895 miles ridden. 16 Days. A Celebration dinner in Chinatown is our reward. JUSTICE!
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
On the bridge
Riding over the bridge is quite surreal. The structure is mammoth. They have separate biker/pedestrian lanes. It was a little windy today but otherwise a beautiful 70 degree day.
Flat Tire
Are you kidding me, I just rode 900 miles without issue and less than a mile from the bridge I get a flat. A quick fix and we head for the bridge.
First great view of the Golden Gate Bridge
From Sausalito, it's a quick climb up a hill to get to the bridge.
Day 16
On the road from Mill Valley to Sausalito they have put in a great bike path that goes along the water. It has been a week since we've been in a town with more than 10k people. It's great to be back in civilization.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Tomales, CA
For anyone who has never been a long the northern California coast, it's very sparsely populated. Most of the towns have less then a thousand people. Tomales is one of those towns. It's amazing to think that we are less than 50 miles from San Francisco and yet we feel like we are in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure that will change tomorrow. One day left.
Last look at the ocean
It's at this point that the road turns inland. Although the road will eventually go back to the Tomales Bay, this is our last look at the ocean.
The last big climb
The final major climb of the ride takes us up a double top 800 ft climb. The climb was interesting in that it happened right along the coast, the ocean was visible throughout the entire climb.
Day 15
Today's ride takes us along the coast to the town of Tomales, CA and will leave us with about 45 miles away from San Francisco. 69 miles today.
Killer Sunset
59 miles in the books today. Our hotel in Gualala is right on the ocean. I've been hoping for a good Pacific Ocean sunset the entire trip and finally got one, priceless. Tomorrow calls for a lot of miles. I'll enjoy this while it lasts.
Almost to Gualala
This is looking back to the north. We are about 10 miles away from our stopping point today. Yesterday we entered into the part of California where the eucalyptus trees are. What an amazing experience it is to ride along with the clean sea air to breathe and then all of a sudden you smell the eucalyptus trees, it's like riding a stationary bike at a spa.
Patrick
We met another cyclist today. Patrick is from Germany and traveling all over the place. We told him that we noticed he wasn't wearing his helmet, to which he replied "if monster truck hit me, I die either way". I suppose he has a point.
Stopping for lunch in Elk
We stopped in the tiny town of Elk for our lunch . We found some picnic tables that overlooked the ocean. What a beautiful day.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Looking north towards Westport
Ok mostly I'm looking at the ocean. So it turns out that today was free fishing day for abalone fish in the ocean. We were extremely lucky to get hotel rooms tonight. This little town of 6000 people is packed with abalone fishermen and other tourists trying to get away from the heat here in California. They certainly came to the right place. It's a beautiful 65 degree day today with a slight breeze off the ocean.
Looking South towards Fort Bragg
This is a pretty view of the California coast about half way between Ft . Bragg and West Port. We are going to stop in FB tonight after 50 miles today. We are 3 days and a little less than 200 miles to San Francisco. This has been a tremendous trip for me with a ton of lasting memories, but I really miss my family and am ready to go home.
Red Hot pokers
Not really sure what these are called, but I always refer to them as red hot pokers. This shot was taken while going 20 mph on the bike.
Leggett ' s Reward
The greatest part of conquering the second hill is that you finish at the coast about 6 miles north of the tiny town of Westport. We stopped in for lunch there after about 34 miles of tough riding.
Day 13 Leggett Hill
So for the entire journey we've been hearing about the dreaded Leggett Hill. This is where HWY 1 splits off from HWY 101 and goes back towards the coast. The hill peaks out at 1900 ft then drops to sea level then goes back over another 800 ft climb. Fortunately we were smart enough to plan our stop th night before to be in the town of Leggett which means we started at 800 ft. Still we ended up with two back to back 4 mile category 3 climbs, we all made it with no stops on either climb. What a great day.
Avenue of the Giants
On the ride today, we took a side road known as Avenue of the Giants. This is a 23 mile stretch of road that winds through the Redwoods. Absolutely amazing. This might be the most awe inspiring stretch of road you could ever imagine riding your bike on. Even though it was nothing but blue sky today, the vast majority of the road was completely shaded. We had to ride with our lights on the entire way. Crazy.
Day 12 Back on the bike
Today's ride takes us north out of Fortuna and away from the coast for a couple days. We will ride through the Redwoods today along the Eel River (pictured).
Friday, May 16, 2014
New Friends
So today we rode a total of 70 miles through some pretty amazing country. At the end we stopped into a little café where we bumped into a couple who we had met a few days earlier who are also biking up the coast. This is Jean Francois and Noeamie and they are from Quebec, Canada. It was fun getting to know them a little bit. JF is also writing a blog. His, however, is in French. Go check it out Jiietnowestcoast.tumblr.com
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Day 11 Rest Day
We are right at 600 miles ridden for the trip over the last 10 days. Today will be a rest day and then back at it tomorrow. We still plan to arrive in San Francisco on Tuesday. That leaves us about 300 miles over the next 5 days, I'm looking forward to it.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
The descent into Fortuna
Once we got to Eureka we stopped in at the bike store to pick up a few provisions. The fellas at the shop told us we had only one hill to get up and over to get to Fortuna. The hill was a 700 ft climb. This is the view from the back side. After a tough day of riding, totaling 85 miles we have earned a recovery day tomorrow. Although I can feel myself getting stronger every day, I know that tomorrow will be good. Bed, hot tub, pool, repeat. Find food. No bike. I'm so excited.
