a cycling adventure

day twenty four

July 3rd

Richardson Grove State Park to MacKerricher State Park

58 miles

Out of bed around 6AM. Made coffee, ham and cheese bagels for breakfast. Got going quickly to get an early start for what should be a long day.

Hit the road around 8:30AM. Did a little climbing to on the way to the town of Leggett, at the bottom of the hill. Already extremely hot. Didn't drink enough water yesterday, so extra worried about having enough today. No services for 28 miles after Leggett. Bought an extra water in town, hoping 4 bottles is enough. Met an older German guy at the store who started riding in New York, and is headed for San Francisco.

Took off on HWY 1 up the hill. Passed 3 Czechs, who were riding from Seattle to San Francisco. All 3 had custom jerseys on with maps on the back. All 3 of them passed me later when I stopped for a break. Not one of them stopped a single time from what I saw. One of them had to be in his 60's, very impressive.

Getting hotter. Long, arduous climb to the top. Traffic moderate. Reached the top and started down. Waited for Chip and Mark about halfway down the hill. Had a few bagels with PB.

Made our way down. Nice, long descent. One more decent sized hill to go. Ended up being 200' higher than our maps showed, according to the maps the Czechs had. Big motivation killer.

Finally at the coast again, nice breeze felt great. Felt at least 20 degrees cooler. Traffic heavier. Lots of smaller climbs but nothing too major. Ended up having just enough water. Stopped in Westport hoping to find a restaurant for lunch. Found a deli, had chicken avocado sandwiches. Refilled water bottles.

Rode last 13 miles to Cleone along HWY 1, steep and winding with shoulders on/off and tons of traffic (4th of July weekend).

Bought groceries at a store in Cleone, arrived at MacKerricher State Park and set up camp. Mark made dinner, spaghetti with hamburger. Very good and filling. Skittles for dessert, quickly becoming my 'must have'. I've noticed most bikers have their own thing they 'need' to have. Mark goes gaga over Sobe drinks. Chip likes the M&M's.

Another hilly day tomorrow. Chip's book calls the next stretch 'strenuous' so it looks like we'll keep it around 40 miles. Extremely exhausted tonight.

elevation map of Leggett Hill

right outside Leggett, where HWY 1 starts

finally back on the coast

looking south

looking north, just outside Westport

day twentythree

July 2nd

Stafford RV Park to Richardson Grove State Park

57 miles

Up at 6, started coffee. Mark fixed toasted bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. Orange juice. Blue sky, another day of perfect weather.

Hit the road around 9AM, right back onto 101. Right down the road was Avenue of the Giants, turned our lights on and took the exit.

Traffic very low, nothing like what we've heard. Definitely no shoulder, giant Redwoods creeping into narrow road. Amazing. Took a short 2 mile detour down Mattole Rd to check out the Rockefeller Forest, which is the oldest and largest old-growth Redwood forest. More amazingness.

Road winds around the Eel River. Lots of people floating the river and swimming...so jealous. Getting really hot out once you get out of the shade. Could have easily jumped right in and spent the rest of the day by the river.

Stopped at a store in Myer's Flat and got stuff to make sandwiches with our left over rolls. Very good.

Odometer rolled over 1000 miles. Traffic getting heavier. A few assholes in big trucks. Getting extremely angry at this point.

Arrived in Garberville, picked up groceries. Mark and Chip used wifi in an ice cream shop. Found rear tire flat! Changed rear tube while they updated their blog, good to go.

Back onto 101, which is a freeway again. Lots of traffic and more asshole drivers. One guy, in a white Dodge Ram, who almost ran us off the road on the Avenue of the Giants, ended up being on the freeway and did the same thing to us again. Unbelievable.

Pulled into Richardson Grove S.P. around 6PM. Hate getting in this late. Set up camp, showered, Mark made chicken stir fry. Another awesome meal.

The infamous Leggett hill coming up tomorrow, biggest climb of the whole trip. People joke that grave sites of bikers who couldn't make it can be spotted alongside the road. We were all seriously dreading it but excited to get it over with. Feeling confident and very strong.

where I spend most of my time these days

heading down the Avenue of the Giants

road lined with massive Redwoods, for miles and miles

pictures really don't do any justice

taking a breather down Mattolle Rd, in the Rockefeller Forest

Rockefeller Forest

nice to have someone to take your picture for once

attempting to get a shot of the trees blurring by, but this ended up being cool

1000 freaking miles!

Garberville, fixing a flat - first in 1000 miles

Eel River

camp

day twentytwo

July 1st

Patrick's Point State Park to Stafford RV Park, Stafford

67 miles

Up at 6 again. Took my time getting ready this morning for some reason, don't really know why. Not really caring much at this point. In a weird state of mind.

Talked with Mark and Chip about where they might go today. Decided we should go to Stafford, where there's an RV park. Chip called in the morning and it was $18/night. They offered to split it 3 ways, which helped us both out. Very cool of them to offer, and it would be nice to have some company.

We all headed out around 9:00AM. Rode together for awhile but I went ahead for a bit. Not used to riding with other people, and we are on a slightly different pace, so its hard for me to get used to.

