THE VERVE!!!/Santa Cruz

After a casual 50 mile ride from Caramel Heights, with knees blazing, I pulled into a nice site in Santa Cruz called New Brighton.  It was a relief because this had been my seventh day of riding and my body was really starting to feel it.  Santa Cruz would be my home for a day.  Nothing really amazing happened that night.  I did go to a cafe called Aptos Roasting Company, and even though they served me a pour over cup of coffee, it was served without care and it ended up tasting unremarkable.  Still it gave me an excuse to grab some WiFi so after a couple minutes and a few conversations with some locals I packed it up and went back to New Brighton to rest and get ready for my day off.  A couple of riders from San Francisco were there when I got back named Jo and Mike.  (So many Mike... So many Jo...)  Some cool guys just having a quick riding adventure.
    The next morning was Sunday, June 12 so I found a church to attend called Coastlands Aptos Foursquare Church.  It was really great attending a service for the morning.  The people we're really welcoming and I ended meeting a couple "couples" that offered me a place to stay on my return trip.  Thank you Natalie/Rob and Rudy/Carissa.  I hope to see you in a few months.

      After the service was over it was time... time for the VERVE!!! YEAAAAAA!!!  Little did I know that nestled within the downtown of Santa Cruz was a place that would change my life forever.  Well, maybe it wasn't that paradigm shifting but it truly was an amazing coffee experience.  After an espresso, macchiato, Assuvium/Guatemala drip and a latte I felt knocked off my feat.  Partly because I haven't consumed that much coffee for a good two weeks, but mostly because it all tasted amazing.  The single origin espresso from Costa Rica couldn't have been sweeter and every milk drink was creamy and delicious.  I almost sent my latte back though.  I thought there could have been one more rosetta in it... there was only five of them.  As I was leaving, the barista Stacie gave me some good tips on some more amazing spots that I hadn't heard of in San Francisco and I walked out of that shop in complete coffee bliss.  Being away from good coffee for a couple weeks made me forget that coffee could taste like that.  (Sigh.)

     The afternoon was a little frustrating because I unexpectedly learned that you can't stay in New Brighton two nights in a row.  (I would like to write a strongly worded letter to whomever decided that that should be a rule.)  So I had to back track about 9 miles to a park called Manresa.  Kind of a bummer because it put be back about a hour for the next day.  It was still a nice place and I got to bed early because I was hoping to start early make it to San Francisco the next day which is a good 90 miles away.  When I woke up there was a biker named Jonathan that had come in a little later so we had a quick conversation about what each of us were doing, swapped a banana for a cliff bar and said goodbye.  As I was pulling away he said, "The road is yours Beau."  Which, I think, is the most epic thing one rider can say to another.  I'm taking that one John.  So to all you touring riders out there.  The road is yours!  (Trade Mark: Beau Trembly)