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

IMG00008-20100527-1532.jpg

So amazing. I don't even know what to say.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Time to ride.

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

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)

I'm alive and well. Waited out storm in sea ranch for a day or so. Updates later. Just past jenner,ca. Just got limited cell access.

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)

At 1840 ft and still climbing. Hard start for the day.

Commence day 12.

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)

Riding until it starts to rain, for cathy's friend today.

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......

I'm on my way, I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way.

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

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.

here. Way to much rain.

Yes, the map is correct. I'm at the airport waiting to check in at a local motel. I didn't make it to Arcata as hoped so I got off the road and ended up

California! Wow. Unbelievable. Can't believe I made it this far.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Vamonos muchachos y muchachas

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

Rain delay, stuck in Brookings, OR - a nice place to try to stay dry in.

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

And we're off.

Day 5 has commenced.

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]

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:

1. Check the lever in both wheels to ensure they are still firmly attached.
2. Adjust brakes to be closer to wheel
3. Work on at least two adjustments (e.g. seat height, front handlebar bag, shifting cables, etc.)
4. Check fenders
5. 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:

1. Safety first
2. Take a break every ten miles for five to ten minutes (stopping to adjust something or taking a picture does not count)
3. When one water bottle becomes empty I must stop at the next point that has water
4. Stop to make adjustments as needed (some adjustments are low priority and can wait until at the camp site).
5. 70% of weight should be on the back of the bike
6. 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.]

Let's ride!

Day 3 has started. My handlebar bag is broken but after 1.5 hours it should hopefully stay in place. Hopefully.

Day 2 Sandlake Campground to Newport, OR (62.2 miles / 114 total*)

5:18 AM May 22, 2010

Yesterday was exhausting. My body wasn’t ready for a 60 mile day but Newport seemed like a good town to end up in, per bike map I carry around. Thankfully there was an amazing tail wind.

First the big news, I accomplished a trifecta of breweries: Pelican Pub & Brewery, McMenamin Brewery, and Rogue Brewery. Before I started I talked myself into this ride by deciding I would stop at all of the breweries I rode past. Turns out there are a lot of breweries in Oregon and I may have to cut back as it takes up a lot of time and wears on the body.  I arrived at Pelican Pub & Brewery around 9AM, surprisingly, they served breakfast.

Now the highlight, the highlight of the ride was on Old Highway 101 between Neskowin and Lincoln City. There’s some climbing but it was nearly deserted except for a few cars.

Last night when I checked into a motel, I thought it was funny to be offered a room with a view of the Pacific as I’ve had a view all day.

The most frustrating part of yesterday was the lack of cell phone service. I truly thought I was going to go 24 hours with no service. Luckily Newport has plenty of service.

A word on the cars. Compared to Southern California the cars are very accommodating to bicyclists. As cars pass they will move as far away as they can even if it means going into the wrong lane. Even lumber truck drivers seem to have gotten a bad rap as they are some of the nicest. Many of the cars coming from the opposite direction well wave. There must be a law that school bus drivers have to wave.

It seems that everyone had kids here when they were young. Everyone I’ve had conversations with that is my age seems to have a 11 or 16 year old kid.

One final note before I start getting everything packed up, the sun came out yesterday. A nice surprise.

Trivia: Depoe Bay is know for being the __________ harbor in the world. The answer to yesterday’s question was correct, it was a pile of oysters by anonymous.

Towns I passed through:
Sandlake (pop. 25)
Pacific City (pop. 1027)
Oretown (pop. 25)
Newskowin (pop. 269)
Otis (pop. 25)
Lincoln City (pop. 7437)
Gleneden Beach (pop. 500)
Lincoln Beach (pop. 2,078)
Depoe Bay (pop. 1,174)
Otter Rock (pop. unknown)
Newport (pop. 9,532)

Towns I’ve rode through yesterday:
Rockaway Beach (pop.1,267)
Garibaldi (pop. 879)
Bay City (pop. 899)
Tillamook (pop. 4,352)
Oceanside (pop. 326)
Netarts (pop. 744)
Sandlake (pop. 25)

 

 

* The total number of miles may not tie to the sum of all individual rides as there are a number of off route side trips that I take.

