Bodega Bay to SF and Done

Yesterday, Saturday, we rode from Bodega Bay to San Francisco - a total of 75.79 miles and 4796 climbing feet. We left early in the morning, fearing headwinds and late afternoon fog in San Francisco. All of our legs were feeling the effects from the past 12 days of riding, and our last days journey was going to provide us with no rest. We pedaled along the miles of rugged coastline along Pt. Reyes National Seashore and into the town of Pt. Reyes station where we enjoyed our first break of the day. After resting, we resumed through Fairfax, San Anselmo, Kentfield, Larkspur and into Mill Valley, where we stopped for lunch. Jerry had not yet begun to sweat, when we began to encounter several hill climbs through the last of the redwoods coming into Marin. Daniel, Gary and I swear that we all saw beads of perspiration dripping down Jerry's forehead. At this point, Daniel was finished, but we still had more miles to go. We stopped for lunch in Marin and mushed on into Sausalito, where we began our last hill climb to the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Golden Gate bridge crossing is something you all have to experience. If you take 5,000 non-riding bicycle riders, put the them on a 6 foot wide trail with cyclists coming both directions and then add a 30 mph crosswind and suspend this all 400 feet above the bay, this gives you an idea of how it was to cross the bridge. Add to this maybe 100 of these cyclists who think this is the finish of the Tour de France and 200 more who think this is a mountain bike race - add 1000 absolutely petrified 5 year olds whose parents forced them on to a bike fore the first time on the bridge - you get the idea. After crossing safely, we wound our way down the Embarcadero, which was an experience in itself, to our final destination, the W hotel. We said our goodbye's to Dave and we headed to the bar for a celebratory drink (Gary had a passion fruit martini), which was a perfect drink for a finish in San Francisco.

The ride is done and the details of the ride will follow (as soon as I take a shower).

Gualala to Bodega Bay - Last Day Tomorrow

We made our way down from Gualala to Bodega Bay today, a distance of 49.24 miles and 3580 feet of climbing. I sat on Dave's wheel again today, as we experienced big headwinds and some steep climbing after the Fort Ross area. The fog was a welcome surprise and there was not much smoke today from the fires. The scenery was beautiful, reminding me of my Big Sur ride in many sections. We are staying on the coast in Bodega Bay at a hotel that has a hot tub with a view of the bay. As I lay here writing, I hear the fog-horn in the distance and the sea lions barking away. We rest today, in anticipation of our final day push in San Francisco tomorrow.

Fort Bragg to Gualala

Today we traveled from Fort Bragg to Gualala, a distance of 60.21 miles and 4365 feet of climbing. We enjoyed a very nice tailwind along the route which helped propel us to a top speed of 46.2 mph and an average speed of 16.4. The route took us past some great scenery which included the very cool Mendocino, Albion and Point Arena. I was able to rest today, thanks to my brother-in-law Dave. His fresh legs were a welcome site - I sat behind his wheel for most, if not all of the ride. When we arrived in Gualala, Gary and Jerry went out fishing, a favorite pastime for the two. A few hours later, after Dave and I had shared a bottle of wine, Gary came back and shared what happened on the fishing trip. Both he and Jerry caught some large steelheads with the rods they brought along. While fishing, a kayaking couple paddled by and scolded Gary and Jerry about fishing is "catch and release" only. Gary told the young couple that he was aware of this - but to their amazement, the couple paddled by again later in the afternoon and again chided Gary and Jerry about fishing being "catch and release" only. Long-story-short, words were exchanged and Jerry was so upset, he casted an anchovies towards the kayak and the anchovies came off the hook and landed in the kayak!Jerry could not reproduce the same move if he tried 1000 times!!. Later, after the fish stories were told, Daniel cooked steaks and pasta for all of us and we drank some wine and hit the sack early.

