Day+22+Journal

=Colin's Journal= 22 January 2006 57 miles Westmont College --> Lompoc 12 miles run, 45 biked

Went back to our 6am wakeup call this morning, then went back to the rec center for cereal and milk for breakfast. Said goodbye to Krista, then followed a very hilly road that made its way slowly out of the hills towards the coast. Karina ran the first 10 miles with Bill before we said goodbye to her, fittingly, on the side of the road.

We got back on Rt. 101 towards the end of the next leg, and we saw a sign advertising that San Francisco was 324 miles down the road. Almost there. Stephen and I switched on the highway, which I got to exit a little over a mile later. We also saw an Anza Trail sign here- we're on the right track again! We got to a rolling bike path that ran next to the highway, and was nicer to travel on anyways. There was a cool dip in the path with a 200m downhill that was labelled as a 20% grade, then another 200m back up, where I did some bounds.

The whole way I was meaning to do 4x1000m, but it was so rolling that I never saw a good opportunity to start, so I would put in harder efforts uphills. We went along the coast on a nice state park, then lost the trail and got back on Rt. 101. I finished up with 3 mins at 5k effort, stretched, and started riding.

We soon left the coast and hit a pass between two imposing mountains. We went through a ~300m long tunnel that just freaked the hell out of me. There was no shoulder, mirror shards all over the ground, cars whizzing by, and echoes bouncing around like crazy, so you couldn't hear yourself think. We got of 101 onto Rt. 1 a mile later, and we followed this for the next 22 miles to Lompoc.

This was maybe the most scenic day so far, and this section was especially nice- steep grass covered hills with cows grazing on them, the road just rolling through all this (after a big initial climb to get through the mountains). We stopped for lunch on a bridge about 8 miles out of town- leftover french bread, bananas, carrots, and Honey Nut Cheerios. David then tried to get back into running with 5 miles, before I did 2 more to get to the campsite.

This is another RV spot, though it has a biker/hiker section. Lompoc is apparently a prison town, inland from Vandenberg Airforce base, so staying in "River Park" is exciting to say the least. I split a coin operated shower with Grant- $1 for a hot shower- then worked on bikes while Grant and Rogo picked up dinner from an Albertson's two miles away. We made calzones with green peppers, summer sausage, cheese and sauce on pitas, which we grilled in the pan. The "camp host" is a bit of an asshole, refusing to give us change for a $20 bill, and driving from his RV to our campsite to "see what is going on". His RV is 100ft from our campsite. Dinner was great, but it was apparently 25 F here last night, so it may be pretty cool. As with every other night camping, I'll be staying in my tent, which is starting to fall apart.

Day 22

Day 23

Day 23 Journal