Hi Jiffer,

I'm new here, but had to register to respond to your post - in part because I did Cool Breeze as my first century two years ago, but also because my childhood nickname was "Jiffer" and you're the only other Jiffer I've ever run across!

Anyway, Cool Breeze is the perfect first century in SoCal (in my humble opinion!). The first 15-18 miles are completely flat on the PCH, so you can warm up a little. Rest stop. Then there are about 15 miles of alternating flat and medium-ish hills. There's one tough climb at about mile 23, but it's only about 1/2 mile long, so it's completely doable. There's another rest stop, then you reach the hardest section - from about mile 32-36. It's essentially non-stop climbing for those 4 miles, just some areas are really steep and others not as steep. But here's the thing to keep in mind to get through it: after that, there's nothing really hard left in the whole ride!!! (This is not one of those routes that throws a killer hill at you at mile 90 when you're half-dead.) It's downhill or flat until lunch (at about mile 55), then it's 25 miles with some hills, but nothing too steep or long, or anywhere near as hard as what you've already done. Then the last 15-20 miles are the exact same completely flat miles that you started with along the PCH - and there's a tailwind! So really, if you get through the 4 miles of climbing at mile 32, you'll breeze (ahem!) through the rest, no problem! Now, granted, I had trained up my endurance pretty well, but I was also carrying a LOT of extra weight, so believe me, if I could do those climbs, so can you!

I had to skip it last summer because life was just crazy, but I'm riding it again this year, if that tells you anything ...

And the scenery IS beautiful!

Hope this helps ...

Jennifer (aka Jiffer)