Seaside To Morro bay, 8K of climbing!

After a convenient great dinner at the Chili’s next door to the Hotel in Seaside, it was 8:15 and I was READY for bed. The ride rolled out each morning a 7AM sharp, so that mean a 6AM wake up call to eat and get prepped for another day of action in the saddle.

Rolling Along

I knew that I was tired before going to bed and wondered what a second consecutive day of 125 miles would be like. Was I going to have some low points? How would my legs feel? It was a chilly morning and the initial miles on the bike path were an easy spin to get everyone warmed up. So far, so good. We were going to get to climb out of Big Sur and have some amazing descents on the day, and the total would end up being 8k of climbing…not your average day in the saddle! I was on point with nutrition, the rolling buffet thought ever present in my mind…drink, eat…these two things equal no low points for me. We also took salt tabs all weekend long, not nearly as many as I would during a race, but enough to ward off any major dehydration…which resulted in a 7lb weight GAIN after three days of riding 125 miles/day. But more on that later.

Beautiful Cali Coastline

After getting popped off the back of the front group on the climb up Big Sur, my sunglasses fell out of my helmet as I was descending. Since they were new swanky glasses, I had to go back and get them. This resulted in a massive effort by me to get onto a small group. I knew that if I didn’t make it on, it was going to be a VERY long day for me. I made it to the lunch stop after riding miles 60-80 on my own. Again, sometimes you just need some alone time. I was like Goldilocks…the front group was TOO fast, the group behind me was TOO slow and there didn’t seem to be a Hailey JUST RIGHT group. So I hit Ragged Point, the location not describing my physical state and the group was there having lunch. Another bag of chips and a Coke for me please! After a short stop, we were ready to roll and I rolled out with Beth and Katya a little early to get a jump on the boys. Well the boys came roaring past us and Beth, Katya and I had our own Jens Voigt in my husband as he pulled a MASIVE effort to get us back into the group. As soon as he could SEE the group, he made a surge…I ended up falling off of this surge, again proving I am not a roadie built for small frequent accelerations! I was able to catch the group up after at the last stop of the day and we all rolled into Morro Bay together. Again, straight to the liquor store across the street for a Muscle Milk and then directly to the Tqueria for tacos, and a horchata (rice milk with sugar sure sounds like the perfect recovery beverage to me!).

Soaking up sun after lunch...kind of like cats really!

After a quick shower, Mark decided it was nap time…I could feel Grumpy McGrumperson coming on so I let him sleep for an hour or so. Then I was bored and ready to get out of the hotel room! I called up Pia and was able to meet for a glass of vino before heading to dinner with friends…this time at a bit of a better establishment than Chilis! I had a MASSIVE plate of Chicken Parm followed up by an ice cream sandwich! I usually try to follow a gluten free diet, but after breakfast on Saturday morning of an egg/bagel I decided all bets were off. Thankfully it doesn’t really affect me if I eat gluten so I just went with it for the weekend. Again ready for bed by 8PM anxious to see what the last day will be like.

Feet up, time to recover!

I was definitely tired after two days of riding, but it really wasn’t like I imagined it was going to be. I was thinking I would start to feel like I had done an ironman and that I would just be pounded. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say my legs were fresh, but they were able to handle the load without much trouble (other than not being able to be a part of the FASTest group).

My main squeeze enjoying the ride

Tomorrow I’ll put up Day 3 of the ride!


For any interested in my nutrition for these days here’s what it looked like.

Day 1: Breakfast- Noah’s egg/cheese/sausage bagel, orange juice, and a banana right before taking off

During ride nutrition: Maca Mania granola bar, 3 mini snickers, 1 large coke, 1 can coke, 1 300kcal bag of Lays potato chips, 2 tabs nuun, 4 scoops Cytomax, 2 Succeed salt tabs before and after ride.

Apres ride: Muscle Milk right after, Jamba Peanut butter Moo’d Dinner- 2 satsuma oranges, chips/salsa w/dinner, cheeseburger and fries from Chili’s.

Day 2: Breakfast- English muffin w/eggs & butter, 1 pancake, 1 banana, glass of orange juice

During Ride- 3 scoops Cytomax, 2 tabs nuun, Maca Mania granola bar, 2 mini snickers, 1 banana, 300kcal bag of Doritos, 2 large Cokes, 1 larabar, handful of Mark’s fries at lunch

Apres Ride: Muscle Milk, 2 carne asada tacos, chips salsa, horchata

Dinner: side salad, 2 glasses red wine, chicken parmasean with side of pasta, ice cream cookie sandwich, 2 succeed tabs before bed

Day 3: Breakfast- Nothing at hotel so 1 banana with packet of Justin’s nut butter, 2 Succeed tabs

During Ride: Maca Mania bar (12 miles in), 2 scoops Cytomax, 2 tabs nuun, 2 cans Coke, pack o fred vines, 1 small banana, rice and chicken curry Thai food for lunch- nothing after lunch until ride stopped other than liquid. Definitely didn’t have as much liquid on the 3rd day as I had had the previous two.

Apres Ride: Muscle Milk, half chicken burrito on way home, peanut butter crackers

 Dinner: Driving home, half chicken burrito, cheese/cracker box from Starbucks, hot chocolate (with whip!) large bottle of Cytomax, 1 diet coke . When home, 1 Chobani yogurt 2pieces buttered toast.