Tuesday, June 8, 2010
So long 101. This should be the last time I see you from a bike.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Monday, June 7, 2010
Day 24 – Lompoc to Ventura (88 miles /1228 total)
If today were not the second to last day of my ride I would say today sucked. But it is not, so I won’t say that.
I rode 88 miles today. There I was at the 68 mile mark, proud of myself that I had ridden so far away; I had ridden further than I had planned. (At the start of the day my thought was to try to get to the 60 mile mark as I had a 1,200 ft mountain to climb.) I was even at the gates of the state park. But, as luck would have it I could not get it out of my head that Ventura was only 20 miles away. I know Ventura. Ventura is comfortable. I had drank in the brewery there a couple of times, body surfed in the ocean, visited clients there. So I decided to take Mark’s advice that he has handed me on a few occasions and drank some Gatorade and decided to keep going.
This was a tough call, mentally I was frustrated. Up until today I had ignored drivers and not reacted to their aggressions (i.e. swerving into my lane, letting their dogs bark at me, yelling whatever it is they yell, etc.). But today the camel’s back broke and I yelled back at a lady some unbloggable words after she made a comment to me about how I looked with everything attached to my bike. I should not have yelled, I have everything to loose and my only protection is a millimeter of sweat soaked spandex. Riding frustrated was not good. I needed to be focused.
Further, unlike running or swimming you can not bike until exhaustion as you always have to have something in the reserve tank to focus on the cars, trucks, trains, baby strollers, shredded tires, oil slicks and everything else in your way.
But, as I said, I rode on. I dropped to my lower handle bars, took off my sunglasses and rode. I told myself I was in a solo bike race. I reminded myself of Ice-T who always says that the mind has the power to control all.
By now, instead of talking to myself, I was yelling. Cars with open windows stared, patrol cars slowed down ready to make a move, little kids moved closer to their mom, smoking men took a deep drag, homeless men pushing carts filled with their life looked but kept pushing, as a crazy, dirty, bearded man rode as hard as he could with everything he needed to not only live but also to be mobile strapped to his bike.
I’ll post the list of towns I passed and pictures tomorrow.
I got my third flat today and, as a safety measure, pulled into bob’s bikes in Goleta for a new tire and wheel tape. (They were awesome and helped me right away.) When I pulled in I must have looked a little ragged as they asked me if I wanted to clean up in their bathroom. I took them up on their offer.
Everyone, it seems, wants to know what the hell I’m doing. I’ve stopped stopping in areas with people as someone always seems to walk up to me.
I wonder, how tomorrow, my last day, will feel. Will I think about all the crazy memories, the rain, the people I’ve met? Whatever.
A special thank you goes out to Jason and Kelly who drove out of their way to take me out to dinner last night. They also came up with today’s trivia. It felt good to eat with two other people instead of asking for a table for one (I ask for a table so I can read the paper I usually bring with me).
Trivia:
Mark’s answer was completely wrong but because he was the only to answer, he wins. Congratulations Mark, this blog is for you.
Today’s trivia:
Lompoc is the city of _____ and _____ .
God, I’m tired. My legs are filled with lactic acid, my hand can’t even squeeze the plastic ketchup bottle, my knees feel good only when they are straight, my upper back muscles have a sharp pain that I only describe as a lot of bee stings all at once. I can’t wait to be home. 75 more miles. Redondo Beach, or bust, literally.
sellers
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Day 23 Pismo Beach to Lompoc (46 miles / 1140 total)
23 days and only one pair of underwear (ok, two pairs).
Today I had the good fortunate to be accompanied by groupie sisters, Christine and Kathryn. It made the ride go by very fast having the two of them (dressed exactly the same) trailing me patiently as I went at my slow pace. It cracked me up that even though they were both in the car on the way up they still had plenty to talk about.
It was weird having them leave after 30 miles though. At first I was riding with people and all the sudden I was alone again in the middle of nowhere.
The motel I’m at reminds me of the motel the main character stays at on the first night on his adventure in Box of Moonlight (one of my favorite movies). There is a campground in the area but it looks to be five miles off route and, in my mind that is too far.
The cool part of today was seeing a baby rattlesnake as I took a water break. (Babies are more dangerous than their parents as they don’t know when to stop injecting venom.) I was worried that no one would believe me so I got as close as I could without freaking out and took a picture.
While riding on Harris Grade Road the Lompoc the Air Force Base launched some huge missile or plane that moved very fast. It was pretty cool. Not sure if I’m allowed to write any more as it may have been top secret.
Trivia: Why where Chile Relleno’s first created?
I’ve decided that struggle is good. It builds muscle, develops the mind, and builds confidence. Struggle that is insignificant is simply frustration. Struggle that is too grand is failure. But failure can be replaced by success. (For some reason I thought about that as I lied in my tent the other night. When you can’t sleep and you’re camping you are forced to think a lot.
That’s about as deep as this blog is going to get.
My girlfriend gave me an id bracelet similar to the one’s dogs where. This is actually pretty cool as I used to write my name and parents number in permanent pen when I would go swimming in the ocean alone training for triathlons. I think it stays on permanently as I can’t figure out how to get it off – I suppose I can now relate to prisoners on probation. Hope it doesn’t set off metal detectors at the airport.
Time to go. Tonight is a rare night as I actually have dinner plans. Kelly C. and Jason K., regular contributors and/or readers, are stopping by.
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| Day 23 Pismo Beach to Lompoc (46 miles 1140 total) |
sellers
Day 22 – Morro Bay to Pismo Beach (30 miles / 1094 total)
So day 22 was a short day. I’m meeting up with my girlfriend and her sister for day 23 and to make it work I stopped in Pismo Beach where I’m joined by tons of motorcycles ( a distant cousin to the bicycle).
Unfortunately, I got a flat tire about 15 miles into the ride in front of fireman’s house. He was nice and brought out some water to refill my water bottles. I’m a little worried about my rear tire. It looks like it has 220 miles (the distance to home) left in it. I’ll find out.
The flat was the second, and hopefully last. I don’t mind fixing a flat but the fear of getting multiple flats or that there is something wrong with the wheel always bothers me.
I forget his name but I was talking with someone in front of 7-11 and he offered to let me crash at his house tonight, which it turns out, is actually his sisters house. I declined but he was a nice guy. This is about the third time someone has offered their place which I always appreciate but politely decline.
No trivia today or pictures today.
sellers
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Day 21 – Lucia to Morro Bay (70 miles / 1064 total)
The day started rough but I got a lot accomplished today thanks to a fierce tailwind.
When I woke I went to fill my water bottles that I drank the night before. I was fairly thirsty so it was my first move. So I walk over and read the sign above the water spigot; turns out the water is contaminated and should not be consumed. This is bad, I am real thirsty and the closest water is 10 miles south. I actually debated stealing water from another camp site but decide to give the ten miles a go. I skip the morning jacket and sleeves as I want to avoid sweating. It was a little crazy as I wasn’t even sure anything was going to be open.
So I pedaled and in 10 miles I find a restaurant which is also dealing with the same water problem so they served me crystal geyser from 2.5 gallon containers. I loved not having any ice in my water. The waitress was nice and refilled my glass about five times and offered me tons of coffee even though the menu said refills cost extra. The omelet sucked but I ate it all.
Next on the menu was a 1000 ft climb followed by a 500 ft drop and then a 500 ft climb. Because they were early on and I had just had a large breakfast they weren’t that bad. Then I hit the tail wind of a lifetime – it was awesome. I rode it off and on for around 40 miles.
[Damn, something just crawled down my back. Hope it doesn’t bite. I can’t seem to find it.]
As crazy as this is I’ve actually camped in this campground before. It’s a zoo. There are 144 sites and all are filled up. All types of music is blaring and one site even has a piñata set up. I can’t wait for the festivities. And by “can’t wait” I mean go to bed in a few minutes.
There’s a family next to me in which the mom is camped out in a huge tent with a king size inflatable bed. She has two dogs in there and doesn’t want to leave (my table is right next to there tent).
So, I took apart and cleaned out my stove. It works better but not great. I’ve learned how it operates giving me better temperature control.
But that’s not all I got done, I also stopped by the laundry mat and washed my stained clothes. My towel was so dirty I feared it was just getting me dirty after I showered.
Today I met Patrick who is going to ride around the world and he is almost finished with the U.S. (this was his first country). Nice guy.
I met another guy who’s mom works at one of the Long Beach parks – very cool. I plan on visiting.
A word on the red dot. Often I am out of cell phone range. When this happens the red dot stops and is nothing to be alarmed about.
Towns passed:
Gorda (pop. unknown)
San Simeon (pop. unknown)
Cambria (pop. 6,232)
Harmony (pop. 0)
Cayucos (pop. 2,943)
Morro Bay
Day 19 trivia winners:
Russell S. had the most succinct and correct answer and also was able to use the word “boom” – nice.