Day 1 Rockaway to Sandpark campground (41 miles today 41 total)

7:22 PM  on May 11, 2010

As I write this I’m sitting at my camping spot loaded on three Ibuprofen sitting next to the fire I built. I’m very proud of this fire, all the wood here is still wet from a rain that passed through last night. The group next to me used lighter fluid - I had to make mine from scratch. As I’ve taught little kids fire not only provides warmth but a sense of security. The downside, that I didn’t realize until now, is that sitting by a fire alone is very lonely. The last time I was around a fire I was surrounded by 100 kids at Camp Laurel, a camp I volunteer with. 

So anyway, today was a great but physically hard day. My legs are not quite in biking shape yet and they’ve already been through, what I anticipate will be the highest/steepest mountain north of the California border. It reminded me of riding through Piedmont with my brother and dad only this time I had sixty pounds of gear. It was brutal and saying I’m sore is the understatement of the day.

But, the views were amazing. I was close to the ocean the whole time seeing seals, birds, a few deer, horses and tons of cows. I enjoyed being able to not have to return the same way I came; each mile is new as I’m heading in one direction. And the trees were amazing.

The fact that I’m heading in towards home seems to alleviate any concern I have about being 1000 miles away.

My bike held up well. She is need of shifting tune-up that I’ll work on tomorrow morning with a fresh head. I adjusted her multiple times throughout the day. I joked with myself (who else am I going to joke with) that I should have her all tuned up by the time I’m finished.

To say I’m looking forward to sleep is like saying a 10 year old is looking forward to Christmas. But prior to my slumber I still have to hang my food bag (also contains soaps and anything else that smells good) up from a tree. I’m not expecting the sun to set for another hour so I have plenty of time.

The ride itself started out in Rockaway as noted in the headline. It was great to pass through multiple spots (see the pictures) where I have so many memories from child hood.

For lunch I stopped at some horrible place across from Tillamook Cheese Factory. Dinner consisted of freeze dried chili mac with beef (whatever that is).

The camp site is nice

I regret not calling my mom or Christine today but I’m out of cell phone range and seven miles from a payphone, I’m told. I suppose this will set expectations that I’ll call in the mornings.

But this whole day would not have been possible if not for my family and Christine. (Last night was spent at my grandmother’s place.) Christine somehow managed to not only deal with my stress of putting a bike back together (from the flight) but also helped a great deal. I miss her.

Off to bed.

sellers

Running down a dream. I'm out of here.

