An early alarm – oh, yes,
they’re all early – 5:30am. Up and organize the suitcases and off to
breakfast . You gotta love small town
diners. All the locals walk in at 6:45
and say “hi Shirley, how are you?”. The guys left from the motel right onto 101
south.
As we always do in the
morning, we talked about the first rendezvous point. You know, ride 20-25 miles, we meet and they
have a snack, then off again down the road till lunch. This morning it was, “yes, some hills, so let’s
say we’ll meet in about two hours in Leggett.
So, they are off. I packed the
car, made my coffee and off I went.
Knowing I had a bit of time, I met Kathi at the Historic Benbow Inn a
few miles down the road – just for a looky look in the lobby. A beautiful historic hotel. Then I was off to the agreed upon meeting
place. Arrived about 15 minutes early,
got my book out and started reading.
Kathi showed up, then Tracy – but no Jerry and Tom. Knowing that Jerry and Tom were a bit ahead
of Tracy and both Kathi and Tracy were sure they were further down the road – I
headed on. Up hill, up hill and more up
hill – no cyclists, turned around to head back to be sure I hadn’t missed them
– nope, so turned around again and back up the hill I went and up and up and
up. Over the top and down the other side. Voila! At the bottom of the hill, there they were. We had a short discussion about map reading
and meeting arrangements. Then off they went.
Jerry’s Notes:
Today the big unknown was right
after Hwy 1 branches off from Hwy 101 before Leggett. The maps showed a horrible looking climb for several
miles. Sure enough the climb was a
little daunting at first as I kept on shifting down until I yelled back to Tom,
“uh oh - no more gears left. Luckily that was the nastiest part of the
climb at 9.9% according to Tom’s Garmin –
it got easier from there. After 5 miles
or so of climbing we hit the top and we were in for an “E” ticket ride. This downhill was perhaps the most fun I have
ever had on a bike. For what seemed like 6-7 miles I thought I was in Hobbittland
with the sun streaming through the trees and Tom and I were tearing down the
most twisting 7% downhill I have ever been on.
No traffic to speak of because we
were out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains heading to the coast with
only tourists on the road. Our own
private bike path! We almost froze from the wind chill in the shadows going 30
miles an hour, but it was worth it.
Once we hit the coast it was just as good
because the views were world class. We
rode 80 miles to a bit past Mendocino and climbed 6,000 ft, but it was worth every bit of it. What a day!
A good pasta meal and a glorious sunset capped it all off.
Tracy’s Notes:
Another great day. Got a good workout between Garberville and
Leggett and then succumbed to some help up the next BAH. Descent was incredible. Actually had to stay on the brakes just to keep the bike on the road. Then another BAH. More help.
Caught up with two pros when then took a time out. Stayed with them into Westport where we all
took a break. I had lost the chain
twice and was having trouble in super low gears. Tom took a quick look at the bike and found a
missing screw that was supposed to secure the guide for the cables to the
shifter. He put the guide back in place
and I took off. Everything was good
until the first hill, about a quarter mile down the road. I downshifted and dropped the chain
again. So much for the ride. Car ride for 15 miles into Ft. Bragg and a
bike shop. Mark had the cable replaced and the guide screwed in place within an hour. Enjoyed a great dinner and a fantastic
sunset. Now for a glass of wine and some
shuteye. Got some miles to make up in
the morning.
Tom's stats:
A long, hard, but really fun day. As Jerry said, 80.4 miles, 5 hours and 59 minutes, 6001 feet of climbing, and an average speed of 13.4. Our highest elevation of the trip was at 1700 feet at the top of the long climb. On the long descent, the whole scene was incredible--huge redwoods with the sun shining through them, a steep and curvy road with a pretty good surface, and very few cars. What a ride!!
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