Dan had an almost correct answer as well.
Kathy came over the top though with the most complete answer. Good job to everyone.
No trivia today.
Maybe this isn’t what Donavan had in mind but here are his lyrics to Catch the Wind, an appropriate song for the day.
In the chilly hours and minutes,
Of uncertainty, I want to be,
In the warm hold of your loving mind.
To feel you all around me,
And to take your hand, along the sand,
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.
When sundown pales the sky,
I wanna hide a while, behind your smile,
And everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find.
For me to love you now,
Would be the sweetest thing, 'twould make me sing,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.
When rain has hung the leaves with tears,
I want you near, to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind.
For standin' in your heart,
Is where I want to be, and I long to be,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.
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| Day 21 – Lucia to Moro Bay (70 miles 1064 total) |
thanks,
sellers
Day 20 – Marina to Lucia (70 miles / 994 total)
Let me start by saying I just ate four hotdogs along with one can of chili. So good. Reminds me of hanging out at the river in Bend with Anthony and going swimming at Grandma Ginny’s house.
I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for 20 days now.
After so many miles I have broke some things that could not hold up to the challenge. Among them:
- My solar charger is officially dead. It will charge AA batteries great but I need it to charge my Blackberry, which it won’t.
- My stove. It turns out it needs a serious rebuild which I’m figuring will take me an hour. I’m not going to trash it but I’m tempted. Looks like the canister based stoves are the smart choice.
- My Blackberry – the charging mechanism is loose. Which is very dangerous, if it breaks I will no longer have a way to charge my phone.
Lately I’ve been interacting with a number of gas station attendants, as gas stations are where I buy my food, supplies, water, etc. The attendants vary greatly but generally show an interest in whatever it is I am doing. Today I met a real nice one in Big Sur. He was crazy but gave me what he described as a magical tour of the river behind the gas station. Real nice guy – he left the gas station shop open while we toured.
Hydration required a great deal of focus today. Two times today the distance between stops was 23 miles. 23 miles in the hilly sun requires a tremendous amount of water. In total I drank around 180 ounces of water.
I’m glad to have the hills over with today. Today had around 2000 ft of elevation gain (in aggregate). I handled it well. Taking breaks has been the key. The shoulder was good enough but not great around Big Sur. The road is all under construction so the cars have to go slow, which is nice.
The camp site I’m at may be the best yet. Kirk Creek Campground is sold out on a Thursday night (hiker/bikers are not turned away). Today I’m joined by a couple from Berkeley. My picnic table has an amazing view of the ocean. The sun should set in a little bit. It will be nice to listen to the ocean instead of Highway 1 as was the case last night.
Before I go any further, I forgot to mention Mike and Jon from yesterday. They could see I was carrying a lot of weight (they were “credit card touring” – going from motel to motel) and not enjoying the head wind so Mike got in front of me to block the wind, while Jon road in the back. Real nice guys from Washington State heading to San Diego.
The homeless accept me as there own and perhaps I am to one degree or another. I met a man who graduated from Berkeley and was now in the aluminum recycling business, as he put it. He was riding a fixed gear bike (I totally get not wanting to bother with adjusting cables) and had been all around the U.S. When I mentioned that I was from Long Beach he was able to recite all the bordering cities and which river path goes out to which city. Impressive, maybe they teach that at Berkeley. Anyhow, he planned on staying in Monterey for a little bit.
Bobby Darin’s album, Song’s from Big Sur (I think that’s what it is called) is my favorite. Not only did he once again change musical genera, he did so amazingly. My personal favorite is the song that includes the phrase “the vacuum of my mind” (I’ll jot it down in another post). Call me crazy but riding through Big Sur clarifies the album a great deal.
Trivia winners from Day 18 had a number of good answers. Among them:
Marjorie J., a previous winner
Lexykins, a previous winner and coworker
Kelly C., one of the original readers and previous winner.
Coral L. a first time answerer but long time reader. (I met her husband when he told me I was playing left field too far out in a game of softball.)
Today’s trivia:
Why did Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa change it’s roof four times?
Towns passed:
Monterey (pop. 29,674)
Carmel (pop. 4,081)
Carmel Highlands (pop. 900)
Big Sur (pop. 500)
Lucia (pop. 0?)
 |
| Day 20 – Marina to Lucia (70 miles 994 total) |
thanks for reading,
sellers
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Day 19 – Pescadero to Marina (60 miles / 924 total)
Today felt like I road from the middle of nowhere to the middle of nowhere. That doesn’t quite make sense as I passed through Santa Cruz and I’m just outside of Monterey. But neither of those places are familiar which is behind my feeling.
A tail wind carried through Santa Cruz but was quickly replaced with a headwind once I passed through strawberry fields in Moss Landing.
I’m a little upset at the moment. My stove ran out of fuel and it was a pain to find more. It runs of gas or most any fuel but most of the gas nozzles in California seem to be smart enough to not turn on when they are not inside a car which, in turn, leads to the gas station attendant asking me not to do that. To make matters worse I thought I had enough fuel for dinner and had to make a last minute run to Jack in the Box. (Getting back on my bike after I think I’m finished riding sucks.)
Thankfully Walmart had kerosene (thanks Steve).
My back hurts, my wrists hurts, my knees hurt but none of that is new.
Tomorrow is supposed to have a lot of hills.
I’m anxious to get somewhere I’m familiar with. This wont happen until I hit Morro Bay in a couple of days.
The road was nice and safe today. I took side streets most of the way.
I’m staying at an RV park that warrants locking up my bike.
For some reason people don’t seem so friendly near Monterey but maybe I’m not that friendly. As I ride I try to smile and wave but there is usually only a look of question on their face.
So much agriculture in California. Very different from Oregon.
My beard (I think that is what it is now) feels weird.
Funny story from last night.
So, there I am minding my own business, staying horizontal when I hear footsteps outside my tent around 4AM.
Too light to be human. Too many to be a bear. I had seen warning signs for wolves, coyotes, and bobcats (? – that can’t be right) but nothing for raccoons. I’m not too worries at this point but some animals will chew through your tent to get to food (which is where mine is and there is no place to hang my bag).
After a few moments of scrounging around I find my flashlight and get ready for the battle royal; Mono y Mono (hopefully there are not many). I grab my weapon of choice – my shoe. Not sure what I’m going to do with it but I figure I can throw it or knock this animal off of me if it is so bold to attack. So me and my shoe exit the tent to face the beast (at this point my feet now get cold because I have no shoes on).
I can hear it scurry away but can’t seem to find it. Finally I see two eyes reflect back into my flashlight. Whatever it is doesn’t even move, it just stares back. At this point I’m half awake and – true story – almost ask if it speaks English as I figure that this will assure me it is not human or at least not ALF. I chuckle too myself (if Christine where there she would want to know what I was chuckling about) and get ready to throw my shoe. But I don’t throw my shoe as I realize it may get lost or chewed up and I only have one pair. So it seems my only move is to chase it, which I do. Thankfully it runs away but not before I can tell it is a raccoon – they have followed my GPS from Oregon apparently.
With new confidence I walk back to my tent and just to be safe I move all of my bags into my tent even though only one has food in it.
I’m half dreaming, half sleeping when I hear the raccoon. This time it is attacking the my new friends from REI’s tent. Again, I get up and charge the raccoon and again the raccoon retreats but this time with a banana in his mouth. I wake up everyone in the campsite and warn them about the danger among us and they all get up and put their bags in their tents. Sellers – night watchman for the campground.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t fall back asleep until 6AM. Oh well.
My legs look like the front of your car after driving 60 miles.
Santa Cruz is pretty cool.
I can’t write any more. I’ll acknowledge the trivia winners tomorrow.
Today’s trivia, Bruce Springsteen’s most misunderstood song is _____________.
Towns passed:
Davenport (pop. 200)
Santa Cruz (pop. 54,593)
Aptos (pop. 9,396)
Moss Landing (pop. 300)
Castroville (pop. 6,724)
Marina (pop. 25,101)
sellers
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Day 18 – San Francisco to Pescadero (55 miles / 859 total)
It’s been a good day.
First the big news. For the first time on my trip I have set up my tent without the rain fly. There is no chance of rain and it’s not that cold. I’m excited. I pulled into Costanoa Campgrounds where you “discover the pace of nature” a few hours ago and things are working out.
As I write this the sun has set beyond the line of eucalyptus trees but has a ways to go before it succumbs to the ocean below.
I was warned about Costanoa. “It’s expensive” per the adventure cycling maps but it was my only choice. It is by no means the best campground – in fact, it may be on listed towards the bottom of the list. But it is warm, I have internet (saves me about an hour of trying to find a place to upload these posts) and am in the company of other cyclists. $27/night
The other cyclists
Turns out those guys you see at REI do go out and go on adventures. I’m sharing a primitive campsite with three guys from the Berkeley REI store, which I spent a bunch of time at yesterday. They even recognized my tent, the classic REI Half Dome (the original). They are also heading down to Southern California.
