Of all the years I've done this ride, this year had the best weather. A little cold at the beginning but I knew it was going to get warm later so I didn't bring the arm warmers. We had a big group too. The usual suspects - Bob, Sonny, Doug and Shawn. Then there was Peter and his Cat 2 racing friend Janette. And from work Simon, Erik, and Jakub, who also brought his friend Jakub and Cindy. In the mass start jam up, I got separated from the guys. Doug said he was gonna go for it but Bob had talked about sticking together. Well they took off and I didn't meet them again until the rest stop almost 60mi in. I was livid! I rode with Simon and the Jakubs. Erik and Cindy did the medio. The climbs were as long and steep as I remember them and I didn't enjoy them at all. The roads were crappier than before and it felt more crowded with even less experienced people than before. I've never seen so many people walk their bikes up the climbs. It was worth it to get to the coast though. It was so beautiful. I would've loved to have ended the ride at the coast but unfortunately there was still a lot of climbing to do. For some reason, there doesn't seem to be enough descending to match. At the end of the ride, it was mostly Sonny and I because we were taking pictures. At one point we rode with the Jakubs. I don't know where they got the strength from but they just pulled away and we never caught back up. Pretty impressive considering Jakub was in Europe for 2 weeks. I have never enjoyed this ride and I saying it now. I'm not doing it again.