Day 2: Friday, March 7 San Diego,CA to Alpine, CA - 33 miles

Breakfast was at 7:30a.m. We had steel cut oatmeal with almonds, and cranberries. Yummy! We rode 3 miles to Dog Beach and dipped our rear tire in the Pacific Ocean. After the commensurate photos, we rode out of San Diego on a bike path past marinas and beaches. Once the bike path ended, traffic was extremely heavy. The urban ride eventually became rural and hilly. The temperature was around 85 degrees and the hills got steeper. We had a few 2 mile climbs with 7% grades.

Day 1: Thursday March 6, 2008 San Diego

Today is the first day of the tour. Our tour leader, Michelle, took about 15 of us over to Bernie's Bike Shop to pick up our bicycles. Bernie's is approximately 3 miles away from the hotel. I shipped my bike 7 days ago from Atlanta and Bernie's assembled it. I was happy to see that my bike had arrived without any damage. Bernie gave us the 'fat guy' route back to our hotel. Everyone was pleased because the hills in San Diego are steep. Easy ride back. So we decided to ride along San Diego Bay. Beautiful!! There's a bike trail that runs along the bay for miles. We rode for 9 miles and decided to have lunch at Fishy's cafe. I had grilled Pacific Salmon, blackbeans, and coleslaw. Everything was fresh and delicious. Raced back to the hotel with 15 minutes to spare before the group orientation and bike prep meeting at 1:00pm.