Friday, April 17 – 60 miles with 4,000 feet – sunny and 70 degrees

Today was the first of a string of challenging riding days as we rode across the coastal range and ended at Pichilemu, which is a town on the Pacific Ocean. Our hotel room overlooks the ocean.

It is a little hard to see, but it the ocean really is closer than it appears in the photo.

From the road…

We had a picnic lunch prepared by our guides outside a cathedral. There were some nice benches that we could sit on and a little bit of shade.

Yes, it looks like there are a lot of bikes on the trailers for a lunch time stop. Well, we had a 9 mile, 1,500 foot climb up a dirt road that started just after lunch and no one wanted to ride. So, there was a shuttle to the start of the pavement – no one regretted not doing the ride up that hill. There were plenty of other options for very steep climbs during the afternoon. One was a 17 percent grade for a short stretch.

Our guides cooked us all dinner in a pavilion by the beach. They did a wonderful job. We had salad, baked potatoes, and a choice of steak, chicken or sausage – or any combination thereof.

Before dinner, we enjoyed watching the sunset. It was beautiful with the clouds…

There was even a beautiful reflection off of the windows of our hotel rooms.

The shower here is a solid eight, which says a lot since it is very small. It is nice to have a good shower and a larger room as we will be here two nights.