we climbed high enough to be above the clouds and fog! and yet were always at sea level so a lot of climbing with nothing to show for it except tired legs. I was beginning to dread those lovely downhill runs because they only meant a sharp incline was around the next hairpin curve.
So today I had to play mental games with myself - why am I doing this anyway? Because I wanted to of course, precisely because of the physical challenges so girl it's time for an attitude shift - learn to love those hills, stop more often to enjoy the view even if it is of a cold and fog covered shoreline, eat more frequently, think how strong your legs at getting, think of the muscle you are building and the potential benefits of that, think of friends and lovers .... And so went the day, and despite the tiredness and the grumpiness we did make our planned destination for the day - high 5 to us!
Tomorrow is a shorter day and then the next day is San Francisco which will make all the physical and emotional agony worth it. We have done the worst and now it's time for the fun part of the trip.
The best part of the day was the last 5 miles when the fog had lifted and we were treated to vistas of one beautiful beach after another. But because the traffic was horrendous and I was already tired I did not stop to take photos. At that point I just wanted to make it to our campground for the night.
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