Garberville to Fort Bragg

Today was our toughest day. 69.26 miles with 5592 feet of climbing. The day started in Garberville which was filled with FBI and other law enforcement types away at "convention" We later found out that this "convention" was actually a yearly raid on the marijuana growers in the area. Funny...we still saw many folks who appeared high and our motel room seemed to have lots of residue seeds and stems...but I digress. We had a long tiring climb from Garberville up the hill to Leggett, about 3000 feet....then the climb began - another 1800 feet up the highway over to the coast - and down, which was arguably the nicest 11 mile downhill I have ever experienced. We traveled through redwoods and madrones and pines until we hit the coast. Along the way, we passed at least 5 spot fires which were being fought by water dropping helicopters. The air, as you can imagine, was a mixture of marine salt and smoke, or smalt as we called it. When we reached the coast, we were met by helicopters swooping into the nearby bay and picking up water to deliver to the fires.

After watching the heli for a few minutes, we limped the last 30 miles into our next destination, Fort Bragg, where we found the Colombi Motel and the Colombi market and the Colombi Laundromat. We knew that the day was blessed when we walked across the street to the Mexican restaurant and our hostess and waitress pictured above served us - a nun in full habit. She obviously knew we needed some help from above and we were all willing to take it - and she knew her beans.

Rio Dell to Garberville

Today, we relaxed with a 47 mile cruise down the California coast to Garberville. In order to get to our destination today, we traveled along the "Avenue of the Giants", a 35 mile cruise through some of the oldest and largest redwoods in the world. The ride was very cool - - we passed by multiple "peace camps" and I'm sure, many many marijuana groves (supposedly the largest cash crop up here). The road twisted and turned through the redwoods and into and out of the shade. We climbed approximately 2500 feet long the way. The air is filled with smoke from one of several fires burning in the area. Gsrberville is also crowded with CDF (California Dept of Forestry Fire) ready to be staged to go fight one of the fires. Our ride was easy today - we were helped by a strong tailwind that all of us hope will continue tomorrow as we begin our long climb up to Leggett, then down back to the coast to rendezvous with my brother-in-law Dave and sister-in-law Karol, in Fort Bragg. From there, it looks like another three days and we'll be riding into San Francisco!

Orek to Rio Dell

Today, Monday, June 23rd, we moved down the coast to the town of Rio Dell, a distance of 79 miles with climbing elevation of 4500 ft. Our original plan was to stay in Ferndale, but when we arrived, it seemed the town was booked on account of an FBI convention. We stopped half-way in Arcata and had coffee and ht chocolate on this cold, dreary day. This seemed to be one of the longest hardest days with just about 10 hours on the bike. The last 15 miles were especially difficult with many steep hill climbs. All seemed to be better once we had a dinner of pasta and pizza and tomorrow should be a short 40 mile sprint to Garberville where we will rest in preparation for the long 1500 ft climb the next day over Leggett to the coast and on up to Fort Bragg to meet Dave (my brother-in-law) who is driving up from the bay area. Daniel and Gary seem to be suffering on these long days and Jerry still swears that he does not sweat - he says he pees instead of sweats, a true specimen - Diane, can you please confirm?

Brookings to Orek CA

We crossed into California today - 69.24 miles averaging 15.4 mph and climbing 3469 feet. We climbed two serious hills, the biggest one being an 800 foot climb out of Golds Beach. We passed by some great scenery - sand dunes and lots of desolate bays and beaches and screaming sea lions. We past lots of places with "rock" in the name and we past Cresent City and Klamath - on to our stop in Orek - a really unusual town with one motel and one diner with lots of people that gave new meaning to counter-culture. We ate early and stayed in our rooms - the bike bar next to the motel made us nervous.

Port Orford to Brookings, Or

Today, we made our way 62 miles down the coast to Brookings. The ride took us past rain forests, sand dunes, waterfalls and rivers - spectacular. We had fair weather, except for occasional strong headwinds. We climbed 3500 feet and one climb, a few miles past Gold Beach was over 800 feet - long and steep. Daniel had one flat tire and as you can see in the picture, if you are going to flat, he chose quite the place! The ride had many "rollers" and just when we thought we had finished one hill, another was just around the corner. We stopped at a motel (no casino tonight) at the edge of town and negotiated a price of $48 for the 4 of us in one room. It will be a little tight quarters tonight, but I'll make sure I get the "real" bed and not the roll-away. We hit the California border tomorrow (in 5 miles) and made our way into the sunshine state where it appears we are headed for bigger and nastier climbs. Tomorrow, we have the town of Klamath in our sites if all goes well. I also just found out that my good friend, Ron Rubenstein was involved in a bike accident this morning while riding in the regular group ride I do in Southern California. Ron is resting at South Coast Medical Center with multiple fractures to his nose and face. Please - anyone reading this keep Ron in your thoughts and lets all be safe out there!

