West Coast of USA to Indio

Leggett to Fort Bragg

 A tough 80km day got us safely to Fort Bragg. And tomorrow is a rest day – yeah!
 After a brief ride north on US101 and a turn west from yesterday’s motel in South Leggett, we got back onto the start of Highway 1 again. Leggett is at about 1000ft above sea level, but well after starting my ride on Highway 1, I had to ride down to about 500ft before starting the early morning workout to get to over 1800ft. Such a shame losing altitude when one just knows it all has to be regained! So it was a slow slog in cool temperatures on a very narrow road – not very busy in the early morning, but the inevitable logging trucks were still plying the route – Basil kept a sharp eye out for interlopers on our meagre space! No real rest on this climb, it was pretty well a constant grind to the top. I stopped at the top to put on some more clothes as I knew it would be a cold fast descent to the valley below.

 

 And a fast descent it was on a narrow twisting road with multiple hairpins bends – at least no one tried to pass me on the way down!

 

 Once down to about 150ft, the valley road was easy riding and I was lulled onto a false sense of the day being an easy ride from there on. Silly me, the next hill was supposed to be at about 600ft, but it ended up being over 800ft and at a slightly higher grade than hill one earlier. So another slog up that one and a fast descent – but this time instead of the ending up in a valley, I was back to the spectacular coast once more – what a relief after a few days of riding in the Deadwood Forests – sorry I meant Redwood Forests 😉.  One can only take so much of trees and more trees!

 

 But even though I was back at the coast, there was still some good climbing to accomplish up and down the headlands of this rugged region. Views were marvelous even though some of the climbs were quite grueling. Temperatures had changed dramatically while riding from Leggett over the hills, from warm to cool to bloody cold in places – I changed clothes about four times on that section. Once I reached the coast, the warmth was here to stay and so it did for the rest of the day – in the eighties! I rode that first section on my own as we once again left the motel at different times. Scott caught up with me at the top of the second big climb and he waited there for Bob. I rode on and met up with them both at the small town of Westport for a snack and drink at the general store there. We were joined by some other Canadian cyclists there from Squamish, BC. No bags though? I asked where there luggage was and they told me that they have a van and tent trailer support vehicle – now that’s luxury!

 Westport is a very small town, rustic and cute though with excellent views over the ocean. I even saw a Whale there…

 

 Well, Basil thought it was real!
 Not long after leaving Westport, I saw a lot of emergency vehicles at a beach access far below me. I rode on and noticed a helicopter starting to land on the beach a little further south. As I reach a turnoff, there were some spectators there watching the chopper land on the beach. I looked over the railing and there were emergency personnel there around an overturned vehicle. Apparently, the woman driver drove off the cliff and she had two children as passengers with her. The outlook looked grim though as the distance that the car fell was substantial. Sad to see! (I discovered weeks later that apparently this was an alleged suicide!).

 

 After a quick lunch stop, we continued on to our motel in Fort Bragg where a much needed rest will certainly be welcome for all of us.

 

 So no report tomorrow, me and Basil are going to lounge around and do whatever?

 

More on Sunday...

AdamK and Basil, "What relief to get off that bike!"

 

Fort Bragg to Gualala

 Stopping in Fort Bragg for our rest day was a much needed respite from sitting on the bike and pedalling all day long. And Fort Bragg was a  good place to do just that, explore a bit, find some good places to eat, drink and generally relax. Fort Bragg is like most towns in the USA – spread out on a main drag with the regular shopping outlets, but in the main part of town there was a full city block of funky shops, restaurants and other more interesting outlets than the regular fare – a good collection of historic buildings were also there to capture the eye and enhance the experience. I spent a good part of my day off wandering around – did some laundry, had a coffee, had something to eat, had a drink – you get the picture!

 

 So back to reality and after a quick motel breakfast – which was quite substantial, I set off on Highway 1 south again. Scott had set off a little before me, but I knew that we would meet up further down the road. Bob elected to split off from us as he wanted to spend more days on this part of the Northern California coast, but he may reconnect with me to travel farther south after San Francisco.
 So I did meet up with Scott a little after passing through the town of Mendocino and we arranged to meet in the small town of Elk farther down the road. This part of the Mendocino coast is particularly scenic and it was a pleasure to ride along and let the eyes drink in the views. I could have stopped many times for photos as there were so many places that were spectacular but the camera just doesn’t capture what the eyes really see.
 Safety barriers are a rare occurrence on these roads so constant attention is demanded from all sides – I think that I spend more time looking in my mirror and to the right shoulder than straight ahead.

