Total time in the saddle: 4.5 hours
Elevation gain: 1800 feet
The morning of Day 2 began with a quick trip to the drug store to pick up the items we needed to recover from Day 1. For me that meant super power sunscreen and a bandana; for kc it was ace bandages, muscle ointments, and generally things that smelled like menthol.
South of Santa Cruz, Highway 1 is a semi-freeway with bicycle traffic prohibited, so the route took us along side streets through the outskirts of town and out through rural agricultural land. Although we were probably never further than a mile or two away from the coastline, we didn't see the ocean for most of the day. Instead we traveled along side fragrant strawberry fields, patches of lettuce and other veggies, and the like.
While stopping for sandwiches and coffee in the village of Marina we ran into a gaggle of small town cheerleaders. It took the barista 15 minutes to make my single espresso because every one of those cheerleaders had ordered a double half-caff carmel mochiatto frappucino, or something similar. Terrifying.
A few miles north of Monterey, we picked up a nice multi-use trail that led us back to the coastline. This part of the coast was dominated by huge sand dunes and the ubiquitous Monterey cypress.
We arrived at the Monterey hostel a little after 5 o'clock. The hostel is more traditional than the Carmelita cottages in Santa Cruz, but the facility was super clean and the location couldn't be beat. We were just blocks away from Cannery Row, so we strolled down to the waterfront for dinner at a pub called Bullwacker's. I believe that everything we ate at that place was deep-fried. It tasted pretty good, but didn't sit too well with either of us that night.
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