The Gear

1. 3x Glad ForceFlex trash bags
2. 3x Fresh Shield Ziplock bags              
3. 3x tire tubes (Michelin Airstop Butyl 700 x 25-32 40mm)                           
4. Blackberry Curve 8900                          
5. AC Blackberry charger                           
6. Blackberry USB charger
7. REI Half Dome Plus (2002) Tent
8. REI Half Dome Plus Tent ground tarp
9. Mountain Hardwear Thermic Micro  Ultralamina (15f  / -9c)                         
10. Blue Bic Lighter
11. 40x Coleman Waterproof Matches
12. 8x Strike anywhere matches
13. Waterproof match container with flint on the bottom                           
14. 6ft rerolled black Monster Duct Tape
15. Generic emergency whistle with compass, mirror, thermometer
16. Once Cent Lucky Penny (1940)
17. 2x Jogalite ankle reflector straps
18. Performance Bike arm warmers                    
19. Emergency kit                           
    1. band aids             
    2. Advil             
    3. sterile cleaning pads
    4. Ace bandage
    5. duct tape
20. OnGuard Ultimate ATB U-Lock     
21. Heavy duty lock chain    
22. Petzl Tikka XP head lamp    
23. 4xAAA Batteries
24. 6x Bungee Cords
25. 6x military wire ties (thank you Rubal)
26. Glueless patch kit
27. Rubber cement patch kit
28. Coleman tent repair kit    
    1. Two pole reinforcers
    2. Seam Seal
    3. Tent bungie cord replacement
    4. 3" needle
    5. 2x spools of thread
    6. Replacement tent mesh
    7. Replacement tent fabric
    8. Tent repair instructions
29. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
30. Bicycling the Pacific Coast, A Complete Guide, Canada to Mexico by Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall
31. Thermarest repair kit
32. Replacement chain link
33. 2x twistee
34. Gerber Recoil auto-plier knife
35. MSR 22 fl oz / 650 ml Fuel Bottle
36. MSR Whisperlite International Liquid-Fuel Stove
37. Cooking kit that includes a lid (also a pot) and main pot
38. Strainer
39. Sponge
40. Dish washing soap in generic small bottle
41. Cascadian Collection - Blue GSI Outdoors 12 fl oz plastic coffee mug 
42. 2x 25 fl oz Giant water bottles
43. Strong plastic fork
44. Strong plastic spoon
45. 3x bike socks
46. Short sleeve Lance Armstrong yellow jersey
47. Long sleeve bike jersey
48. Oregon Department of Transportation Coast Bike Route print out
49. Waterproof yellow bike jacket
50. Cat-1 Force Sunglasses (light tent) 
51. Coppertone Sport Breathable Sunscreen Ultra Sweatproof 30 spf
52. 3x AO Safety Ear Plugs
53. Blue Long Beach State Gym Shorts
54. One t-shirt
55. One long sleeve shirt
56. Performance Bike Ultra bike shorts
57. Camp Laurel beanie
58. Hat
59. Pants that convert to shorts 
60. Rainbow Sandals
61. Colgate Navigator Medium Toothbrush
62. Tom's of Maine Natural Care .87 fl oz toothpaste 
63. Bar of soap
64. Pantene PRO-V 2 in 1 Shampoo+Coditioner for shinier hair
65. 4x Mountain House Pro-Pak Freeze Dried Dinners
66. Tri-Flow Superior Lubricant 2fl oz
67. Spare pannier parts
68. 50 ft Nylon Rope
69. Canon PowerShot D10 Camera
70. 2x Exofficio Boxers (blue/black)
71. Spare Canon camera battery
72. Staples ReVu pen (I may have taken this from work - sorry guys)
73. Sanford uni-ball pen (fine)
74. Wallet (reduced)
75. 5x sheets of paper towels
76. 24x Starbucks Via Ready Brew - Columbia
77. Timex Ironman Triathlon
78. Hoss bike shorts that look like regular shorts
79. Thermarest Pillow Cover (jacket will be used as pillow)
80. Ground warm puffy jacket
81. Castrelli bike gloves
82. Stainless Steel 8oz engraved flask
83. Old New Orleans Cajun Spice Rum (contents of flask)
84. Chapstick Classic for inside the tent (no odor)
85. Katadyn Hiker PRO Water Microfilter (#8014531)
86. Pearl Izumi Bike Tights
87. Sierra Design Hurricane waterproof pants
88. American Cycling Association Pacific Coast Sections 2-5
89. Granite Gear Uberlight CTF 13 Liter dry bag
90. Pearl Izumi mountain bike shoes / hiking shoes
91. bike tights
92. Canon Battery AC Charger
93. Brooks Saddle Cover, Medium
94. Solar Panels to charge phone
95. First Aid Kit

Riding Down the Coast from Northern Oregon

The Ride

I've always wanted to go for an extended bike ride and enjoy camping so I decided to combine the two.

I'll start at my grandmother's cottage in Rockaway, OR (referenced in Harley Jessup's book, Grandma Summer) and see how far south I can ride. Ideally, I make it to Los Angeles (1300 miles) but if I get injured or otherwise not enjoying myself I'll stop.

The route follows Highway 1 and 101 through most of the trip (sometimes on the highway, sometimes along side roads). Along the way I'll camp or stay in motels as appropriate.

Depending on rain I will depart Rockaway on Tuesday, May 11. I'm guessing the ride will take me 32 days. (26 days or riding six days of six days of recovery/rain delay).

I have a GPS tracking device attached to me in hopes of reassuring friends and family of my progress.

On the days I ride, I hope to have an average of 55 miles of forward progress. There will be detours. There will be times I get lost.

More after I start.

I quit my job

I quit my job.

As a result of a snowboard concussion I had brain surgery in February and didn't tell many people. It was real scary and involved trips to the ICU, migraines, seizers in which I couldn't talk, etc. (For my camp friends, I had it between camp training and camp; you may have noticed I didn't say much at training.)

Anyhow, when I woke up from surgery I was super excited to be able to talk and think, even with a new half-inch hole in my head. This newfound excitement brought personal goals into focus so I decided to leave a good career and go for broke.

So here I am.