Ragged Point Ride 2006

Photos By Victor and Vickie Cabatuan

Ragged Point Ride 2005

By John Klingensmith

Suzanne and John enjoying breakfast at Ragged Point Inn                       Tailwinds cyclists for both the 100 and 50 mile rides

On March 6^th and 7^th, seventeen lucky members of the Tailwinds participated in the second annual Tour de Ragged Point.  While 2 riders rode from Santa Maria for a total of 100 miles, my girlfriend, Suzanne Jacobs, and I opted to start from Morro Bay for the 50 mile option.

Getting an early start, the 100 milers were waiting for us along the bay and we all started out together in sunshine and after a few miles an unusual and welcome tailwind blew out of the south.  Nothing improves the scenery like a tailwind when you are on a bicycle.  But it was not to last.

As we made our way northward, the wind slowly crept around to face us getting stronger later in the day.  The scenery did last on the other hand and became even more spectacular as we pedaled up the rugged coast.  At one point there was a 60 foot vertical rock formation and the wind-driven spray off the waves were going over the top of it.  One of the many Kodak moments we enjoyed.

I have been on eight different European trips from Norway to Italy and one to New Zealand. Sometimes it was just two or three of us and other times an organized tour.  And now here are all these beautiful sights in my own back yard.  In fact I had ridden a bike down this very coast from San Francisco to Morro Bay four times before but always in a fast pace line.  As T.S. Elliot said,   “.....We came back to where we started and knew the place for the first time.”

At the start of the ride it was agreed that we would regroup at a restaurant in Cambria.  Ridding at the back we stopped to take off our jackets as the day warmed up a bit.  Shortly the town of Cayucos appeared.  Not seeing anyone ahead and only remembering the “C” word we searched the cute little town for the restaurant only to learn it was in Cambria.  Not a problem or so I thought.

Since we had lost contact with the group we would avail ourselves of the wonderful sights and cute towns along the way.  After all it is not the destination but the journey- or so I thought.  Surely nothing could compare to the ambiance we were enjoying.  Certainly not a motel at end of the day.  Wrong.

We stopped in the little town of Harmony, population 8, so named after the local dairy farmers got to feuding and one person was killed which is twelve and one half percent of the population if it was the same back in 1870.  Afraid of running out of people, the survivors decided to live in harmony.  Being short of humans, the mayor of Harmony is Freddie the cat.  One of the humans that lives there produces beautiful blown glassware but it is not suitable for carrying on a bike so we just “window shopped”, so to speak.  We did have lunch consisting of a few baked potatoes and trail mix that we carried and enjoyed the warm sunshine.  The cuisine was to improve immensely at the end of the day.

Our next stop was the much larger town of Cambria where we located the appointed restaurant but we missed the pelaton by about 30 minutes as determined later.  Cambria is cutesy-touristy.  It was here I found a unicorn at a mystic shop my girlfriend spotted.  I had been looking for this particular item for over a year checking the internet and even emailing a distributor in China were it was made. A real life serendipity.  We drove back the next day to pick it up.

Then it was on to San Simeon with Hearst Castle on the ridge line.  An architectural aberration to my eye- but the swimming pools are great.  The coastline was getting even more rugged as well as the ride with the headwind ever increasing.  Not being sure exactly where our destination was, I now expected to see it with every hill I crested or around every bend.  Instead a 12% hill showed up and climbing was a welcome change to the headwind.  Fifteen minutes later at the top we saw the lodge.

The architecturally correct Ragged Point Lodge was a delight to our eyes- and a rest for other parts of our body as well.  Stepping into the beautiful lobby we were made to feel like conquering heroes by the desk clerk who also passed on the concern of the other riders when we didn’t show up at Cambria.  It’s nice to be missed but I was sorry to cause any worry.

Checking into our rooms with an ocean view over high cliffs upped the delight factor even more.  Then there was the good food, great company of the Tailwinds, good conversation and finally falling asleep to the sounds of the ocean--a fitting end to the day.

The next morning we walked along the high cliffs taking in the various views of the ocean.  Nature at Ragged Point had outdone even the very best of architects and even threw in some waterfalls off the cliffs into the ocean for extra credit.

After a hearty breakfast with the remaining non-riders we reluctantly left in late morning with a strong tailwind out of the North.  It was payback time. The 12% hill now went by in less than two minutes and we soon found ourselves checking out the elephant seals lying on a beach about five miles south of the point.  The grown males look like the size of a small car and can dive to 5000 feet.

We now pedaled with what seemed one fourth the effort savoring the views.  All too soon my van showed up at Morro Bay and we knew our bicycle adventure was now just a memory but a permanent one.

We never forget the awful and the awesome.  It is with THANKS to Dave Cantero for doing all the coordination involved including everybody’s schedules, nice weather, and a  thousand other things that we don’t know about to make the ride truly AWESOME!

Thanks to President, Dave Cantero for coordination . . . and                     After a hearty breakfast with the remaining non-riders             

a 1000 other things . . .to make the ride truly awesome!                          we reluctantly left in late morning with a strong tailwind

                                                                                                                                out of the North.  It was payback time..

Spectacular Ragged Point Ride

Photos taken by the Canteros and Slaters

        Cycle North along the rugged coast for a 100 or 50 mile ride to Ragged Point. The 100-miler with Rob Goodenough starts at 7:30am from the Loading Dock in Old Orcutt. The 50 miler meets with Dave Cantero, Ride Leader,  at 11:30 am at the marina parking lot across from the Morro Bay State Park Campground. Cycle to Cambria, and have lunch at Main Street Grill, then on to our destination for a luxurious overnight at Ragged Point Inn with a wall-to-wall window view of the ocean and great food.

        Reserve your place in the annals of bicycle history and in the joy of bicycle heaven! The ride is open to all members and friends and must be pre-registered with Dave Cantero.

        The last two years Ragged Point ride has been a huge success and everyone, especially the wives, that came along had a great time. Cycling along the rugged coast line could not have gone any better with the beautiful weather...and the natural beauty of the area.  Some of the scenery included seeing three thousand pound elephant seals with their newborn pups and the gorgeous sunset at the end of the day. The acclaimed restaurant lived up to its expectations.

         Basking in the after-glow of Ragged Point. the wives who joined their husbands for this spectacular ride, thought it wonderful to get to know our members better and share special times with them.