The day started rough though. I left my folks house headed over to BART and took it over to SF. From which point I proceeded to get lost trying to find Highway 1. I found Highway 1 and accompanying head wind after about 20 minutes (I wonder what people think when they see the red dot move back and forth over the same street).
But it was hard to leave the Bay Area this morning. I felt like I was climbing out of the safety net heading back up to the tight rope where I was trying to walk to the other side. Early in the day I wondered whether I had made the right choice.
My knees are doing much better. My hands and wrists are sore but nothing to worry about. I won’t discuss what my toes look like.
Between Pacifica and Montara Highway 1 has no business trying to let cars and bikes share the same road. The road is steep, has tons of cars and a four inch shoulder. It was the worst road yet. Half Moon Bay and beyond has been the opposite, huge shoulders, nice wind, rolling hills that keep it interesting, few cars, and great vistas.
The waves down here are amazing. They seem to peak and pick a direction giving the surfer time to enjoy the ride.
Dried out vegetation is slowly replacing lush green along the road. Truth be told, I missed the brown. Brown means dry, brown means warm, brown means Southern California.
A horse seems to be walking around the campground. Signs are everywhere instructing dogs to be on a leash but I guess horses are exempt.
I stopped by old town Pescadero for chips and a coke (aka lunch) and can say with certainty that it is a nice place. Two mini marts, one bar, and two Mexican food places.
Towns passed:
Daly City (pop. 103,621)
Pacifica (pop. 38,390)
Montara (pop. 2,950)
El Granada (pop. 5,724)
Miramar (pop. unknown)
Half Moon Bay (pop. 11,842)
San Gregorio (pop. unknown)
Pescadero (pop. 122)
Trivia:
What was the purpose of the California Missions?
We had a funny post by anonymous that I won’t repeat here and Lexykins is close but alas does not have the correct answer for Day 12 and are still waiting for the correct response.
Time to go take some ibuprofen and get ready for bed.
Picture link:
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| Day 18 – San Francisco to Pescadero (55 miles 859 total) |
Thanks for reading.
Sellers
I'm going to continue riding south, for now.
Whitesnake
No, I don't know where I'm going
But, I sure know where I've been
Hanging on the promises
In songs of yesterday
An' I've made up my mind,
I ain't wasting no more time
here i go again, here i go again
Tho' I keep searching for an answer,
I never seem to find what I'm looking for
Oh Lord, I pray
You give me strength to carry on,
'Cos I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams
An' here I go again on my own
Goin' down the only road I've ever known,
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone
An' I've made up my mind
I ain't wasting no more time
I'm just another heart in need of rescue,
Waiting on love's sweet charity
An' I'm gonna hold on
For the rest of my days,
'Cos I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams
An' here I go again on my own
Goin' down the only road I've ever known,
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone
An' I've made up my mind
I ain't wasting no more time
But, here I go again,
Here I go again,
Here I go again,
Here I go
'Cos I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams
An' here I go again on my own
Goin' down the only road I've ever known,
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone
An' I've made up my mind,
I ain't wasting no more time
An' here I go again on my own
Goin' down the only road I've ever known,
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone
'Cos I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams
An' here I go again on my own
Goin' down the only road I've ever known,
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone
Goin' down the only road I've ever known,
Friday, May 28, 2010
Day 17 – Lagunitas to San Francisco (32 miles / 804 total)
The best 32 miles yet.
It was going to be hard to stay focused, if the rain was willing I was going to make it into San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge.
Waking up I could hear the pounding rain. So I waited, had some warm breakfast, adjusted my brakes and waited some more.
I’ve gotten used to the rain, or at least used to the routine of waiting and watching the sky. Finally there was a break in the weather so I slid my leg over my beg as easily as I could and began to head south.
The ride through Marin was different, stores everywhere – three bike shops, tons of other cyclists, grocery stores that were opened all year around. Then I heard someone yelling my name.
Up to this point no one had known who I was. Stalkers? Friends? Even better, my two cousins Alice and Katharine. They had been following the red dot and tracked me down. It was awesome to see them in a car next to me smiling and yelling.
But I still had a few miles to my next stop so I asked if I was going in the right direction – a worry today as I was going through an urban area – I was. I kept my legs moving.
Then I went rogue and left the well marked bike trail for my next stop, my grandmother’s. Thankfully my cousins were waiting outside as I had a little trouble finding the place but they were able to hail me in. Then I had something I hadn’t had in a long time some home cooking. We all sat and ate and got caught up – new jobs, graduations, vehicles. It was great.
As we talked the rain had started again. So again, I waited and again there was a break and again I bolted. It was getting harder and harder to stay focused. For the past three weeks I had ridden wondering if I would make it this far. The Golden Gate Bridge was a few long miles ahead.
After a couple of road detours and some lucky guesses I could now see the bridge. As I road up towards the bridge entrance tourists began nudging their spouse pointing out the crazy guy that was riding with gear strapped to his bike.
Finally, I made it to the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ve driven, walked, even road a bike across the bridge before but this was completely different – I had made it to San Francisco from Rockaway, OR. Over 800 miles to get to this bridge.
Towns passed:
Woodacre (pop. 1,393)
Fairfax (pop. 7,319)
San Anselmo (pop. unknown)
Kentfield (pop. unknown)
Larkspur (pop. 12,014)
Corte Madera (pop. 9,100)
Mill Valley (pop. 13,600)
Marin City (pop. unknown)
Sausalito (pop. 7,330)
San Francisco (pop. 776,733)
I’m not sure if I’ll be riding on Tuesday. It depends on what I think about the weather heading south (I have no desire to continue riding in rain) and my knees. TBD next week.
Trivia winners:
I received a number of good answers to yesterday’s trivia question. The correct answer I was looking for was oyster beds.
Virginia S., a first time trivia answerer but long time reader and supporter, had the correct answer.
Graham J. a local from Marin county correctly answered and also has provided strong lodging options to me as I ride.
In addition to providing food and drinks for my trip through Marin Marjorie J. also had the correct answer.
Tobasco, a man who reminds me it’s ok to not shower everyday, had a good guess with Tsunamis trackers.
Happy Kat, a regular contributor also had a good guess with lobster or shrimp nets.
I would also like to make a very special mention of Kelley S., a local tennis pro. She has gotten previous trivia correct but alas I forgot to mention her name.
sellers
Thursday, May 27, 2010
IMG00008-20100527-1532.jpg
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Day 16 - Sea Ranch to Lagunitas (92 miles / 772 total)
Wow. I didn’t know I had that in me. I knew my legs would be fresh after a days rest but they really came through yesterday.
When I first left Sea Ranch around 6:30AM it started raining. I stopped and made a deal with myself that if it rained for 10 minutes straight I would go back and wait for a better time. This would have been somewhat demoralizing but it was the smartest move.
But I caught a break, after a few minutes the rain stopped, I clipped in and sped away ... at 10 mph. Fortunately not many cars where driving south on Highway 1 at that time of day. The wind hadn’t started yet so my plan was to put as many miles as I could behind me before the afternoon winds (and possibly rain) came into play.
Things were going well until I passed Fort Ross, at which point I hit a wall of fog. I should have taken a picture of it (you can see a picture by looking at a white piece of paper). I knew I was right on the ocean, and could hear the ocean, but could not see it. Fog is horrible for bike riders so I pulled off and waited. The fog stayed and I was getting antsy so I made another deal with myself, I would ride from turn out to turn out and stop at each one listening for any cars that might be coming. Cars usually drive in bunches so if I waited for a group to pass I might be a little safer. This seemed to work but it took forever.
Finally I made it into Jenner, a nice town that is unsure of how it feels about tourists. This was per the local radio talk show dj that sat down next to me as I drank orange juice, water, and a coffee. He was a nice guy. I asked him how he could talk on the radio for three hours and he mentioned that it was fitting the show into three hours that was the problem. After a half hour it was time to leave.
I should mention that Sonoma and Marin counties have no shoulder on Highway 1. Further, CalTrans does not mow the growing wild life, it is allowed to grow onto the freeway. It is you and the cars in one lane. The cars have a speed limit of 55 mph. I don’t recommend this road for anyone not passing through. That said, the scenery is amazing and cars seemed to understand that they share the road with bicyclists and tend to give you a lot of room. Surprisingly, I’ve found that Cadillacs give you the most room.
Thankfully, I’m off Highway 1 at the moment until I get to Golden Gate Bridge, which is a different story.
After Jenner I hit Bodega Bay, another coastal town that has two surf shops and also claims to have the best clam chowder. Everyone has the best clam chowder it seems.
I believe Oregonians survive on less, or at least, it requires less to survive. In a town of 200 in Oregon you’ll find a couple of markets, gift shops, restaurants that serve a couple generous of food (every restaurant says “family dining” on its store sign). In California a smaller town may have nothing but a post office and one place to eat or a market.
