Although the ride today was only a short one, it was made through a testing section of the Los Padres National Forest…  Over a hundred kilometres of tight, twisting road, that curled up steep inclines and dipped into deep valleys…

The road had no run off areas at all, and not only is it quite narrow in places, but recent rock falls had spread a thin layer of gravel and sand in some of the corners, making for more than a little danger than I needed…!!

I did not take too many photos on my ride today… I was enjoying the thrill of a testing ride, far too much…. This was at the entry to the Los Padres National Forest Reserve….. From there, it all got rather exciting…!!

In the mountains above Lake Casitas… The Pacific Coast was only minutes away…

I arrived at the home of Mikaela and Raphael in Santa Barbara, by mid-afternoon, having left Bakersfield at the unusual hour of 11.00 am to start my ride… The big push I had made from Phoenix over the past few days, afforded me the luxury of being able to leave much later than I normally do…

Parked outside my Santa Barbara HQ…!! We had covered almost 2000 km since leaving Phoenix on Wednesday morning….!!

The last time I had seen Mikaela and Raphael, had been at Caitlin’s wedding in November, in Brooklyn, New York… It was great being re-united with what is soon to be an extended part of my family…!!

And the Big Fella has Raphael’s BMW 100 RT to chat to…. His bike is a 1979 model and still going strong…!!

Moments after arriving home from work, Mikaela and I were taking a walk along the coastal path above the beach of Santa Barbara…

I will be spending the weekend here and making decisions about “where to from here”… There are so many options, that I might have to ride back and forth between the coast and the mountains to take in the places I am interested in seeing…

Decisions, decisions….!!

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