Winter sucks in California. Look at what we had to put up with on our mid-week ride, today. Almost 70 degree temps in Carmel Valley made it hard to debug Simon’s headlight problems.

We left Major WWWobble’s place a few minutes late due to the Captain’s tardy arrival. We jumped on 35 for a mile or so to catch 92 to the coast. From there it was supposed to be a simple ride to Watsonville for breakfast.

Along the way Bill’s bike would sometimes cut-out until he jiggled the ignition switch. Of course one of the times this happened was going through Santa Cruz, causing the group to get separated. Somehow Bill and I made it to the restaurant first, followed by the pack that was in the lead. I haven’t quite figured that out yet, but apparently an unscheduled gas stop had something to do with it. Eventually the two lost sheep called, got the proper directions, and met is for breakfast.

After breakfast it was south to Carmel Valley road with a stop in Carmel Valley. While there some poking and prodding was done to Simon’s headlight trying to liberate the hiding photons. It was partially successful... he now had a high beam.

One of the many stops was Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad on G17 south of Soledad.

The next stop was for a snack in Salinas, except for Simon who wanted to get a replacement bulb and/or be sure to be home before dark. After snacking we jumped on the freeway for the boring ride home. Around San Jose some of the riders signaled they needed gas. I waved, but kept on going as it seems the penance for nice winter weather is blown light-bulbs. My dash told me that my head-lamp went out somewhere south of San Jose. I had a spare with me, but decided that getting home before dark was best on the off chance that it was more than a burned out bulb.

Pictures from Chris