Day 14, 15, 16 - Tom

Day 14 - a 80 mile day brings us inland to Lompoc. John and Pete look like they need a milkshake so I pull into Wendy's. Then off to set up camp. That evening pizza and a movie. Back to camp in the dark by 10 PM.

Day 15 - the Lompoc hill rematch. Pete beat me up the 1100' climb last time. I got him this time. Stayed at El Capitan beach where John buffed up his upper body while Pete and I body surf fed.

Day 16 - rig travois to carry bike box to airport.

Day 13 - Morro Bay

We are ahead of schedule so we took a rest day in morro bay. Played my first ever 9 holes of golf. Beautiful views from the couse.

Keep rolling,
Pete

Day 12 - Tom -San Simeon

The day started with blue sky and 1000' climb up out of Big Sur.
A stop at a small market and a pastry, bean/cheese burrito, and coffee seems like the right amount to carry me for the next 30 miles of coast. John seems to think a couple of bananas and a donut are enough. Maybe he figures he'll find something even though there are no services for 30 miles.

I lag the group again. I figure everyone is ahead when John pops up behind me. "How did that happen?", I ask. John says he stopped to take some pictures at one of the lookouts and met a nice couple that offered him a apricot. A few miles later we run into Aaron who John chatted up as we were climbing a hill. Aaron had a Coleman stove and seemed to be making some sort of breakfast there by the side of the road. "Would you like a steak?",Aaron asked John. Both of us stopped our climb, pulled over, and each ate 1/2 of the offered London Broil. He also gave John a snickers bar, each of us a golden delicious apple, and a CD of his music, to send us on our way.

Well that seemed to carry me right through the 70 miles and 7000' of the Big Sur coast....but about 5 miles out of town John mentioned he was getting his lightheaded feeling and needed to eat soon. I guess that burrito beats apricot, as I felt fine.

We arrive in town and have a sit down meal around 3PM. All three of us just about fell asleep there at the booth. We rouse ourselves and make a early camp. We have a 6PM snack and Pete's off to bed by 7PM.

Day 12 - Cambria

Today was along hard day. 70 miles and 7300 feet of long steep climbs since leaving Big Sur. Even with spf 50 my nose is fried and John is having a problem with his lower lip. It is sunburned to the gumline from panting with an open mouth on the climbs. The views are great and the rollling is good. We are ahead of schedule so will have a short day tomorrow.

Keep rolling,
Pete

Day 11 - Tom-Big Sur

Every day I find myself lagging behind early in the day. I make the excuse that I need more time to warm up. Pete says, "you need to make the legs hurt right away, it does no good to ease into the pain". As much as I try to take control of the situation, I seem not to find my stride till late in the day.
We met a rider today in the camp at Santa Cruz, George Semerau from Malibu. We rode together at different points throughout the day. A lot of fun meeting people along the way with similar bike interest. A picture of Pete and George is enclosed. A nice end to the day sitting at the lodge lobby talking. Actually staying up past 9PM.

Day 10 and 11 - SF to Big Sur

More  great rolling coastline, tailwinds, and now also traffic.  Memorial day weekend sure gets lots of people in the mood to go for a drive. We join the crowds for drive thru half moon bay and further south. Along the way we stop for strawberry shortcake at a roadside stand. John has broken another spoke so when we hit Santa cruz he's finally had enough - 6 broken spokes. A short delay at a bike shop for a new strong wheel and we roll thru a tourist crowded area before arriving at our campsite.

Salmi and cheese on sourdough gets us rolling at 6:30 in the morning. We depart camp with shortcut  directions from George who is on his 10th annual SF to Santa Monica ride. George catches up we us while we are enjoying strawberrys at a roaside market in Moss Landing. We ride off together towards Monterey and ride the 17 mile drive in sunshine. the morning has been mostly flat or short rollers so I've been able to punish Tom. We have lunch at Safeway and then begin the climbs to our campsite at Pfeiffer state park in Big Sur. This leg of the ride is longer steeper climbs so it was John and Toms turn to punish me. A good day again.

keep rolling,
Pete

Day 10 - Tom

Leaving San Francisco Pete hits a Safeway for a second breakfast.
Once we hit the coast again we find the coastal road has been closed. We try it out and find out why a few miles later. Storms have dumped sand all over the road.

90 miles with a 20mph tail wind brings us to Santa Cruz.

Day 9 - petaluma to san francisco

Dawn koa wakeup followed by dennys. Could not drink the coffee so made a second stop at starbucks. Thay were offering the new boulange pastries. Did not try but they still looked commercial rather than true bakery. Rolling farm roads bring us to novato where we navigate the burbs to the bridge. We hostel in the marina district and later walk to fishermans warf for fish and chips at codmothers.

Keep rolling,
Pete

Day 9 - San Francisco - Tom

Staying in the big city tonight at the Fisherman's Wharf Hostel. Beautiful garden next to the hostel along with fantastic views and grounds in the middle of the city.

Day 7 and 8 - Northern california coast

After a cold camp I am ready for breakfast in fort bragg. John and tom chose dennys (it must be the picture menu they like) while I go to a highly rated local cafe three blocks down. I of course get razzed 2 days latter when dennys is the best choice eary in petaluma. Their coffee is still undrinkable.
Tailwinds push us 73 miles to gualala.

Breakfast is burritos and pastry at the supermarket cafe. Tailwinds, high cliff hugging roads, and many short climbs make for a good day of riding. After Bodega bay we opt for our Petaluma route option into San Francisco. A total of 86 miles gets us to Petaluma koa for the night.

634 miles total
Keep rolling,
Pete

Day 7 - tom

The day started with an argument between Pete and John about where to eat breakfast. We had just rode 14 miles to Fort Bragg to fix John's wheel. Two more broken spokes.

