A LONG but in the end pretty easy day down the coast of CA.  Also one of the most stunningly beautiful days I’ve ever seen from the saddle.  I couldn’t imagine an easier day as a photographer - heck, with my cameraphone I could have snapped some frame-worthy shots today.

The forecast was for rain all day and a steady west-south-west wind.  Somehow we lucked out and after a rainy start and a bit of cold rain a half an hour in the sun broke and only a light wind developed.  I once again hit out at K 0 but there was some action today in the early break hunt and it took about a half and hour of slamming it for something to form up that everybody was happy with.  We had Lucas up there and were happy with the move other than the fact that it contained another of the guys going for the KOM competition.  Lucas tried to pip some points away but Laurent nabbed enough to go clear in the standings and will give us quite a race on Saturday.

Once the move went clear the pack once again settled in behind the Disco train and rode out a long day at a nice tempo.  The sprinters teams slammed it towards the end and made things stiff for the last 15k but otherwise it was a relatively uneventful day, at least as far as the racing went.  We did however get to enjoy some spectacular views down the coast.  From the man-sized California Condors circling above us just south of Big Sur to the huge Sea Lions north of Morrow Bay we saw it all. With little to no shoulder it’d be a death march riding highway 1 any other day but today we really couldn’t have asked for much more.  Despite the rain the crowds were out in full force once again and I can’t wait to see how many people show this weekend.

Time for bed here in San Luis Obispo - Thanks to everybody for all of the support!