Leaving the desert and heading for the coast

There is not really a lot of difference between days on a six day bike ride.  Get up, eat breakfast, ride the bike, check into the hotel, eat dinner and go to sleep. The only real difference is the scenery passing by.  Today they left the desert of Coalinga and crossed over to the coastal foothills. Notice the palm trees at today's start as opposed to the snow a few days ago.

The eastern side of the coastal range is really dry this year.  It looks like August not April. This was the first leg of today's ride.  They are out there on the road somewhere, not in camera range.

The second leg of the ride was on a delightful bike road.  A small twisting road with no trucks allowed.

And after a few loops at the start for photographs ...

the riders are off to Santa Margarita for a lunch stop.

They rode after lunch, but the ride photographer got lost in the outlet mall and they had to finish the ride without photos.  Seventy four miles and they are still smiling.