Rode on an old, winding, sometimes gravel road out of Trinidad. Awesome views of the ocean, weather foggy but starting to clear. Ton's of boats moored out of Trinidad. Waited for guys and rode with them again. 101 turned to freeway again - kinda sketchy, especially at on/off ramps. Felt much safer riding in a group. Noise from traffic is deafening.

Arrived in Eureka around noon. We were all starving, so we decided to find a place in town to eat. Instead of blindingly riding around looking for restaurants, like I've doing, Chip uses his I-phone to look up the best/cheapest places to eat. Incredibly convenient! Found a sandwich place, Hole in the Wall, which had good reviews. Mark and I got the BBQ port sandwich, which was HUGE.

Hit the road again, tons of traffic in town. Eureka looks like a cool town, wish I could hand out longer. Rode quiet farm roads for awhile, nice to get off 101. Sun coming out, more perfect weather.

Stopped at a fruit stand and ran into Alex, who I rode with just north of Gold Beach. Fun to see him again, he's having quite the adventure. He's planning to ride the Lost Coast, which I was going to do as well, until I saw the elevation map. Not to mention the fact that you're only on the coast for about 5 miles out of 60. Hoping he makes it out, he literally just looked at the elevation chart when we were talking to him, but he still took the turn off. Ate my 2 plums and 3 nectarines - excellent.

Kept riding on towards Stafford, more lonely farm roads. Watched some guys herding cattle.

Stopped at Hoby's Market in Scotia for groceries. We teamed up on dinner, splitting it 3 ways. This helped save money and allow us to buy massive quantities of food.

Arrived at Stafford RV park around 5:30. Met 2 girls from Portland who were heading to San Francisco. They were waiting for their friends to get out of the Lost Coast. Set up camp, not a bad little spot. Showered, Mark made dinner. Smoked sausage, with onions and peppers. Damn good, stuffed. Skittles for dessert.

Excited for The Avenue of the Giants tomorrow, more big Redwoods. This stretch of road has a reputation as being extremely dangerous to ride on, with no shoulder and lots of traffic. Not sure what to expect, but feeling better about riding in a group as opposed to being by myself.

Not sure where we will end up tomorrow, but definitely not past Leggett.

looking north, toward Patrick's Point

seals hanging out on the rocks

looking south, near Trinidad

boats anchored off Trinidad

Looking south again, towards Eureka

in camp

day twentyone

June 30th
Cresent City to Patrick's Point State Park
56 miles

Up at 6:00AM. Made coffee with coffee maker and supplied coffee, such a luxury! Fresh bagels for breakfast. Uploaded the rest of blog since site was down last night.

4 cups of coffee down, feeling great. Packed up stuff, checked out, on the road around 9:00AM. Morning fog, perfect for riding. Looks like its going to be a nice day. Really dreading today's climbs but legs are feeling great.

Ran into the Boston guys, Chip and Mark, at the bottom of the first climb. Funny crossing paths with them again. They are coming off their FIRST rest day in 18 days of their trip, very impressive. We set off together up the first climb. Hardly any shoulder at all. Stopped after a mile or so and turned on taillight. Mark and Chip a little ways back. Kept climbing, legs feeling strong. Started to see first Redwoods!

Made it to the top finally and took a breather. Road construction at the top, had to stop and wait. Unable to take picture from the top since I had to haul ass once the flagger waved us through. Once we got through, I realized if I pulled over and let all the cars go, I would have the lane to myself the whole way down. Impatiently waited for the last car to pass, waited a few minutes, then headed down. Long, fast descent... so much fun. Started laughing to myself for some reason. Spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and Redwood groves on the way down.

Stopped for coffee in Klamath, seedy town. Gas station had slot machines in it. Sipped coffee and read maps. Hit the road again, found that 101 turns into a freeway shortly after Klamath. Another big climb. Got off 101 and took the Newton Drury Parkway through the Redwood Nat'l Forest. Breathtaking is really the only way I can describe it, pictures don't do it justice. Tons of redwoods, which I've never seen before. Fucking awesome! Nice down hill all the way through.

Stopped in Elk Prairie State Park for lunch. Bagels, peanut butter and left over pita chips. Hit the road again and stopped in Orick for groceries. Last 14 miles to camp very hard, more smaller climbs late in the day when energy is low.

Finally arrived at Patrick's Point State Park. Kind of a weird layout but whatever. $5 for hiker/biker, big surprise! Multiple people told me California state parks charged $10.

Set up camp, very tired. Starting to feel a cold or something coming on so I took a bunch of vitamin C and chugged a V8. Made oatmeal. Walked to Patrick's Point just to say I did, nice view of the ocean. Showered, made dinner - mac n cheese. Bitch to clean up, never making it again.

Mark and Chip showed up later in the evening. We talked about the long ride today and bitched about how the elevation maps where wrong. Mark did the math and figured we did 3600 feet of climbing in 56 miles - more than any other stretch on the trip. No wonder I was so tired. They invited me over for 'appetizers', these guys don't mess around with food. I feel bad I never have enough to share with them because they're always so generous. BS'd for a while then I hit the sack. No idea where I'm going to go tomorrow, not a lot of choices to camp.