Day 1-Oct. 15 San Diego to Pine Valley, CA 70miles

Well, I finally have time now to write as it is Sabbath now.
We started out from Ocean Beach Park in San Diego. I did my bike tire in the Pacific Ocean, but Dave Ryder didn't want to bring his bike down, so took off his front wheel instead. We started off at 8:30. Only 10 miles into the ride I had a flat tire. I always carry a tube, CO2 air pump, and small bike tools, along with my cell phone, in a small bike bag under my saddle. There was a piece of glass in my tire that I couldn't get out. So had to stop nearby at a fast lube business to use needle nose pliers to get it out.
After we got out of San Diego we started doing alot of climbing. About halfway up the mountains we stopped at a neat farm stand and got some local produce. The strawberries were especially good--Ryder's favorite.
Although it was cool and cloudy to start at the beach, it soon cleared up and warmed up to 85 in the mountains. But after all that hard pedaling up over 7300 ft. of elevation gain in the hot sun Dave Ryder was suffering terribly from heat exhaustion. By the time we stopped he was feeling quite miserable. We stopped to eat at a local restaurant in Pine Valley, hoping that would make him feel better, but he was not able to eat well, as his stomach was quite upset.
We did 70 miles our first day, which I felt was good considering the many mountains we climbed. I had planned on doing 100 miles, but I guess I was being overly optimistic.
For about 5 mile section we had to get on I-8. No fun to ride the interstate. Too much traffic.
One area where our angels were definitely watching over us was when we came to the cattle grates in the road. Ryder was in the lead and didn't see these wide cattle grates just before crossoing the interstate. He was able to brake just in time with his front time just stopping over the first section. Thinking that was it, we crossed the interstate and we were going down hill at a good pace when all of a sudden another cattle grate came upon us. But going faster and down hill Ryder applied his brakes hard causing him too skid his back tire and even going sideways, being able to stop just in time. It looked like he was going to wreck. Going over thos e grates would definitely cause major damage to our wheels and possibly throwing us from our bikes. So we thank the Lord for His daily protection.