20170623 - Morro Bay and Back

This was a short trip - about 600 miles.  Paul didn't have much tread left in his rear tire and we didn't want to come back on the belts, so we picked a distance that would burn off the rest of the tread and set him up for a tire change.

The temperature is heating up in southern California.  Depending on where we would go, the temperature could be anywhere from 74 degrees to 111.  Initially, I thought a route that was more in the mountains would be the best, but it turns out the coast is definitely the way to go; that meant the Pacific Coast Highway.

Our plan was to head after work, take I-10 straight out to the beach, turn right and head north.  Our stop for the evening would be Solvang, a dutch town halfway between Santa Monica and Monterey.  From there, we'd do a little back road riding and head back.

On the way, somewhere west of Ontario on I-10, I was dangling my feet off the pegs to give my knees a break when I hit a bump in the road.  As the suspension compressed, my feet lowered and left foot struck a break in the pavement.  Fortunately, my legs were hanging completely loose.  My boots helped, but not as much as if I were wearing steel tip boots.  I never wear steel tip boots because having my feet contained in leather for hours at a time is a great setup for athletes foot.  I prefer a hiking boot with Vibram soles for traction.

My foot went numb from my toes to about mid-way through the arch.  Even still, I knew this wasn't bad.  I just needed to wait for the numbness to wear off to figure out how bad this could be.  I've broken bones before and this wasn't what it feels like.  I was still able to shift without any issues.

I decided it wasn't bad and we pressed on.  In Solvang, I took a look.  My big toe took the brunt of it.  It was now 4 hours since it happened, and the nail was only a slight shade of lavender.  It didn't hurt much, so I decided that drilling it could expose me to infection and that wasn't worth the risk.  If it were really painful, it would have been necessary, but it really wasn't.

Other than this, the trip was very uneventful.  Solvang is a nice place to hang out.  We had breakfast at Paula's Pancake House and managed to get there just before everyone else.  We sat outside and enjoyed the morning before jumping back on the bikes.

It would have been nice to ride quite a bit more in the Solvang area.  All that country between there and Santa Monica, and I-5 is largely unexplored, except for some of the Morro Bay riding I've done.