Gibralter Climb in Santa Barbara

My second attempt at the Gibralter Climb, an epic road ride out of Santa Barbara. First attempt in 2009 crushed on-route with a mechanical.

bike path along the coast

Took a look at the map and decided to ride coastal east for some mileage, then head inland to make my way up E Mountain Dr to get to the epic climb up Gibralter Rd.

Heading inland towards E Mountain Dr, I was wowed by the height of the Eucalyptus trees... at least twice as high as the power lines

E Mountain Dr is an epic ride itself

Statue in front of a house on-route

The climb up Gibralter goes on and on

Upon reaching the peak of the mountain, the road followed a ridge-line and could see to the south down to Santa Barbara, and to the north the Los Padres mountains.

Los Padres mountains to the north

Santa Barbara & ocean views to the south. Cool bird!

Took the Euro type road called Painted Caves down to the coast. Pretty epic road and on the must-do list to climb back up

It was calm while I was up on the mountain.
Once I was close to shore, I was surprised to see huge whitecaps on the water and palm trees blowing.
Yay, it was a strong tailwind back to the start

My footprints to the water with the view
of the mountain ridge I was just on