'Rich girls love machine guns, it's a proven fact.'

So said Fat Dan, aka Fast Dan, aka Dandonneur, in regards to Tania as we passed Hearst Castle on the SLO 300k. Wit is especially appreciated on a long ride, even more so after 40 miles of head winds. Thanks Dan! His dope VW Eurovan had made the Friday night trip from LA as comfortable as I can imagine being, which I soaked up before our 'night' of sleep at the ride start.
After 3 hours of this sleep-like horizontal thing, it was comical riding up the coast in the dark, at 430am, in a slight drizzle and a haze of fog. From the coast we headed up over the ridge and out past Paso Robles. Not comical was the 39 degree, slightly wet, gloveless descent. The first control was the earthquake capitol of the world. It's a one trick town and there were no earthquakes happening so we left. The last bit back on PCH goes up to Ragged Point, one the most beautiful sections of the California coast. We finished the 187 miles in around 16 hours, much slower than anticipated, but the burrito lunch was worth it.
We did not get back to LA in time for the midnight tunnel sprints. Sucks! Jack won and Megan got second female so Swarm! still represented.