Day #106: Sunnyvale to Santa Cruz (42 miles)
- chrisbentley349
- Jul 29
- 1 min read
And then it was done... the left hand picture is the Atlantic and the right hand is the Pacific :-)
Around 4,000 miles in total and 66,000 feet of climbing in 190 hours of riding. One bucket list journey achieved :-)
Today's route started with my riding past Apple's old headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop...
and grabbing a donut and bagel from the old shop I used to frequent:
My fantasy of coasting downhill to the ocean was quickly dispelled by the realization that the path to Santa Cruz had some of the steepest climbs I'd encountered. On the plus side, I got another dose of California's beautiful mountains and redwood forests:
Panoramas...
On the climb I met another cyclist, Albert, who gave me great tips about the ride... It turns out he'd retired from managing QE on the Apple TV group:
I wanted to say "thank you" to everyone who followed this blog and who posted comments... I read and loved every single one. As I was counting down the last few miles to the Pacific I kept remembering random moments from the three months of riding spread over two Summers. It's been a wonderful experience and I really loved sharing it with all of you. I'm going to spend the next week seeing friends and relatives in the Bay area and then fly back to Boston around August 7th. I'm going to stop the blogging now, and looking forward to seeing you all in person :-)
Stats: 42 miles, started at 7:30am, ended at 2:00pm, 6 hours actual riding:
Chris- it was GREAT riding with you today and hearing about your adventure. I am elated to see you achieved you're goal of dipping your tires in the Pacific. You are an inspiration to cyclists everywhere. Thanks to you I am now considering a ride to San Diego ! -Albert
Chris, what an incredible journey!! WOW!! Atlantic to Pacific, 4,000 miles, and so many memories along the way. We are in AWE of your strength, spirit, and the way you brought all of us along for the ride - thank you!
Seeing your daily updates has truly become part of our daily ritual - something we’ve looked forward to every morning (or, evening). We’ll miss your stories, the beautiful photos, the humor, the honesty… all of it.
Alex and I are so proud of you—and so happy you made it safely, with donuts in hand and the Pacific at your wheels. Congratulations on a dream achieved! 🌊🚴♂️❤️
Hope to see you back on the East Coast sometime this summer -…
Hooray, mission complete! From the Atlantic to the Pacific, 4000 miles later, your only change is from “blue” (a brief blue moment:-) ) to (all joyful) “green”. Happy then, happy now :-)
Congratulations from everyone at horseshoe lake. Now throw the ring in the volcano and come back home safely..
Oh my gosh... CONGRATULATIONS DAD!!!! Looking at the photo at the Atlantic I would have said you had a wide smile... But WOW do you look happy beyond belief in the photo at the Pacific! Dad, I'm so amazed you did this! I got choked up when you said in the video "38 miles to go", because it felt just like the other videos, and yet, such a different meaning. I'm in awe Dad