Coos Bay to Port Orford

Today, we traveled 52 miles and averaged about 14.8 mph and climbed 2700 feet while moving down the coast to a small town on the Oregon coast. Port Orford consists of a few vacant buildings, a run down tavern, a small motel, where we are staying and a killer fish and chips place where I am now sitting. The day began at about 8:15 where we left the confines of the Mill Casino in Coos Bay. The morning was foggy and a bit dreary as we made our way along the busy highway south of Coos - we began the ride with a steep 6% 450 foot climb out of the bay. We rolled along with many ups and downs - there did not seem anyplace to rest. We are all feeling the effects of the ride yesterday and we "cut" our ride short to only 52 miles today. I am excited at the thought that tonight there will only be two of us in the room instead of 4. We are staying at the Shoreline Motel. The place is something out of a 1960's B movie - but it's clean and doesn't seem to smell. The manager is even washing our cycling clothes for us, an added bonus. The weather is clear this afternoon and we look forward to putting some miles behind us on the ride tomorrow. It appears that there will be a big climb after Gold Beach and with the weekend upon us, we will need to look out for weekend traffic. Gary and Daniel are both feeling a bit weak from the riding - they do not ride that often and I give them both credit for doing the hard miles so far. Equipment has been great - only one flat yesterday and I think this was due to the "mechanic" not properly seating the tire when he put the new one on Gary's back wheel. We are all looking forward to the ride tomorrow -

Walport to Coos Bay

Today, Thursday, we traveled from the comfort of our four-guy motel room in Waldport to the Mill Casino in the upscale suburb of Coos Bay, a distance of 83 miles. We averaged 15.2 mph and climbed 4106 feet. We had several unexpected climbs, thanks to our outdated American Cycling maps. Being an engineer, Daniel is most upset with the inaccuracy of the maps. We seemed to climb where we thought we would be descending and descended where we thought we would be climbing. The plan today was to stop at Reedsport, approximately 25 miles sooner than our 83 miles. Upon reaching what we thought would be our stop for the night, the town seemed more like something in the middle of Oklahoma than a beach town in Oregon. We did however, find a Mexican dive with great tostsdas, but Jerry would have none of the south of the border food and opted for a burger at the dairy queen. Along the way, we stopped at a bike store in Florence and the "mechanic" fixed the gearing on Daniels bike and Gary got a new tire. After stopping for Mexican food, we decided to continue to the Coos bay after realizing that there was a casino waiting for us and most probably, another all-you-can-eat restaurant. The only question was - - would they allow all four of us in one room with four beds???

It has now become apparent that this might actually be a cycling gambling junket - we have stopped at casinos two of the past three nights. I am alarmed that our discussion tonight has turned from how many miles we should ride tomorrow - to where is the next casino down the coast is. There is much to be said about a 12.95 all-you-can-eat buffet when four guys who have just ridden 83 miles comes walking in the door.

Today's route was long, but beautiful. We traveled past miles of desolate beaches and sand dunes. Everything in Oregon seems to be the "biggest" or the "best". Today, we traveled past the worlds smallest harbor and the worlds largest sea lion cave. Lets see what tomorrow brings....

