This ride report is courtesy of Michell, who was awesome enough to ride all the way up from San Diego (only 115 miles for the day!) to help lead this ride:

We set off in a combined group and regrouped often to make sure nobody got left behind. I’m afraid the speed differential between the four faster girls and the rest of the group meant we got stretched out a bit, but everyone was really patient and we had some good chats while waiting for the rest of the group to catch up.

No mechanicals today. Yey! Some of us got honked at a bit on Carmel Valley Rd by a rather obnoxious dude in a really expensive silver convertible. I’m not sure why. But then he also honked at other cars… somebody oughta give the guy a bicycle. Maybe then he won’t be so grouchy!

We were descending Carmel Valley Rd toward the McGonigle when a car did a rather imprudent reverse from McGonigle back out to Carmel Valley to claim a parking spot and caused us to collectively hit our brakes. I was quite stoked that everyone was paying attention and nobody was tailgating so we all had just enough time to safely slow down and not have to swerve into the traffic lane.

Special notice to Sian and Ellie for outstanding perseverance! Some riders would get demoralized when they lag far behind the group on the climbs, but these two soldier on like champs and even smiled through all of it (headwind on northbound coast hwy included). They were great! And Verity has gotten so strong so quickly (I think she only took up road cycling a few months ago).