Anyway, back to the argument - I sided with John and enjoyed a red, white a d blue breakfast at Denny's. Pete had a nice meal with good coffee at some cafe near the bike shop.

The day seemed hilly. Lots of sun and a nice brisk, tailwind. Lunch in Mendocino. Final rest at Anchor Bay RV Beach Campground near Manchester Bay State Park.

Day 6 - North of Ft. Bragg - Tom

Woke up with someone shining a flashlight into tent. I notice that it was raining when I finally poked my head out. I am really appreciating John's tip on a lightweight tent purchase during the off season from "Six Moons Design".

Rode thru Humboldt Redwood State park and up to a small market for a snack then another few miles to a cafe for breakfast around 8AM.

Rode to Liggett and up and over the coastal range to a nice RV beach camp park. Pictures include lunch at the Peg House in Ligget.

Day 5 and 6 - such is life

After a 5 hour wait at starbucks we head for our 4 oclock at the bike  shop.A few minutes of searching and we find an inexpensive 36 spoke wheel. It is now 5 o'clock so we grab a quick whopper and decide to keep riding. A couple of hours later we are at the trees of mystery in klamath where we camp under the redwoods.

In the morning we climb into the fog and then descend thru the redwoods into Prairie Creek. Before long we are in Arcada where Tom gets a new crankset installed. From here the plan was to ride to fortuna for the night. Tom really is not happy with the fortuna camp ground. Sleeping under the bright next door best western sign does not bring back fond memories from our last ride through here. A strong tailwind the brings us to fortuna and luckily for tom, john suggests we keep riding to take advantage of the tailwind. On the way to the next town we catch up with Ron from hong kong. He is an exchange student taking a ride down the coast before going back home. We realize he is the one that had arrived at our harris park campground at 11 pm a couple of nights back. We ride and chat for a few miles and then have burgers and fries together in the next town. For a little guy he sure packed in the meal. We part ways and ride up to the avenue of the giants. We're at 105 miles when we pull into the first rv park. Registration has closed for the  day so we just pick a spot close to the showers. That night it rains and we are ready to leave at first light. We leave before registration is open. We ride through the giants in a light rain - it is all good. Soon we are past Garberville and we continue to follow the eel river up to legget. ping is what john hears when a spoke on his new wheel breaks. After making a few spoke ajustments we continue toward the peg house (Sunset rated for best burgers). A mile or so from these burgers - ping another broken rear spoke. John is rightfully getting irritated. After lunch and truing johns wheel I see tom has bought pie - a whole blackberry pie. Couldn't take it with us so we ate it all before beginning the big climb over the coast range on high way one.  Our campground is near the beach. It is cold and windy and we are in our sleeping bags just after sunset. 85 miles and over 7000 feet of climbing.

495 miles total

Keep rolling,
Pete

Day 5 -Tom

Sunny, beautiful day. Bike got fixed in Arcata. Good tailwind. Made it to a campground near Humbolt Redwood State Park. 105 miles.

Day 4 - Klamath Tom

Finally made it out of town. Had part for John. I'm limping along trying to nurse the crank to Arcata. 4000' of climbing and another 50 miles. Hope to get there before the bike shops close without breaking the crank off the rest of the way.

Day 4 - "the best laid plans ...."

Dawn is just breaking and I hear john starting to pack. It clear and crisp and we quickly finish packing and and in unison both of us are starting to smile. Tom is still unmoving in his tent. We roll our bikes out of camp planning on heading to mickey d's for bfast since they will be the only place open at 6. We had planned this the night before. I decide it will be more fun to see toms face when he realizes we are packed and gone. Lately tom has been very proud of his quick morning transitions. This should speed him up even more. I did manage to catch  a photo of his face at the moment of empty camp realization.

After about a 1000 calories of sausage burritos we head out into a changed weather pattern. Clear and sunny with an amazing tail wind. We have visions of getting blown up and over our two big climbs. About 15 miles later I stop to check what is causing a strange creaking sound and find a broken front spoke. Luckily I have a spare and make the repair. Off we roll and about 5 minutes  we hear an expletive from john. Another broken rear spoke.  While john gets the broken spoke out of the way tom glances at his crank and notices a crack. Now we have two bikes that need to limp to  Crescent city in search of a bike shop open on Sunday. Somehow tom locates a shop owner that that recently went out of business and has parts available to sell. We are in starbucks at 11 waiting until 4 when he will be home.

Hoping to be rolling soon,
Pete

Day 4 I Tom

A spoke broke. Stopped next to a cemetery to fix. Beautiful day. Tail wind, Sun. Couldn't ask for more.
Then about 1/4 mile down the road John breaks a spoke. I looked at my crank and notice the cap is missing. It looks like there is a crack. I guess its time to find a bike shop on a Sunday.

Call the shop in Crescent City and some answers. She says they're no longer in business but gives me a number to call for the original owner, Randy. Randy says he's off to a meeting and doesn't work on Sunday; but could sell us parts at 4PM.

Initially we're disappointed we're going to miss a great tailwind; but probably safest to fix problems rather than attempt the upcoming pass. So here we wait in Crescent City.

Day 3

Light drizzle, headwinds, and more climbing than I was ready for make the day a challenge. The amazing coastal views make it all worth while. John breaks a rear spoke about 15 miles out of Bandon so Tom and roll easy while John goes ahead to a bike shop. Later while waiting for repairs we do laundry. Chinese for dinner and then to Harris state park for the night. Tomorrow should be even more interesting as the weather's going to warm up and we have a lot more climbing to do before reaching Prairie Creek Park in the redwoods.

Before we left Tim from good nature publishing gave us these log books. Bike is pictured but he also does read, write, and dig. Good gift - thanks Tim.

Keep rolling,
Pete