Grande Ronde to Waldport

On Wendesday, we traveled from Grande Ronde, in the Willamette Valley to the coast of Oregon. Today, we went 71.55 miles at an average speed of 15.9 mph and we were in the saddle for 4 hours and 29 minutes. We climbed 3283 feet and most of the climbing was early in the morning climbing up out of the valley, over the coastal mountain range to the coast. Once on the coast, we traveled along many many long and deserted beaches and cliffs where the surf pounded below. Daniel began to have trouble with his shifting and was only able to use two of his three chainrings. The ride became a little easier as the wind picked up and helped push us along. We finished the ride by lunchtime and ate at an all-you-can-eat fish and chips place. We all stuffed our faces and felt ill soon after. We found a motel that could accommodate all four of us in one room and checked in. Gary and Jerry went to try their hands fishing up the road, but first, Gary and I got our hair cut by a local barber - quite an experience. We also met a number of odd folks in town, one of whom told us that we should not fish in the local lake because it was filled with agent orange. I went back to the motel for a nap and later, Gary returned and promptly went to bed, claiming he had stomach cramps and a fever. Gary slept through the night and woke up the next day, feeling refreshed and ready for the new day.

Portland Oregon to Grande Ronde Oregon

After an uneventful trip up to Portland, we met Jerry Chessman, who flew in from Pittsburgh PA. Jerry, upon arriving in Portland felt it was necessary to ride 85 miles to "see the sites". Ahhh- to be young again (Jerry is 25). Daniel, Gary and I went to the hotel and unpacked our bikes - Jerry had already ridden so he was unpacked, warmed up and ready to go. After a good nights sleep, we rolled out the door at 7:00am for our first day of riding. The task today was to ride out of Portland south and then turn west towards the coast to our destination of Grande Ronde casino, a cheesy all-you-can eat Indian Casino destination in the middle of the Pinot Noir wine country of the Willamette valley wine growing region, a distance of 74.8 miles. We traveled today at an average of 16.1 mph and climbed 2400 feet, a flat ride by all accounts. We enjoyed a nice tailwind for much of the ride and enjoyed rolling through fields of grapes, hazelnuts and walnuts. Daniel did great, no major pains and Gary and I rode with no problems. When finished, we coasted into the Casino and checked-in. This is one day I think the Casino may have lost money on us - we headed straight for the all-you-can-eat buffet and ate ourselves sick feasting on lamb-chops, salad and desert. We'll go back to the room, watch the Laker game ands ready ourselves for tomorrow - a 60 mile day with approx 3500 feet of climbing.

The Little Thingy Fell Down Inside the Frame

Long story short - The Cervelo bike I ride has a very odd shaped seat post made of carbon fiber. The kind of rack I was going to ride attaches to the seat post, but will crush a carbon fiber post. I contacted Cervelo a few weeks ago and ordered an aluminum post to use in place of the carbon. On Sunday evening, as we were getting ready to pack the bikes, I attempted to replace my carbon post with the aluminum one. First problem was the aluminum post did not fit - so I used my metal grinder to grind off a few cm from the post. After about two hours of seat post wrangling, I was able to make the post work! Last thing to do was to take the post out to pack my bike. Simple enough one would think. As I loosened the post, a small piece of aluminum (about the size of a penny) came loose and fell down into my frame. Without the piece, the seat post would not be able to work. Nothing like trying to shake a piece of aluminum rattling around in a frame. Daniel, Gary and i worked on this problem until Gary and Daniel went to bed, and I continued to twist and turn my bike trying to shake the piece to freedom. No luck - the thingy was now entombed in my frame. I was now destined to ride with my beloved backpack for yet, another adventure! I packed my carbon post with my bike, sealed the box and was ready.

The Next Ride - Portland to San Francisco

This morning, I begin my next journey, riding from Portland, Oregon to San Francisco, CA. Riding with me will be my brother Gary, his father-in-law Daniel, who is visiting from Tours France, and Gary's friend, Jerry, from Pittsburgh, PA. Jerry will be flying in from PA today, direct to Portland. Daniel, Gary and I will fly from Orange County to Portland later today. Together, we start riding tomorrow morning.


Along the way, I'll be blogging and keeping those interested, up-to-date information regarding our progress. I have to catch a plane in a few minutes, so I'll add more later tonight. This should be a great ride - we'll be traveling through some of the most picturesque countryside in the world. Many years ago, I was fortunate enough to travel some of thee same roads - Astoria, Oregon to Eureka. Since this was so long ago, this ride will be like the first time for me. We've packed lighter than the last time, and have four riders instead of two. Hopefully, we'll have a strong wind in our back the entire way down the coast.