Pismo Beach to Rufugio Beach 77 miles

If you ever wake up and think 'this day is going to be a crap day' and decide to fold your tent on the day and go back to bed!!... dont!
Cause one thing i discovered today was that, no matter how you feel on any given day, as sure as eggs is eggs by lunch time things will have usually changed for the better.
That was how today was for me.
I woke this morning I had a sore bum, my legs ached, i didnt sleep too well and I was feeling 'this is not what i want to do today'.
I got no breakfast cause it didnt start till 8 and i wasnt waiting around. I headed out and soon, after a few miles, I had no legs. I was up and down in the saddle trying to find a good place to sit. It just wasnt working. A guy pull out in front of me on a bike and bob , we say good morning and in the chat i tell him I think ill only make Lompoc 28miles down cause im tired. He says the same and goes off.
He goes off ahead of me cause im slow today. Then Im passed by another guy on a bob who i had been with a few days previous and he goes on ahead of me. The last day we were on the road I was leaving him for dead. A measure of my malaise!
I stop 10 miles down the road for a coffee and bun and am writing the day off.
On the first major climb of the day i am joined by a nice guy who slows for a chat and i tell him to go ahead as im not on form today. He says you know, that rarely does a day finish the way it starts and by lunchtime you might feel differently. After a while he leaves me and i stop for a 5 minute break. Then the energy comes from somewhere and im sailing along. A few miles down the road just before the next climb of the day I come across him again and the first guy on the bob, stopped for a puncture. I stop to assist. The first guy says he is trying to make Santa Barbara. A good bit down,like another 70miles from where we are now. I refer him to the major climb after Lompoc and he tells me its 14 miles long.
I say yes that's a major climb and im not doing it. But he says 'well if it 14 miles long it cant be very steep!! good point. I head up that climb and sail into Lompoc energised. Stop for the proverbial 6ins subway and im ready for this 14 mile sucker.
I break my own rule by taking out the ipod and putting on Van the man, Astral weeks. Talk about the angels? Its totally inspirational and im flying up the climb. Its 85 degrees in full hot sun and im loving it. Got the factor 30 on and Im covered. Then comes REM more inspiration then Meat Loaf. Im bombing along and im eating this sucker.. Feeling really strong now. Make 2 stops for a weener and a gateraide and off again.
Finally, with a whoop and a holler, im at the top of the very last hill on the Pacific Coast. What a feeling. Ive got here and done all the hills and now its plain sailing all the way to San Diego. I am so happy with myself .I stop to take my picture.
Grandads a Genius rings in my ears.
The downhill was the best yet 2.5 miles of 7% grade. Im in the big ring and Im flying hit 40mph shirt akimbo and its a whizzer.
Camp ground awaits a mile of so up the road. When I get there the State Trooper tells me the camp is closed for the winter. But Regugio Beach is only 10miles further on.
Im ok! My ass is grass but the legs are like Fred Astaire. If somebody would massage my bum i could go for ever. The 10 miles is a flat fast run and Refugio soon appears. There im right on the beach and I go in for my first swim in the pacific. Really nice! I meet Jim the guy I met this morning who said he was going to stop in Lompoc.
He says I inspired him to do the last big climb and he is pleased he got here too. We share a bowl of mushroom soup and he brings some choc cookies his wife made for him and we have a nice evening over a beautiful sunset by the beach. Idylic!
Best day yet by far on the bike. I learned a lot about myself today. Stuff i wont forget.
Into santa Barbara tomorrow. To where the beautiful people go. 100 miles from LA. I sleep a great sleep to the sould of a thundering sea less than 50 yards from my tent. Where would you get it.....