I passed through Valley Ford and then hit Tomales where I ran into a group of cyclists. This can be both good and bad. The good is that they are nice and very interested in your ride. The bad is that they all have opinions about where you should stay, routes you should take, and if you are carrying too much gear they will let you know. Overall it was nice to run into some other cyclists.
I fear my beard has dandruff – not sure if that is possible or not.
I had planned to stop in Tomales. This would be a place to divide up my miles for the next couple of days. But…. I still had fresh legs and it was supposed to rain hard on Thursday. The next possible place to spend the night was 16 miles away but I felt like I could make it, so I rode on.
At this point my dad’s voice pops in my head and won’t go away, “stay diligent, be careful.” Yes, I know. I am. I remind myself that the sun will be setting soon and my brain is starting to get tired of listening for cars (with some level of certainty I can tell what type of car is coming up based on it’s sound).
So I pass through Marshall, a very small town and then hit Pt. Reyes Station. Time to reevaluate everything as it was going to be the last place to stop for 10 or so miles. I had no cell reception and the only places to stay where bed and breakfasts places… I rode on.
By this point I am taking a gamble. If I get a flat, have bike problems, or otherwise get delayed I’m not going to make it to Lagunitas by sunset, a dangerous scenario as I don’t have any front lights on my bike.
At 6:45 I make it and find a place to eat where I order a coke, water, a Lagunitas IPA. By 8:30 I’m laying down waiting for sleep to take me away. My knees are more than sore but that is to be expected.
Today’s trivia is in the pictures.
Getting caught up on the trivia results:
Day 15 Trivia winners – Happy Kat, sister of Dream Smasher, representing the west side of Los Angeles had the correct answer of zero counties.
Katharine J. also was quick with the correct answer of zero and went on to drop some knowledge that they have boroughs instead. I did not know that.
Day 14’s trivia was a little harder and had only one correct answer: St. Orres Inn and Restaurant by Happy Kat. Very strong work.
Day 13: Christine D. once again had a correct answer of North Coast Brewing Company. Not to be outdone, Mark D. came in over the top with the same strong answer. Good work to both of you.
Day 12 has proven to be even harder as no correct answers have been received. I’m making this trivia worth two points. Honorable mention goes out to Happy Kat for submitting a good guess.
Towns I passed:
Stewarts Point (pop. unknown)
Fort Ross (pop. unknown)
Jenner (pop. 170)
Bodega Bay (pop. 1,423)
Valley Ford (pop. 126)
Tomales (pop. 210)
Marshall (pop. 50)
Pt. Reyes Station (pop. 818)
Lagunitas (pop. 918)
sellers
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Day 15 – Sea Ranch (0 miles / 680 total)
Tomorrow is here and it rained all day so I went nowhere. I’ve learned not to fight a rain that is supposed to last all day.
It was a productive day today I read, adjusted my brakes, did laundry and watched some deer.
I’m going to ride tomorrow unless it is as bad as it was today. So close, yet so far.
My current plan is to make it into the Bay Area by Friday morning at the latest. Once there I’m going to take the weekend off and see how my knee feels and, if I feel like it, start riding again on Tuesday. Not sure.
Trivia: How many counties are there in Alaska?
sellers
Day 14 – Fort Bragg to Sea Ranch (68 miles / 680 total)
So, I’m at Sea Ranch, CA watching the cloud covered sun set below the ocean. It’s been a hard but a good day.
To start I left Fort Bragg and dealt with a number of cars not interested in sharing the road with a crazy looking bicyclist with a yellow fireman-dirty looking jacket flaying from the back of the bike.
It was a slow start. After 10 miles I felt like stopping. The same cloud that has been hanging over me the past couple of days was right there when I woke up.
So I called some friends. From the side of the highway at that. I found a spot with plenty of shoulder and sat down. Why not? It felt good to have a couple of regular conversations.
But before I made calls I realized the impossible was happening. The wind was blowing south to north. One can tell this is such a rare occurrence in this area simply by looking at how bent the coast trees are due to the north to south wind. Oh well. This was going to be a hard day.
Riding a bike into the wind is about as easy as pushing a kite. But I was making progress one mile at a time.
I decided early on in the morning that I needed a new approach to my day. Instead of stopping for a huge lunch I would eat every 1.5 hours. Thus providing me more breaks and not making it hard to leave lunch. This, along with the weather, seemed to make the day a successful one.
The scenery:
You see a lot when you are cruising down Highway 1 at nine miles an hour: organically fed cows, horses that seem fascinated by every passing car, tons of no trespassing signs, trees that smell like Christmas, seal lions that fight by bumping up against each other, bridges with no shoulder and wooden side rails small enough to stop a tricycle from going over, people that wave and smile, people mowing their huge lawns, tourists driving down the coast asking for directions to San Francisco (keep going south), prisoners cleaning trash from the side of the road (not allowed to take pictures), prisoners working for the fire department clearing dangerous brush, deer hit by a car, deer not hit by a car, all different types of birds, no whales, for sale signs, tons of for sale signs, and my favorite – lots and lots of ocean (today the water was so clear I could look over the rails of bridges and see down to the ocean floor).
As I write this I have no internet access, no cell phone reception, no tv, and one radio station that seems more consumed with growing weed and what the last episode of Lost really meant than providing me with what I really need to know – the weather. We’ll see what tomorrow holds, tomorrow I suppose.
Today’s trivia can be found in my pictures.
Special thank you goes out to those of you that are constantly sending me comments, emails, texts, calls, etc. I really appreciate them. I know I don’t respond but they mean a lot. Also a special thanks goes out to Brooks and Jean for letting me stay at their place tonight.
Sellers
Towns I passed:
Casper (may not be a town)
Mendocino (pop. 824)
Little River (pop. 412)
Albion (pop. 398)
Elk (pop. 250)
Manchester (pop. 462)
Point Arena (pop 474)
Anchor Bay (pop. 178)
Gualala (pop. 585)
Sea Ranch (pop. 250)
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Day 13 – Leggett to Fort Bragg (53 miles / 612 total)
Today was better but cold.
It started with a one mile hike from the place that I was staying at. Once I got to the road I had to backtrack and ride a few miles to Highway 1. It was time to get off the 101. It was going to be a long ride, 28 miles to the next anything.
Highway 1 took me too the coast after a 1,900 ft climb and freezing descent. Once I saw the Pacific again I was all smiles.
Riding along the coast in California was nice and warm with a wild tail wind that was a big help on the straight aways but hard to tame on the turns. Fortunately, my weighted bike held it steady most of the ride. I finally stopped and ate my first meal in Fort Bragg after 53 miles. I was done.
Towns passed:
Westport (pop. 238)
Cleone (pop. 570)
Fort Bragg (pop. 7,026)
The correct answer to Day 11’s trivia had a couple of right answers. Marjorie from Marin County and Christine from LA County both appear to be big fans giving multiple correct answers. Breedlove himself made this blog’s first celebratory appearance and had a comment as well.
Today’s trivia:
Fort Bragg is home to this brewery.
Thanks for reading,
sellers
Day 12 - Redway to Leggett (27 miles / 559 total)
Hard times.
I don’t know what possesses a mom working at the only market in Leggings, CA that is not going out of business to call her 16 year old son and ask him to pick up a stranded, homeless looking bicyclist. But that is what Missy did.
When Ryan picked me up I had just spent the past two hours hiding in a post office that was dry. I had heard there was a motel two miles down the road but that it was most likely booked – a high school reunion. I decided to try to make a run for it (or better put, a ride for it) and see if the motel would let me camp in their backyard or something to that affect.
Here’s the thing. The weather was getting worse and worse. Worse than forecasted and I was at about 1000 ft in elevation – not too bad but bad enough to bring on the cold. A rain so thick and persistent that cars where pulling off the road. Riding was not an option. I have equipment for cold. I have equipment for wet. But when the combination makes an appearance the potential for something bad becomes real.
Besides, there was no place to legally camp for ten miles. I couldn’t make it ten miles. I considered camping behind the post office but I had no cell reception and I had made promises to call every 24 hours. I wanted to keep that promise. So I started riding to the alleged motel.
The good thing about riding is there is little risk of hypothermia, which I was afraid of. More on that later.
So I rode and I happened to find a market on the way that was in business and open. Thank god.
I rode in and must have looked like misery. When I made it to the register I politely asked if she knew of any lodgings or campground around. (Camping was still a bad option but it was one that I would accept.) She knew of a lodge that had not yet opened for the season, in fact, she used to work there. She called her friend that owned the place, yep, they would take me. It was four miles down the road and one mile down a bad dirt/gravel road. That’s fine I said, I’ll walk my bike down the road. She disregarded the comment and called her son.
So about the hypothermia, not only was it raining, I should also mention that this rain was hail. I have never ridden in hail.