Humboldt State Park
A view of one of the Lagoons in the park. Another climb and we stopped in Trinidad for lunch. This is a great little beach town. At this point we are about 45 miles into the ride. This leaves us about 20 miles to Eureka, we wanted to get there and then decide if we had enough left in the tank to make it to Fortuna.
First Climb of the day
About 2 miles out of Klamath we star a killer climb. 14 miles to the summit. 1500 feet of elevation. This is the view down the other side of the climb. We were really questioning the whole 85 mile thing today.
Day 10
Leaving the Ravenwood Motel in Klamath. If you're ever here I highly recommend this little motel. Probably the nicest property we've stayed at. It's a real gem. Perry the manager was a great guy.
The other side of the big hill
As hard as it was going up, it was a blast coming down. Minimal traffic and smooth roads allowed us to hit speeds over 50 mph. A few miles beyond this put us into Klamath, CA with our total mileage for the day coming in at 75. We are going to try and do another 80 miles tomorrow. We decided that if we could stretch out our mileage over three days we could build a rest day into the schedule, that should be Thursday. My legs are begging me for it.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
A quick stop in South Beach
Crescent City that is. This was 55 miles into our ride. To finish the ride today we will go up and over the large hill you see in the background. This will take us into a part of the Redwood Forest. The climb turned out to be the hardest of the ride. It was 4 miles to the top with 7% grades along the way. It was amazing how quiet it was at the top amongst the Redwood trees. Being in the forest also made you appreciate how clean the air was.
Day 9
The ride from Gold Beach to Brookings offers some very stunning scenery. Check out this view looking south.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Bridge going into Coos Bay
This was yesterday, there is a large bridge you cross before coming into town.
Day 8
This is the view from the deck of the Redfish Grill where we stopped for launch today in Port Orford, OR. The food was amazing and the views incredible. I highly recommend the fish tacos, so good. This is 54 miles from Coos Bay where we stopped last night. We will travel another 27 miles down the coast to Gold Beach where we will stop for the night. As you can see, the weather is amazing and the coastline spectacular. To days ride again took us over a couple of mountain passes but nothing too severe. The wind is now at our back and the temperatures are a perfect 70 degrees. We should reach California in a couple of days. We are going to try and do longer days tomorrow and Wednesday so that Thursday can be a recovery day. Our legs are tired and our butts are sore, we are ready for some rest.
A farewell of sorts
Today was the last day of the journey for Lynda and George Tenney. Lynda did the biking and George drove our support vehicle for the last eight days. I want to take this opportunity to tell them both what a great pleasure it was to share this journey with them. Lynda is a woman of great substance, who trained hard for many months to be able to do this ride, and she hung with the peleton the entire ride, logging nearly 500 miles these last eight days. George could not have been kinder offering his support the entire way, when ever we needed anything, George was right there to take care of us. We will miss them as they travel back to Portland to visit one of their six kids an some of their 20 grandchildren, you heard me. Safe travels to them.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Day 7. Happy Mothers Day
This will be my only post today. We ride 50 miles today down to Coos Bay. Weather calls for tons of sunshine and a bit of a tailwind.
I want to wish my beautiful and talented wife Natalie, the mother of our four children, a very happy mothers day. I'm a very blessed man to have her in my life for the past 23 years of marriage. I'm also very fortunate to have two women that raised me at different points in my life that I can call mom. To them (avid readers of this blog) I wish a very Happy Mothers Day. I hope your day is awesome!
More blogging tomorrow.
I want to wish my beautiful and talented wife Natalie, the mother of our four children, a very happy mothers day. I'm a very blessed man to have her in my life for the past 23 years of marriage. I'm also very fortunate to have two women that raised me at different points in my life that I can call mom. To them (avid readers of this blog) I wish a very Happy Mothers Day. I hope your day is awesome!
More blogging tomorrow.
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Sleeping in the yurt
So tonight I have decided to stay at the Carl Washburn State Park and have rented this yurt. Having never stayed in one, it seems kind of different and fun.
I let you know how it goes. I will say that the park itself, which has a campground is beautiful and the camp hosts are super nice. If you are in the area and like to camp, this is a great place to stay. FYI, they have two yurts.
The view down into Florence
Today's ride ended up covering 77 miles. After the initial rainstorm we saw nothing but sun with temperatures in the high 50 ' s all day. We even had a tailwind for the last 8 miles. Some big hills to finish out the ride, but all in all a great day to ride the Oregon coast.
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