Three weeks of marine layer and then one morning it was simply gone. We rode the Highway 1 shoulder down to Point Lobos with a group of five from Portland and stopped at every turnout. Nobody checked the time. We were back at the shop an hour late and nobody minded.
Every season someone asks why our rental fleet is not carbon. The answer is the salt air. Steel can be repaired at the bench in an afternoon, and after six winters on the coast our oldest frames still ride straight.
Weekends on 17-Mile Drive mean tour buses. Tuesdays mean deer on the fairways and the sound of the surf at Cypress Point. We moved our standard loop to weekdays and the reviews changed overnight.
The climb to Hurricane Point earns its name every August. We now start the Big Sur ride an hour earlier, before the afternoon wind fills in from the northwest.
Eight new mid-drive e-bikes arrived this summer. They do not make the Carmel Highlands flat, but they make them possible for riders who would otherwise stay in the van.
Our long-day shuttle ride now ends at the Piedras Blancas rookery. Molting season is quieter than winter, but there are still a few hundred animals on the beach and the boardwalk is never crowded in the morning.