My shoes are my weakest link. I have a waterproof cycling jacket, I have waterproof pants. My shoes are designed to let hot feet breath not keep feet warm during hail. My feet were gone, in place of them a brick with no feeling was connected to each leg. (Where my feet clipped in? I could no longer tell by feeling I had to listened to each one to gain confidence that I was ready to ride.)
I had to ride through the hail for two reasons; to stop would be to get extremely cold – too cold, and where would I stop? On the side of the 101? So I kept riding. I rode until I got to the next exit, Confused Hill – a local amusement type attraction that has it’s own railroad. They were nice enough to make me some nice, strong, hot black coffee even though their snack bar was closed. They close up when it rains as they can’t run the train on wet tracks – did not know that.
Anyhow, I can truthfully say that this is not what I had planned when I started this ride. My current thought is to make it into the Bay Area (further than I thought I would go). My right knee is a sore (but still able) and more important, this rain is worse than the Olympics in Vancouver.
I’m playing some Johnny Cash I put on my computer. Funny to think I’m in the middle of nowhere but I can use a computer.
This freeze dried chicken teriyaki I’m eating is the worst. At least it is warm. I just now realized I didn’t have any lunch – everything I passed after noon was out of business or a bar that doesn’t open until later.
A word about pay phones.
There are none. They have been replaced by cell phones. The place I’m staying at has converted a regular phone into something that somewhat resembles a pay phone but is basically a regular phone.
But back to me. Ryan picks me up with his younger brother, Kenneth in the back seat of the family pick up. Turns out Ryan just finished doing some little league umpiring. Something I know a little about. Kenneth, however, controlled the conversation with his latest triumph in a video game I did not recognize. I would guess he’s about 10. An age I’m good with from volunteering at Camp Laurel. He was more than happy to have an interested party to discuss his accomplishments with. His brother translates the conversation at times explaining the video game to their new homeless friend.
It was my first time in a car in awhile and man did I appreciate it. I would have survived the four miles, even the ride down the dirt road but I would have been a mess. It would have easily taken an hour (yes that’s four miles an hour). A head wind full of hail will do that.
So we pull into River Runs Lodge. Again, it’s not quite open but Missy’s friend gives me a cabin right next to the river. She even gives me a discount for no apparent reason. At this point I remind myself to stop saying “thank you” as she might get freaked out as I’ve said it 138 times.
The cabin I’m staying in is in the middle of the forest and smells but not as much as me. Most importantly, it is dry and has a heater. I asked about phones in room or wifi. She chuckled. Just the one pay phone outside her office. Works for me. I called Christine told her I had a great day and got off the phone before we were disconnected – three minutes per dollar. I’m sure I could have gotten additional change but it wouldn’t help either of us to discuss my day.
Now you’re almost up-to-date on my day. You’re not going to believe this – I’m not sure that I’ve processed it myself. I had rock slide happen right as I was riding past. The hail had knocked some rocks loose and I could all the sudden hear cracking rocks rumble down and hit the pavement behind me. Unbelievable. (You see those rock slide signs on the road but you don’t treat them seriously – how can you?) I never accelerated so fast in my life. Suddenly the hail was not my biggest concern. I couldn’t safely look behind me a bridge was coming up so I didn’t. I peddled across the bridge like it was a matter of survival cursing as loud as I could the whole time. Maybe the rocks were big, maybe they weren’t, I don’t really care – I’m sitting next to a warm heater alive and well.
I suppose I feel like a gambling addict sitting at the blackjack table complaining that he is due better cards.
Now you’re up-to-date. I need a shower. I’ll post the trivia winners at a later point – I have little internet access.
Tonight’s trivia is in Jeopardy style. The answer, a city “Where the boats land”
sellers
Tomorrow I’ll have to hike my bike out. That will be exhausting but I can’t think about that right now.
Towns I passed:
Garberville (pop. 1,200)
Benbow (pop. unknown)
Piercy (pop. unknown)
Leggett (pop. 192)
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Day 11 - Scotia to Redway (43 miles / 532 total)
It was a day of rain. Which meant lots of stopping and going.
The morning started hanging out on the front porch of the Scotia Inn watching the rain while eating scones and drinking coffee. It didn’t look good. I was going to give it until 11AM and then my plan was to check back into the the hotel if it was still showering.
By 9:30 the blue sky peaked out of the dark sky and I decided to make a run for it. My knees were, and most likely will be for a while, sore but my bigger concern was the rain.
I made it to the next small town, Redcrest, when it started raining, which according to my map had a whole bunch of stuff in it. It doesn’t. So I started looking for shelter and found an abandoned road side store. The roof was solid so I laid down and let the rain beat down.
For some reason all of these small towns have post offices in them. I believe it is a source of pride and history. So after an hour or so I got bored and walked into the post office. There was also a gift shop down the street so I walked in and bought their only food – five candy bars in case I had to spend the night there.
Finally the rain stopped and I made a run for it. Over the next few hours I caught some rain but it wasn’t too bad.
Finally I hit Redway and checked into the seedy Brass Rail Motel, next door to the seedy Brass Rail Bar (both are for sale). I was about to check in when I realized I needed to clean myself up as my nose was bleeding. Not sure how that happened but I cleaned up and checked in for $60. Not bad.
As I fell asleep around 9PM and woke up around 10 to hear the bar going full steam, a good time was being had. Around 1AM there was some sort of a fight or argument with someone that kept yelling, “Take a picture.” I smiled to myself thinking that I was staying next to the bar in Roadhouse – a great movie – and went back to bed.
There aren’t many pictures from Day 11 as it was too dreary.
We had some big winners in yesterday’s trivia:
Ryan from Lodi, CA answered, Scrotum – which is surprisingly incorrect.
Dannyboy, as seen on the OC, answered correctly with Forestville.
STEPH who works with the smartest man I know, Bertrand, also answered correctly. (Thank you for reading.)
Mark D., from deep in the valley had a good attempt with “I don’t know but please put me in your blog.”
Sarah S., from the city of Bend, where they close down Mexican food restaurants for dealing meth, also had the right answer.
Today’s trivia:
Breedlove, a recent phenomenon, is known for this hit song.
thanks for reading,
sellers
Towns passed:
Stafford (pop. 50)
Pepperwood (pop. unknown)
Redcrest (pop. unknown)
Weott (pop. 450)
Myers Flat (pop. 200)
Miranda (pop. 350)
Phillipsville (pop. 250)
Redway (pop. 1,188)
Friday, May 21, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Day 10 - Arcata, CA to Scotia, CA (51 miles / 489 total)
Today’s blog entry contains a number of swear words and is not meant for younger readers, family (including the family of my girlfriend), previous employers/bosses, or future employers…..
“Where the hell am I?”
”Look at your GPS.”
”No, that’s not what I mean. I remember the ‘Welcome To..’ sign I passed a few miles back. I know the name of the town. It’s not what I mean.”
”It’s a little late to start asking that question.”
”What the hell am I doing?”
”Again, a little late.”
”This is fucking crazy. I’m out in the middle of nowhere. Nothing out here but fucking cows. What the fuck am I doing. The only person I’ve talked to today is myself.”
”I don’t count.”
”No shit. Who the hell rides their bike from Rockaway, OR? Did I really quit my job?”
”Stop yelling, the cows are getting riled up. Look, you’re riding your bike, that’s it. Let’s keep this simple so we can make it through this.”
”This is fucked. My life is strapped to my bike. My mood is dictated by the fucked up weather. I wash my clothes in sinks. I deal with cars that slow down just to yell or let the dog in the back of their pick up bark at me. I count a good day as a day when it hits 60 f. Fuck this.”
”Fine. Stop here.”
”Right. Stop here. I’ll just call a cab and tell them I’m next to the farm with black and white spotted cows that is across the street from the abandoned farm. We’ll throw my bike in the trunk and take a ride down to LA. That would make a great blog entry ‘so I decided to cab it the rest of the way.’”
”Look there’s a car coming it’ll be weird if they see you talking to me.”
”At what point do I start worrying about myself?”
”That should have started when turned left on 101 from your grandmother’s house.”
”I guess you’re right, I’ll keep riding.”
”Stay diligent.”
”Always.”
So anyway… I had a really good day riding. The weather was nice and sunny, plenty of shadows. I had a great nights sleep (10 hours). Three bowls of cereal for breakfast along with two cups of coffee.
I stayed at the Holiday Inn last night, which is plenty nice. Actually too nice. As crazy as it sounds, I prefer camping – hard to beat walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night looking up at all the stars.
My right knee has a new type of pain that I attribute to overuse. It started yesterday morning but seems to be doing better towards the end of today. We’ll see. I’m watching it closely.
It was tough to stop riding today. I was having a good day, not to hard, nice breeze gently pushing me along for parts of the day. But, as with blackjack, better to quit while I’m ahead. The next spot that qualifies as a place on the map is a private RV campground 13 miles ahead. The next town is 30 or so miles down. Scotia seems like a good place to stop, it has an interesting story.
