Well, I guess it's really day 2 - we arrived in the late afternoon yesterday and spent a lot of time at the airport, waiting (much too long) for our rental car. Jessi and I camped out in the sun for quite literally at least 90min, just waiting for Paul to retrieve us from the arrivals area of the San Diego airport. I think the security guards were beginning to get nervous the longer we sat there...
We're staying in a large multi-room home in Leucadia (http://www.casaleucadia.com/), about 40min north of San Diego and just south of Carlsbad. There are (I think) 12 of us here along with Paul and Jim Flora who will be our wrench. While the accomodations are quite comfortable, I admit to a bout of severe insomnia last night, so I guess I'm not quite comfortable. Hopefully that will not be the case tonight.
We got in about 4 hours of good saddle time today that had us riding on Highway 101 along the Pacific shore. This was an especially cool ride for me because we covered the same route as the Carlsbad Marathon and Half Marathon (which I did a few years ago and was actually held today), so I was in familiar territory. There were a bunch of surfers out riding and I was surprised to see the MetLife blimp (Snoopy 1 anyone?) floating over Oceanside, CA, our turnaround point. Weird - the things you see on a ride...Temps were perfect - about 70ish for a high after a low in the upper 40s and no clouds to be seen. I admit that I even have the beginnings of some bad tan lines.
We are planning to head inland tomorrow to a 40mi loop that includes a 12mi climb that Jim is familiar with. I'm actually looking forward to it - climbing is a big challenge for me and tomorrow will be a good test for my legs and my usually fragile psyche when the road gets vertical. I'll be sure to check in with the lowdown tomorrow evening. I might even have some photos - we'll see.
