Finally, a short day of only 40 miles and with only one hill to climb. After four 60-70-mile days in a row, I was definitely ready for a relative rest. But I'm so close to the end, I'm also chomping on the proverbial bit.

I get up early, thinking I'll find a breakfast place and have a hot meal before starting my ride, but the only breakfast restaurant nearby is closed, even though the sign on the door says it opens at 7 AM. Disappointed, I order an egg and feta cheese wrap and a coffee at Starbucks, make short work of it and head over to the campground to see who's ready to ride.

I meet up with The Guys and ride with them the rest of the day. Because of that, because they only stop every 20 miles by agreement amongst themselves, I also don't stop and take any pictures, except when we reach La Jolla at ~20-mile point.

Our route takes us down Carlsbad Blvd/Pacific Coast Hwy south through Carlsbad proper, Encinitas, and Solano Bay. At Torrey Pines State Beach, we veer off the highway and onto N Torrey Pines Road, where we encounter the first and only significant climb of the day. 

When you look at the route profile, Torrey Pines looks pretty steep, but it's actually pretty tame, topping out at a little over 7%. It has a well-marked green-painted bike lane and quite comfortable to ride.

After the climb, there's a great downhill that drops us into La Jolla. Because I live in Napa and am used to sh*#ty pavement, I fly down the hill, avoiding the potholes, while The Guys — most of whom don't live in such hilly environs or live in states that take care of their roads — descend a little more cautiously. I am waiting for them at the bottom with a smile on my face.

From here, we search for a cafe, but instead end up at the Children's Pool on the La Jolla Harbor. It's hot sitting in the sun, so I sit on the wall-shaded steps that lead down to the beach and eat a Kind bar while watching a the penguins and a couple of baby seals on the rocks.

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We don't stay long, as we're all anxious to get to Hostel in San Diego. On our way out of town, we hug the coastline on a mix of bike/pedestrian trails and sides streets. The view is quite pretty, and we have to ride slowly because of all the activity on the paths.

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The ride is calm and easy all the way to Harbor Drive in San Diego, where we follow the path through the parks and along the marina until we get to the convention center. Here, we have to leave the shelter of bike paths and venture on the busy streets of San Diego.

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Fortunately, we don't have  far to navigate. It's only a few short blocks to the Hostel on Market St., in the heart of the Gaslamp district.

The hostel itself is hard to find, as the entrance is a narrow storefront with an orange door. Once inside, the building extends up three floors and expands to numerous bedrooms and bathrooms. It's quite an interesting building, with a fascinating history as a shoe store, cat house (ahem), and hotel.

You can read more about it HERE.

Turned out that we were too early to check in, so I wandered across the street for ice cream and then came back to wait in the lobby. 

At precisely 3:00 PM, we were handed our room keys. Men in one eight-bunk room and women in two different rooms, with four bunks each. They were pretty tight, but we managed to squeeze in our bikes and luggage.

Though tomorrow we would ride from here to the border of Mexico and back, this would be our last night together, so we celebrated by stuffing our faces with a huge Italian meal at Buca di Beppo's.