Today included a few cool town including Ferndale and Rio Dell. I also passed College of Redwoods and Humboldt State University – both seemed nice. Most of today’s ride was off the 101, another plus.
My bike is doing ok. Not great, but if I had to guess, I would guess it will make it into the Bay Area. The back wheel was untrue (aka bent) and the nice folks at Revolution Bikes took it in and fixed it with minutes. Best $10 I’ve spent on the trip. The homeless lady outside the store advised me I could have gotten it fixed for free down the street – no buyers remorse here. My chain may be stretched and I don’t want to talk about my front detailer cable which is broken, again.
I fear the rain that is coming tomorrow. I constantly check weather reports trying to figure out exactly when and where the rain will hit even though such a request is impossible.
It smelled like cows/Davis all day. (I remember when my grandfather would roll down the windows while passing cows as my brother and I protested from the back seat all the while telling us how good it smelled as he had lost his sense of smell.)
Steven Tyler's voice sings Dream On via the juke box in the corner of the diner I'm eating dinner at. Lyrics below.
Type of beer most likely found on the side of the road: Busch.
Something I forgot to mention the other day: I got a flat in front of Pelican Bay Prison. A first - I’ve never had a flat in front of a prison before.
Even though I hardly respond, I again want to extend a thank you to all of you sending me messages – I read them all and they mean a lot. If you want to see something funny. Send me a text message and you may see the red dot stop moving as I often stop when my phone erupts.
I wish the sun would stay up in Long Beach / Redondo until 8:30 as it does here.
I rode with two guys from Wyoming who were riding to San Francisco from Gold Beach, OR. One was a professor at a college, the other has ridden across the country (“Stay away from Indiana – it’s just bad weather in the summer.” No worries there.).
Two younger riders from Oklahoma seem to have dropped off the map. Hope they are doing ok. After being asked how far they typically ride in a day, “We’ll in Oklahoma you can ride for 80 miles, no problem. This Redwood forest is another story, I wanted to stop awhile back.” Made me chuckle, I felt his pain.
Towns passed yesterday:
Trinidad (pop. 311)
McKinleyville (pop. 13,599)
Arcata (pop. 16,651)
Towns passed today:
Eureka (pop. 26,128)
Loleta (pop. 800)
Fernbridge (pop. 0?)
Ferndale (pop. 1,382)
Rio Dell (pop. 3,174)
Scotia (pop. 1,200)
Trivia – Scotia was originally called?
Congrats to Dan B., a previous winner and winner again with Baron Alexander von Humboldt.
Ryan had a good guess with Captain Cook.
A local patron has turned down the jukebox in favor of the tv, time to go.
Wait, wait, don’t stop reading. One more thing. For the second time in a week I’ve seen old dudes ride their tractor from their house that is off the road to the road to pick up their mail. I love it. When I get old I’m going to get a tractor and do the same.
sellers
A special thank you goes out to Mateo who inspired me to document my conversations with myself.
Dream On:
Every time I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It goes by, like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay
Yeah, I know nobody knows
where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody's sin
You got to lose to know how to win
Half my life
is in books' written pages
Lived and learned from fools and
from sages
You know it's true
All the things come back to you
Sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good lord will take you away
Yeah, sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dreams come true
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dream comes through
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream On Dream On
Dream On Dream On
Sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away
Sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away......
Day 9 – Humboldt Dry Lagoon County Campground to Arcata (17 miles /438 miles total)
Day 9 was a bummer day. As I rode out of the campground I thought I was being clever and going to make it to Arcata before the rain started. Nope. It started to pour with a strong head wind and there wasn’t anything to do but keep riding until I found a safe place to stop, which happened to be the Arcata Airport.
But first, last night. So I go to bed and around midnight I hear something taking the camo tarp off my bike. I decide that my 1mm piece of cloth that my tent is made of is strong enough to keep whatever it is out there go away and try to think about something else and go back to sleep. When I woke up later in the night due to a brief rain storm I found that my tarp was indeed off the bike but the bear, or whatever, had not taken it for a ride. My food also seemed to be safe. I spoke to the camp host early the next morning and he said the bear can be a real pain and does in fact drink beer – true story.
So anyway, I pull into the airport and there is no place to lock my bike up that is under cover so I have to leave it in the rain as I run inside to dry off inside their lounge. I spend an hour in there and then decide to move my bike under and awning where I can see it. Unfortunately, the TSA frowns upon people who look homeless, have a puddle under them, and do not have any business at the airport. I was kindly asked to leave.
Which leads me to my motel in the middle of nowhere.
I really don’t like staying in motels, I would much rather prefer the openness of camping but so be it.
I’m having a hard time not getting down about making no progress today and a couple of days ago. I want to ride but there’s not much I can do. I’m making good time and just need to wait out the storm.
Stefan was our only winner of yesterday’s trivia with Captain Winship.
Who or what is Humboldt named after?
No picture’s today.
sellers
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Day 8 – Brookings, OR to Humboldt Dry Lagoon County Campground, CA (83 miles / 421 total)
What a day. I didn’t mean to go as far as I did but due to closed campgrounds and bad map reading the day would not end. More on that later.
Day 8 was a day of headwind and mountain climbing. I climbed approximately 2800 ft and had head wind most of the way. My legs were not fast by any measure but they were able to maintain endurance. I left at 7:05AM as soon as I thought it was finished raining and got into the campground 12 hours later.
Riding into California was awesome. For some reason being in my home stay adds some level of comfort. I rode through the agriculture fruit station but they didn’t seem to worried about contraband fruit.
Then came the Redwood Forest. It is truly amazing. Reminds of the Woody Guthrie song, This Land is Your Land (lyrics below). He hated songs that were downer songs or that put down a class of people.
Passing through the huge trees was amazing. For a time I was off the 101 going through a state park that had hardly any cars. It was amazing to me to see these tall, living trees blocking the sky except for random glimpses of sunlight.
Between Crescent City and Arcata (not yet there) there is little to nothing by way of services. There are random motels and places to eat but you are on your own for the most part.
Number of people I saw riding their bike while smoking a joint in Humboldt County: one.
So I was going to stay in Orick, then I decided I still had some juice in me so I was going to stay at camp ground about 10 miles down. Well…. it turns out it was closed and the next one was about 1o miles away. Brutal.
The good news was that the campground was awesome. Great spots and spectacular views. My neighbor, Bob from Napa, walked up as soon as I rolled in and asked the usual questions but I could tell he was drunk. Anyway he left and came back a little bit latter with his girl friend, Diane, and a huge bottle of Jack Daniels. He offered me some and I took a slurp but declined anything further as I was having a hard enough time setting up my tent and dinner.
Then Bob asks me if I’ve heard about the bears? I hadn’t. Turns out there are bear warnings everywhere and that they are a real problem. I read one the warnings and it advises everyone to put all of their food in a locked car. Great, I have no car to lock. Raccoons are one thing but now a bear. Christine had asked me if there were going to be bears and I adamantly told her that beers do not make it down to the coast line – turns out they do.
So, as noted in the picture, I hung my food up even higher this time from a branch about 12 feet high. Yes, I know bears can climb trees but what else am I going to do? Actually, I also cleaned up my campsite and made it look boring compared with Bob and Diane’s – they passed out and left everything outside. Hopefully the bear will be full and possibly drunk after visiting their site.
Whatever the case there are tons of other animals that are fairly loud as I go to sleep. I hear a growl every so often and tell myself that some birds growl.
Total number of PowerBars on Day 8: 4
Total number of Snickers: 3
Number of Cokes: 3
We had a couple of winners yesterday, some familiar, some new:
Marjorie J. was the first to respond with “stopping cows”, the correct answer.
Dan B. from deep behind the Orange Curtain in Southern California also got the question right along with David K. or Tabasco, depending on how well you know him. Further, Roger the tax man also got the question right.
Trivia: Captain _____________ discovered the Humboldt Bay while hunting seals and seat otter in 1806.
Towns passed:
Harbor, OR (pop. 2,622)
Smith River, CA (pop. 2,500)
Crescent City, CA (pop. 8,034)
Klamath, CA (pop. 651)
Orick, CA (pop. 650)
sellers
This Land Is Your Land
This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.
I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Day 7 – Brookings, OR (0 miles / 336 total)
Written on Sunday May 17, 2010 8:35 PM
Today it rained. Not as much as was predicted but there was a little rain. In hindsight, I would have rather kept on riding but it was too big of a risk to be stuck in thunderstorm while riding.
This means a less interesting but busy day.
First let me start with the bike shop. The Escape Hatch, like most small businesses here is not doing well and may have to close. The owner blames many factors including the economy, Walmart, taxes, and folks like myself ordering online. Whatever the case I’m glad he was open today as he did a great job replacing my front derailer cable. It was about 25% torn through. He even managed to get it done for me in hours instead of making me wait days as some bike shops do. If you’re ever in Brookings I would pay him a visit – there are some good deals and he seems to know a lot about local fishing.
