First off, a huge, HUGE, thanks to Bike Works for saving our bacon and allowing us to finish the ride. More on that later. Both Courtney and I wanted to do an epic dirt ride today. Originally I suggested doing my long version of the Fifield-Cahill ride but they're pausing rides while they prepare for the new trail opening and manage the new visitors. Rather than substituting Sawyer Camp trail for Fifield-Cahill Ridge trail, I created a route that just did all the dirt at the coast. Originally the forecast was for showers in the morning and cloud most of the day. We were pleasantly surprised when the sun actually came out as we were getting ready. It was nice almost the whole day with short periods of clouds and a rain shower in El Granada. Unfortunately, for the second, Purisima Creek, loop after lunch, it was overcast. The ride up to Mori Point was so pleasant! We were both enjoying it so much. Tried a new trail at Pillar Point that was a little spicy but Courtney was down for it even on her gravel bike. The views were so gorgeous. We kept looking out at the ocean to see if we could find any whales but surprisingly, we didn't see any. When we got into Pacifica, I was getting a little hungry so we stopped for a snack at Pacific Java Cafe. It turned out to be a smart move because lunch ended up being later than expected. I wish I'd eaten a little more even because it was around lunch time. We also joked about having tacos at Taco Bell since our planned lunch stop was tacos at Cantina @ San Benito House. We saw so many dogs today, easily the most I've ever scene along the coast. We also saw two horses at Rancho Corral de Tierra. One when we were first descending San Vicente trail was being trained. The woman walking the horse up the trail was very nice and the horse was checking me out. I got to feed it some carrots and then Courtney did too. Later on, at the end of the big descent, there was this massive horse coming the other way and Courtney locked up her rear for a pretty long skid. The horse seemed unfazed and the rider was pretty nice about it too. Courtney's like I was when I first got my gravel bike - riding all the dirt, including MTB trails. Still, I wasn't sure if she'd be down to do Old Colma Rd. but it ended up being her favorite trail of the route. I also tried out Tanga for the first time to avoid the steep "chute". I wasn't expecting a climb but the descent was fun. Courtney's shifting was messed up from her trip to Germany. She was missing two or three of her lowest gears and they kept skipping. There was no way she was going to climb Purisima Creek Trail without her lowest gears. On the way back to HMB for late lunch, we swung by Bike Works and they fixed it no charge. I was actually have some minor shifting issues myself so I asked them to look at it as well. Mine wasn't quite as simple as hers - they installed a new shifter cable. They also didn't charge me! While we were waiting for our bikes, the guys in the shop said 92 was closed. Sure enough Waze was suggesting detouring up to Sharp Park Rd. Earlier, because of her shifting, we weren't sure if we were going to climb Purisima but with the closure, it seemed like we for sure would want to, just to kill time if nothing else. After we left Bike Works, we got lunch. I've been wanting to check out Cantina for a while now and I'm glad Courtney was super game to go to. We were so hungry that we both order tacos, which ended up being big, AND a burrito to split. After the two tacos, both of us were nearly full and we were worried the burrito would push us over the edge but it didn't. My fish tacos were good but Courtney's shrimp tacos were even better. The fish could've used a little more salt. The burrito was great. I got pretty cold sitting and eating. It didn't help that there wasn't any sun. It was also getting late and we were a little unsure if we'd make it to Purisima before they closed. The cloudy conditions made it darker and feel later than it was too. Initially, my legs felt a little tired and I was thinking I didn't really need to do Purisima Creek but as we got closer my legs felt better. On the way up Purisima Creek trail, climbed up to the clouds. It was chilly along Skyline. I'm so glad I went back to the car after lunch to get some layers. We made it to Whittemore Gulch before sunset but the fog on the way meant our glasses were also fogged. By the time we started to descend, it was getting dark and it was completely dark pretty soon after. The fog made it pretty chilly and completely obscured the view. We didn't get to full send the descent but it was still fun. One of Courtney's wishes was to ride in the dark so we got to check that off. Descending Higgins Canyon in the dark was fun but once we got down to the bottom, it started to drizzle and continued all the way back to the car. To use the analogy of being too full after eating too much, I was concerned that I'd be "too full" from the ride and riding more than was comfortable by tacking on Purisima Creek. But in the end I'm glad I did it. It was such a great day. Basically perfect except for the clouds/fog/drizzle at the end.