Today’s cue sheet called for 74 miles of riding, including through the Redwoods National Park.

At mile 2, my derailleur fell off as I downshifted to start the early climb – end of my day!  For the first time in my tours, we had to load my bike on the van, and I had to ride inside the van.  Psychologically it was hard, though I have come to think of this as a mechanical problem, not a mental problem (I didn’t give up, the bike did).  I suspect that I bent the hanger on Sunday, when I took a tumble to the right side when my shoe cleat did not unclip and I fell to the pavement with the bike on top of me. With all of the subsequent shifting for hills, it just put too much stress on this compromised component.

The van and trailer stopped at the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park Visitor’s Center so Michelle, the guide, could ride into Arcata,  Peg, who also had bike problems, and I walked around among the redwoods for an hour, until Emily, the chef, biked in.

She delivered us to the Revolution Bike Shop in Arcata.  Luckily, they had a replacement hanger and were able to fix my bike, as well as Peg’s bike.  So we rode to the hotel, about 2 miles, had lunch, then I decided to ride the route backwards, about 9 miles, passing the final few of our riders, before turning around and checking into the hotel.

The good news:  my bike is fixed and I was not hurt when the derailleur broke.  The bad news:  can’t say I have ridden every inch of the route.  Maybe I’ll find a way to make up the miles??

Mileage of the day:  about 20….