I seem to have a harder and harder time using my credit card as my face is starting to look different from that on my drivers license. Makes me chuckle.
This morning I stopped by the auto store and bought some degreaser along with rags and cleaned all the crap that sticks to the chain over 300 miles.
It was so weird to shop at Fred Meyer. I’m used to shopping at gas stations where you can’t be picky about your options unless you want a soda. At Fred Meyer they seem to have 20 different versions of sunscreen. I purchased as much fruit as I could shove down my throat in one day (a lot).
My last errand was laundry. $2.25 for a wash – more than Long Beach, CA.
The highlight though was seeing a San Francisco Chronicle for sale. I’m getting closer. If anyone who is reading this has any control over the rain tomorrow, please don’t let it make an appearance.
Sublime’s version of Rivers of Babylon is playing in the background. A nice tune.
No trivia or pictures today as I just posted yesterday’s question.
"Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny of mankind. I just want to talk about how to fix a motorcycle. I think that what I have to say has more lasting value."
— Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values – a book I didn’t like very much)
sellers
Day 6 – Humbug Mountain State Park to Brookings, OR (miles 51 / 336 total)
Written on Monday May 17, 2010 4:52 PM
Sunday was a cold, desolate, windy, hilly, fun day.
I stayed a little longer at the campground then I usually do, 11:o5AM to be exact. I was hoping to let some of the fog burn off but it proved inconsequential as the fog layer remained around 1,000 ft. As with most of Oregon, the road was insulated by tall, green, majestic trees. A rain that is described as mist in Oregon seemed to keep the wind at bay. It made me think of Gordon Lightfoot’s Early Morning Rain, one of my favorite songs (it’s sung my many others including, Bob Dylan, Elvis, Grateful Dead). See the lyrics at the bottom of this post.
After going inland for a few miles the 101 hit the coast and opened up to continuous ocean vistas. I kept asking myself, at what point do I stop taking pictures of this. I suppose you don’t stop.
While beautiful, it was also empty. Cars would pass a few feet away from my acoustic motorbike and yet they felt miles away. Where were they going? What were they thinking at that moment? Are they in a good mood? What’s on the radio? For some reason I wondered these questions.
I missed a turn off of 101 (not sure how you miss a turn off at 10 mph) which I wasn’t too worried about, as long as I’m heading south I’m heading home. The good side of this was that I got to ride on the historic coastal road further down the road.
Later I pulled into Gold Beach for coffee and to rest prior to the 800 ft climb ahead. When I ordered coffee cake the guy behind me mentioned to me that it would take a while to burn that off. Getting fat is not on my list of worries.
Pulling into Brookings I decided to stay in a motel as rain seemed immanent. It was weird to not worry about raccoons as I slept.
Overall it was a good day. I met Tom and Don, two Marines that are riding their motorcycles up the coast. I also ran into Marco from Sweden riding his bike around the country (impressive).
Pavement was the answer that I was looking for on yesterday’s. Maybe next time.
Today’s trivia can be found on in the picture library.
Towns passed:
Ophir (pop. 60)
Wedderburn (pop. unknown)
Gold Beach (pop. 1,897)
Pistol River had a post office so I’m not sure if that counts as a town.
Brookings (pop. 5,447 +1 tonight)
thanks for reading.
Sellers
In the early mornin' rain
With a dollar in my hand
And an aching in my heart
And my -pockets full of sand
I'm a long ways from home
And I missed my loved one so
In the early mornin' rain
With no place to go
Out on runway number nine
Big 707 set to go
Well I?m out here on the grass
Where the pavement never grows
Where the liquor tasted good
And the women all were fast
There she goes my friend
She's rolling out at last
Hear the mighty engines roar
See the silver wing on high
She's away and westward bound
For above the clouds she flies
Where the mornin' rain don't fall
And the sun always shines
She'll be flying over my home
In about three hours time
This ol' airport?s got me down
It's no earthly good to me
'Cause I?m stuck here on the ground
Cold and drunk as I might be
Can't jump a jet plane
Like you can a freight train
So I best be on my way
In the early mornin' rain
So I best be on my way
In the early mornin' rain
So I best be on my way
In the early mornin' rain
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Day 5 - Sunset Bay State Park to Humbug Mountain State Park (61 miles / 285 miles)
Saturday May 15, 2010 9:37PM
When Garry and Nancy from Vancouver offered me a Canadian breakfast as I was taking down my camp site I knew the day was going to be better than the previous. The breakfast, complete with coffee and orange juice was awesome. I’ve never been a fan of eating out so it was nice to have a home made meal. They both volunteered at the Olympics and had some interesting stories.
I got a late start on the day due to breakfast and writing yesterday’s blog update. The ride started on a road called Seven Devils, which is an appropriate name considering the ups and downs. The views were great and there were fewer cars than yesterday so I was doing better.
A note about the pictures
There are so many more pictures that could be taken on this trip but due to conditions (e.g. small shoulder, bad area, or I want to keep momentum, etc.). Further, there are some vistas that are so expansive they simply cannot be captured on film.
My bike is holding up fine. I need a new shifting cable but worse comes to worse it breaks and I have to stay in low gears – nothing new. I should be able to wait until I find a bike store.
[Author’s note: as I’m writing this a raccoon has begun casing the place out. He or she is unfazed by my flashlight and advances. Update! it has left and is in a fight with some other animal. Crazy! Time to go hang up my food bag. Do raccoons bite people? Did Christine pack me something that takes care of such bites? I don’t know.]
Sunday May 16, 2010 8:52 AM
Anyhow, back to my ride. After a few more miles I hit Bandon, an upscale coastal community. It looked like a mini version of pier 39 in San Francisco with all of the restaurants pushing “the best clam chowder and crab. I really enjoy clam chowder and crab but don’t think either them are great for riding so I moved on to Mexican food. I don’t have much faith in Mexican food in Oregon but this place was alright (I don’t remember the name). It made me chuckle when the people sitting next to me asked the waiter his name and he said, Pancho Sanchez. I knew he was joking but he had to finally fess up to when they kept yelling “Pancho, could we get some more….” His real name is Michael.
It amazes me how many gift stores there are in Oregon.
I’m told by Dave at Sunset Bay Park that years back they spaced the coast towns out 26 miles apart for the stage coaches. You can roughly see that when looking at a map. The next town down was Port Orford.
Port Orford, has for sale signs on everything except for its one police car. It is a really nice town though. As noted in my pictures they painted which way to go to see the ocean. At risk of drawing the throngs of people that read my blog to their surf I will say that they have very clean, rideable, small waves.
I found a great way to charge my stuff. In the middle of the night I walk over to the RV campground and borrow one of their outlets after everyone is asleep. So far no problems.
Cars in Curry County seem to be friendly.
Still not many California license plates. Hopefully soon.
It should be noted that this is a great campground. The hiker/biker portion has a waterfall next to it and each spot is somewhat secluded. It’s strange to me that on a Saturday night this place isn’t packed. It’s at the base of the Humbug Mountains and hugs the ocean with great views. I hope to return one day, just maybe in a huge RV with a heater.
Tonight I’m joined by a couple from Germany that started their journey in LA and are heading to Vancouver. They are very nice, as is everyone I meet at the campground.
”How did you like LA?”
”I didn’t.”
”How did you like San Francisco?”
”I didn’t”
”How did you like the Mojave Dessert?”
“I really liked it. I don’t like cities, in Germany I live in the forest."
”That explains it.”
We all laughed.
In a sense I’m racing the weather as it is supposed to rain on Monday and I would like to be as far south as I can get prior to rain. We’ll see. I have no desire to ride in the rain.
Raccoon Epilog
I hung up my only bag with food in it and then went to bed, leaving everything that I didn’t need outside of my tent. Mistake. About 1 hour later I hear my bags being terrorized so I get up put on my shoes and sure enough one looks at me and then runs. It turns out they are so used to finding food that they try to open every bag they find. So I put all my bags in my tent and go back to bed. I wake up around 1AM and take a look around and see that they maliciously went after my bike and knocked it down (most likely for revenge). It was at this point that I also noticed that the dew was so thick everything was wet; the towel I left out to dry, my steel forks on the bike, my leather seat, everything. I put a spare tarp over my bike that I have been debating weather or not to ditch and went back to bed. Not much I could do at that point.
Michael got hit worse. They tore up one of his books and, he suspects after doing inventory, ran off with one of his socks. A mad, mad world.
Cities I passed through:
Bandon (pop.2,833)
Langlois (pop. 50)
Sixes (pop. unknown)
Port Orford (pop. 1,153)
Dr. Christine had the correct answer with Umpqua lighthouse.
