I’ve been on the road since October 3rd now. We’ve had two rest days and are now in Santa Cruz. The group is starting to really feel it. It seems the 40 and 50 mile days that were posted on the original schedule have all disappeared. Now the average seems to be between 70 an 90 miles a day. And to make things even better the days turn to be ten miles longer than we had planned in the morning. It’s ok though, the boys are hanging in there. Today we rode from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. It was the first time I had to bail in CA. After receiving my first flat of the trip and battling the headwinds alone I decided to call it quits 20 miles in. I’m kind of bummed. I really wanted to do all of California. I’ve been able to fight through my aches and pains most of the way but today was not my day. There’s something about always playing catch up to the boys that gets to you after a bit. After talking to the boys it sounds like today was the best day to take a little break. Even though there was no major climbing it was still the toughest day of the trip. Tomorrow we plan to head to Big Sur, hopefully the winds have died down…