Dolly's Bike Blog

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….

I took full advantage of this rest day:  leisurely breakfast with Barbara, walk around town, massage, hair cut, manicure.  Ended up with over 7 miles of walking, but no miles/no time in the saddle – hope I am ready for a 70+ mile day tomorrow!

Lots of photos to share, from yesterday and today:

True confession:  I chose a car ride to Wal-Mart last night over writing my blog.  When this “adventure” was over, I was exhausted and went to bed….

The mornings have been cool, early 50 degrees.  We departed Gold Beach and within a mile and a half we had a 3+ mile climb, nothing too steep, but hard on cold legs.  I quickly discovered that the extra 11 miles the day before had fatigued my legs and the entire day I was slow moving.

After so many architecturally attractive McCullough bridges, at mile 18, we crossed the highest bridge in Oregon across Thomas Creek. It was a steel truss bridge, and, if fact, was mostly covered in scaffolding and repair trucks – a sad end to Oregon.

Some stopped in Brookings, but I was behind already and just kept pedaling.  Lots of signs in Brookings thanking the firefighters.  Brookings had been a staging area for the Chetco Bar fire, recently contained.  Still many tents and evidence as the remaining firefighters work on rehab of fire roads and the like.

At mile 34, we crossed into California, one sign, no other grand entrance.  The agricultural inspections didn’t care about us.  I stopped at the sign to take a selfie, as no one else was around.  Up drove a strange looking motor home; turned out the couple was from Germany, had shipped the motor home to Halifax, was touring the U.S., and after 4 months would be in Argentina and ship the motor home back to Germany.  She took my picture.

I had a sandwich and soda in Smith River, which indicates it is the Easter Lily Capital of the World, mostly I saw cows.

For almost 10 miles, I had the advantage of a nice tailwind, passing by Pelican Bay State Penitentiary, but when we arrived in Crescent City, plenty of gusts from all directions.  We approached the hotel via the harbor, many sea stacks.  Crescent City is a fishing port and, by virtue of its shape, is vulnerable to tsunamis.  Apparently they have experienced 31 since 1933, according to Guide Sue.

Tonight we said goodbye to 4 members of our tour, and we welcome 4 replacements tonight.

61.49 miles, 10.44 mph, 3317 ft ascent.

Relive:  https://www.relive.cc/view/1211235970

Photos later, off to explore Crescent City.