Today’s trivia:
What is the hardest part of learning how to ride a bike?
On a side note, I’m not getting everyone’s text messaged. I believe T-Mobile gives up after it can’t find me for some amount of time.
Also, I can’t say enough how nice it is to get emails, messages, comments, text messages, etc. I don’t respond because of reception issues, battery usage, exhaustion, and because I’m sometimes on the side of the road and it just doesn’t work. But, it is very noted and very appreciated.
sellers
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Day 4 - Honeyman State Beach to Sunset Bay State Park (57 miles / 224 miles total)
There is no other way to put this so I will just say it, day 4 sucked:
- I had to walk across a long bridge not meant for walking but even worse for riding. The sidewalk was so narrow I don’t know how they can call it a sidewalk, but they did.
- The wind was the strongest, yet I was stuck riding perpendicular and/or walking my bike for too much of the day.
- It finally hit me that the Oregon Coast, is in fact, hilly. When I reach the top of a hill I think to myself, “you did it, you can relax.” But the hill simply responds with “you did, now here’s another hill” and I abide.
- Cars were out in force today. None were dangerous but there were so many of them you become numb to the Pacific that is guiding you along the route. Diesel fumes are a kick in the pants.
I thought I was going to have a good day but looking back on that now I wonder if my optimism was simply coffee induced. Who knows.
Let me talk about the hills for a moment. Most hills go unnoticed by those in a car. Some may even be missed entirely by a cyclist on a nice bike but let me say as clear as I can, no hill goes without disdain for a guy on a bike tour with as much weight as I have. Hills can lead to instant frustration when combine with a mileage marker that is off by mere 1/2 a mile (as is the case with Sunset Bay).
So what do you do when you’re in Oregon and you are having a bad day? You stop by Dairy Queen and scarf down a waffle cone chocolate strawberry in two minutes.
The guy working the register at Taco Bell he was having a long day.
What do you do with a bad day? I’m not sure. Without a head wind would a tail wind ever feel great? I expect that there will be more of these days to come. I have no intention of stopping but yesterday I would have rather been doing any number of things.
And, for the record, I’m sick of sand dunes.
But my day did get better. Sunset Bay is a nice campground with nice showers (I finally took a shower). The camp host let me stay in regular camp ground instead of the hiker/biker slots. I also met Michael who is heading in the same direction from Portland. He’s a nice guy on his first tour. He smokes, which cracks me up. He’s a little sick so I gave him my Dayquil that Christine was nice enough to pack in my suitcase of medical supplies. We also shared some rum before going to bed like the pirates that used to hide in Sunset Bay.
My handlebar bag is holding up pretty well – not perfect, but it doesn’t need to be. I adjusted my seat and it feels better today. My pinky is no longer numb. All good things.
We had a number of correct answers to yesterday’s trivial questions:
Grandma Marge from Rockaway, OR and Marin, CA was the first to respond with Hazelnut
Kelly C. also had the right answer.
Tabasco (David K.) had a different, but correct answer, “Sellers”.
______ was the first lighthouse built in Oregon.
Cities passed:
Dunes City (pop. 1,241)
Gardiner (pop. 600)
Reedsport (pop. 4,378 – I would avoid stopping here as they don’t seem to like people on bikes)
Lakeside (pop. 1,371)
Hauser (pop. unknown)
North Bend (pop. 9,544)
Charleston (pop. 700)
Anyhow, I better go as I’m sitting under a no trespassing sign.
Sellers
[still no good internet so the picture quality is bad. I’m not sure if the labels uploaded correctly either]
Friday, May 14, 2010
Day 3 – Newport, OR to Honeyman State Beach (53 miles / 167 miles)
I’m doing this partially for myself. Routine is comforting and in trying to gain some sort of routine I’m writing down my policies and procedures.
Things to do when I wake up:
Pack up items inside tent (including rolling sleeping bag and mattress)
Get dressed in tent
Exit tent
Check food bag to make sure it was not stolen by masked bandits (raccoons)
Boil water for coffee
Warm water for drinking (water gets very cold at night)
Eat PowerBar
Perform bike check (with all bags off) consisting of:
- Check the lever in both wheels to ensure they are still firmly attached.
- Adjust brakes to be closer to wheel
- Work on at least two adjustments (e.g. seat height, front handlebar bag, shifting cables, etc.)
- Check fenders
- Inflate tires to 100psi (I usually lose about 30 psi every 24 hours)
Make sure water bottles are completely filled (one with sports drink mix and one water)
Take picture of self for blog
Pack up everything except for tent, tarp, sleeping bag, mattress, solar charger)
Take down tent
Pack up tent, tarp, sleeping bag, mattress, solar charger
Check panniers for loose bungee cords and safety latches
Turn on blinking lights
Turn cell phone to loud
Check phone to see what day of the week it is and mentally plan for the amount of cars
Take a last look around campsite for anything I may have forgotten
Depart camp
Contact folks if I did not the night before
Guidelines for riding my bike:
- Safety first
- Take a break every ten miles for five to ten minutes (stopping to adjust something or taking a picture does not count)
- When one water bottle becomes empty I must stop at the next point that has water
- Stop to make adjustments as needed (some adjustments are low priority and can wait until at the camp site).
- 70% of weight should be on the back of the bike
- Wave at all school bus drivers
When I arrive at camp:
Turn off blinking lights
If I have a cell phone connection (doubtful) let folks know where I am
Unpack solar charger in order to continue charge
Remove all bungee cords from bike (bungee cords and wheel hate each other)
Set up tent
Unroll sleeping bag and mattress (unless mosquitoes are present then this should be moved until bed time)
Unpack needed goods for the evening
Change out of bike clothes into dirty clothes
Prepare dinner
Review map for following day’s ride as food is being cooked
Eat dinner
Write blog entry (unless absurdly tired)
Add description to pictures
Clean dishes
Clean up site
Brush teeth
Lock up bike (just to be safe)
Walk around camp ground or read (be sure to smile and say hello to everyone as they may be useful in case you need something or have problems)
Use bathroom
Read (optional)
Sleep
About my day:
I had some problems at the start: speedometer didn’t work, my front handlebar bag kept sagging even after I worked on it for a good amount of time, and I departed at 9:30 (I would like to try to leave by 8AM). But my legs felt a little stronger and the wind was at my back.
The coast line was beautiful but, as noted by the Adventure Cycling Association Map #2, this portion had the narrowest shoulder so far of the trip (big by Southern California standards). The drivers seemed more in a hurry today but still overall nice. I rode through a tunnel today (the road was empty enough that no cars past through). The only problem was that the tunnel was uphill (crazy but true) and freezing. When I made it out I was exhausted and my right pannier hit the side barrier at 6mph (slow enough to dismount and not let my bike fall). But this was extremely frustrating as it was on an uphill and my bike required a bunch of realignments (wheels, brakes, fender). I fixed the wheel and rode to the next opening 1/8 mile later to safely fix everything else.
I passed Sea Lion Cove, which gets its name from all the sea lions (too many to count). Yachats seems like a modern version of Rockaway.
In addition to nonstop trees and coastline I also crossed over a few bridges as you’ll note in the pictures. Oregon takes great pride in their bridges. Each one seems to have a story.
Nate Jessup hailing from Central California has answered both trivia questions correctly – congratulations Nate.
Physical evaluation:
One of the two nerves in my left pinky is a little damaged from the amount of pressure I applied to the handle bars yesterday so I changed my hand position and it felt a lot better. My upper back is the sorest part of my body – my knees and butt seem to be holding up ok. Nothing to worry about at this point.
Special thank you
A special thank you goes out to all of you sending me messages (i.e. email, text, phone calls, comments) it means a lot as at times I get lonely enough to read my spam mail. I turn my phone to loud and anytime I pass an area in which I get reception it goes off. I’m sorry I don’t respond to the messages.
Favorite quote of the day:
I get asked a lot about what I’m doing and there are a lot of various responses but this was my favorite today: “Man, you have balls. I’m not into bikes but maybe I should drive my car down the coast. I’m really into cars, that’s why I love this job so much. Praise Jesus.”
- Chevron gas station attendant
Cities passed:
Seal Rock (pop. unknown)
Waldport (pop. 2,050)
Wakonda Beach(pop. 0?)
Yachats (pop. 617)
Florence (pop. 7,263)
Breakfast:
Reeses candy bar
Coffee
Breakfast #2:
Two bagels from Chevron
Lunch:
Lunch was complicated as there was no restaurant to think of between Yachats and Florence (plenty of motels and wooden sculptures for sale). Instead of one meal I ate a two PowerBars, one bag of cheese Ruffles, and a RedBull
Dinner:
Freeze dried Beef Stroganoff along with three Advil and a PowerBar for desert.
Trivia question: Oregon is the only state with an official nut, what is it?
Thanks for reading,
Sellers
[My internet connection is very weak at the moment. The picture quality will be improved at a later point.]
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