last day of vacation

Why is it that the last day of vacation is always the most gorgeous, warm, sunny-perfect day?

Ben and I set out to repeat Monday's ride yesterday morning-- it was the only trail we knew well enough to find our way through. Climb from Paul's house up up up to the trailhead. Then some steep down and up over little bridges and through two deep ravines populated with redwoods, then some easier singletrack before a long sweeping descent through a wildflower field to the ocean. The singletrack in the ravines is narrow-ish and just off the trail it drops off steeply, totally scary. The climbs were steep and longer than we're used to, but I have the power to make it through now. The view from the downhill is stunning. And the rocky exposed sandstone of the trail is slightly terrifying. Not technical, just kind of intimidating. I got sunburned.

Overall, though, Santa Cruz is just an amazing place. Paul and Holly were wonderful hosts and everyone we met was so friendly- Ben's teammates, Aaron from Ibis who let Ben demo a bike for days (!), Jeff Traugott who told stories of guitars for Charlie Hunter and John Mayer, just everyone... it was so refreshing being in a Madison-like place where folks know eachother and help eachother out, where organic and local matters, where gardening is the norm.

5 hours of sleep last night and returning to my thankless job ain't fun. Lower back is still hurty, and I just realized I've done at least one hard workout- and usually 2 - every day for the last 10 days. Tomorrow I'm sleeping in.