April 28, 2022
Ghetto for the 0.1%
Carmel Valley Village to Pacific Grove via Pebble Beach
Our plan was to hit breakfast at 7am and roll by 8. I slept badly so it was easy to just get up about 6:30. The morning was cool and still and the forecast was for mid-upper 50’s at best and wind later today. So we both wore tights and an extra layer.
At 7 we walked down the street and around the corner to the Wild Goose Bakery Cafe, which was distinctly not suggested by our ice cream server, when we asked, in spite of the fact that it was right next door. But it’s online reviews were glowing and it was 5 minutes by foot from our hotel so why not? Most importantly, the coffee was excellent and I had a yogurt granola berry parfait that was delicious and Jim very much enjoyed his egg sandwich.
We did manage to roll by 8, heading to Carmel. Having ridden Carmel Valley Rd last year, we already knew that it was narrow in parts with little shoulder and very trafficky and it was all those things. But we kept our heads down and covered the 11 miles to Carmel quickly. There we made a short stop at a Luckys market for two reasons. Yesterday in the Village market (also an ice cream shoppe and deli,) Jim spotted 4 large bottles of original Tejava. This was notable because Tejava has become unavailable over the last several months. At first it was just the unsweetened, non-flavored bottles but lately it is all Tejava flavors. Understand, Jim is a devotee of the original Tejava. He likes his iced tea unflavored, unsweetened and, most importantly, without any preservatives like citric acid, commonly used by lesser brands. Getting close to running out of his hoarded stock of bottles, Jim emailed the company, (part of Crystal Geyser, located in Calistoga, just a hop, skip and a jump from us in Napa,) and they vaguely blamed it on “supply chain issues,” which is the excuse of choice these days. So when he saw those 4 bottles he began to think about how to buy them. He had no room in his panniers and no desire to carry them on the bike anyway (the 4 bottles would have added roughly 12 lbs to his load,) so he decided that after we got back to Pacific Grove, he would drive all the way back to Carmel Valley Village to get the bottles. Real addict, I mean,“enthusiast,” behavior, right?
So getting back to our Luckys stop in Carmel, I wanted to visit their pharmacy to buy something to properly wrap my ankle, since the Duct tape was pulling at and burning my skin. I also thought it was worth checking if they also had some Tejava, possibly saving us a trip all the way back to the Village. And guess what, they had 3 bottles on the shelf! So we decided to come back in the car this afternoon, buy whatever Tejava Lucky still had and if it wasn’t enough, to go back to the Village for theirs.
From Luckys we rode through Carmel proper, stopping only for photos of the Carmel mission, which is beautifully restored and cared for. We exited Carmel via the 17-mile drive heading into Pebble Beach. It was a slow trip as we ogled the mansions dotting the rugged coastline and hills, and the gorgeous coastal views. The golf courses were in great use this morning, because the wind was really pretty mild. Lots of walkers, joggers and other cyclists, many of whom gave us thumbs up when they saw our bags. For those of you that don’t know, the 17-mile drive is free to cycle through but cars are charged $11.25 for the chance to gawk at some of the most expensive real estate in the country. (The gate fee is refunded if you spend $35+ at a Pebble Beach resort restaurant.)
Exiting the 17-mile drive we continued to ride along the coast through Asilomar State Beach and on to Pacific Grove. Along the way we stopped to look at Tide Pool spots where Doc Ricketts (John Steinbeck’s BFF) observed and collected samples for his research.
We eventually left the coast and rode up to and on to Lighthouse Dr and back to Jim’s brother’s house.
After cleaning up, we drove back to Carmel and went to Luckys. Lucky Jim, now there were 13 large bottles of original, unsweetened, non-flavored Tejava on the shelf! Needless to say, Jim bought them all and decided we did not need to go back to Carmel Valley Village. A great ending to a short, but sweet bicycle tour.
Today's ride: 28 miles (45 km)
Total: 140 miles (225 km)
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Jacinto has discovered (cutting out a very long story), that the important part of his favorite coffee is the chicory. We bought a bag of chicory on Amazon. As long as he goes half and half of coffee and chicory, it doesn't seem to matter what the coffee is. He claims he's going to make a pot of only chicory, but hasn't given me a report on that yet. Ironic that chicory used to be the cheap coffee substitute. Now it is more expensive than coffee.
1 year ago
1 year ago