17 mile drive (~26 miles)

I did this ride on 04/27/2008 as my buddies Mike G., James P. and Lubos B. were doing the Big Sur Marathon. Another of my boyz, Julien, did the 5k, but that was a bit embarrassing so we won't talk about it more. ;-) I was a bit tired from the day before (but well carb loaded from a big meal at Sweet Tomatoes in San Jose). First of all, here's the map:

The ride started at Carmel and then headed through town to 17 mile drive. It turns out that 17 mile drive is actually a private road. They charge a fee (something like 10 bucks) for the privilege of driving on the road, which goes by a few subdivisions and a number of very beautiful golf courses. Fortunately, it turns out that the rich folks that own the road are actually pretty cool - they let bicycles in for free. Since I did this ride early on a Sunday morning, there wasn't much traffic at all. I took the counterclockwise route from the south so there was a lot of climbing in the first few miles of 17 mile drive. Then the road leveled out for a bit then a pretty fun descent to the north. I had a little extra time so I took a detour to see (the outside) of the Monterey Aquarium. That involved a nice little hill in Monterey called David Avenue. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to visit the Aquarium so I headed back to Carmel but this time taking the coastal portion of 17 mile drive. This is where the really scenic stuff started.

Coast off of Monterey Peninsula Country Club

More coast

Somewhere near Pebble beach, there was this really beautiful tree. Apparently it's quite important since there was quite a large turnout so people could stop and take pictures. This picture is taken southward and the mountain in the background are across the bay on the way to Big Sur.