And what a 29 miles it was!  Knowing this would be a short day, I wanted to push the envelope a bit.  So I ended up sprinting most of the way to Santa Cruz, pumping hard on the pedals, tearing up hills, screaming down descents, telling myself, “Come on Ocean, let me see what you’ve got!“  I got here is just over 2 hours, much faster than my average 10 MPH.  It felt good.

I‘m going to spend a couple days in Santa Cruz, to give myself time to slow down and get the Ianto article written.  I‘ve been procrastinating, a bit scared of what I‘ve set out to do – to write for an audience, for a magazine, to submit to the scrutiny of professional writers and critics.  Time to tell myself again: Come on Ocean, let me see what you‘ve got!

I‘ve found a perfect place to write too, Caffe Pergolesi.  I found this coffeehouse when I first visited Santa Cruz in 1990, right after the earthquake had devastated downtown.  It is here I first learned to love iced coffee.  The place looks the same on the outside, though it’s become a bit of a punk hangout now – check out the graffiti on the bathroom walls.  Last fall when I stopped by it really turned me off, but it’s interesting how 800 miles on a bike can change your perspecitve.  It has the feel of Interzone, and I guess I am more than a little homesick tonight.  Anyway, I‘ve found a little table in the corner perfect for banging out on the keyboard.  I‘ve still got hours of interview to transcribe, then there‘s the work of weaving it all together into a coherent and compelling story.  Well, time to get to it…