 

 However, we are seeing a few more barriers than we did farther north on this route – let’s hope that the trend continues. Once again we saw emergency vehicles rushing past us today and another accident on the opposite side of the road – all we saw when we got to the location were the emergency crews looking down an embankment?
 So through the towns of Albion and Elk – we stopped for a second breaky in Elk where we met up with a young Canadian couple also riding south – to Mexico for them at a slower pace than we were on. We set off again – only a short distance from the restaurant in Elk we were greeted by the mother of hills so far on the coast. It wasn’t long, but that sucker was definitely a knee-knackerer!  It was steep, with two hairpins – one left and one right. Well I rode (struggled) in my bottom gear and got around the first hairpin, struggled some more only to get the next hairpin where at the right turn the road was so steep – I’ll take a guess at 25% – that I had to stop! I dragged the bike to the other side of the road where the corner incline was substantially less and walked the corner – jumped back on then and made it to the top. Phew, there was a lot of harsh words directed at road-builders for a while until my heart got back to its regular beat!
 After that boot camp of a hill every other one seemed much better! And there were a lot of hills today – lots of up and down, up and down – according to Google Maps, a total of well over 4300ft of total climbing over our 93km route today.
 A little after Elk we lost much of our views as there was a low-lying fog on top of the ocean – and although our road was clear, it was difficult to see anything other than glimpses of the ocean beaches and outcrops below our shoreline route.

 

 Being high above the ocean saved us from a foggy experience on the roadways, but we could still feel the cool damp air off the water.
 After riding through Manchester, Point Arena and Anchor Bay, we decided to continue a little further south to the town of Gualala. We were originally going to camp here, but the cold damp air off the ocean changed our minds and we got a motel there – I can share the cost with Scott now, so the more expensive digs that I would not stay at normally, are reasonable when costs are shared – sorry Bob, your loss is my gain 😎.
 Oh, at some point this morning my odometer clicked over the halfway point of my journey – cool!

 Well, time to forage for food, more tomorrow if possible – may camp again???

 

More tomorrow...

AdamK and Basil, "I hope Scott likes his snoring! 😂 😂"

 

Gualala to Valley Ford

 After 91km today we are very close to San Francisco, but one more day’s riding is required to get us within spitting distance and then the plan is to go into the city early on Wednesday morning, which will allow for some time to sightsee and drink in the ambiance of the city before searching out my digs.
 Today was a bit of a let down due to the low lying fog on the ocean. There were virtually no views of the seashore all day due to the fog. Amazingly enough, our  road was reasonably clear and with the use of our bright LED lights we had no trouble being seen.
 We packed up early and left Gualala at about 7:30am in the very cool and damp air of the morning. For the route today there were very little services to keep us satisfied. We went through the small towns of Sea Ranch, Stewarts Point until we found the small town of Ocean Cove where we managed a coffee and snack. We met a fellow there riding his bike north – he looked totally unprepared and had some very light luggage on his bike. On further information we found out that he was from Victoria, BC and had delivered a boat to Bodega Bay, now he was riding home on a mountain bike! I asked if he was expecting bad weather as he travelled north, he said he could manage, but he was only in his shirt sleeves and told us that he didn’t even have a jacket yet. Well, we wished him luck and I hope that he’s okay and gets home safe – there’s a lot of road and weather between where we were and where he had to go. He seemed to think that he could just jump on a bus when he felt like it, but reality is that this coast really lacks in such luxuries as public transport. Takes all kinds? In fact, the last few days have been a real challenge to even to get cellular phone service or WiFi on this part of the coast.
 Another strange occurrence today happened at the top of a climb where a road crew were working. We had just stopped there for a short rest when one of the crew walked over to us and said that we should keep our eyes out for a naked motorcyclist! What? Apparently, someone had parked their bike at the side of the road, undressed, neatly piled their clothes there and disappeared. Emergency rescue crews were seen a short time later rushing past us, so one can only assume that the naked guy had been found. Strange things happen here in California!

 

 After that little break and a shake of the head, we continued on to Fort Ross, but not until climbing a couple of quite high roads. I wish that I could have seen more because the view from over 500ft should have been breathtaking. I did manage a clear shot on the second downhill – this road was wild to ride down with many curves and two really tight hairpin bends. I waited above the last hairpin and got a shot of Scott riding below.

 

 Yep, he’s small, but I’m high up taking this photo!
 After many ups and downs and those two big ones, we arrived at the small town of Jenner, where there was a very nice restaurant to refuel at. That out of the way we continued to Bodega Bay – which seemed a destination for the San Francisco surfers etc. Arriving there fairly early, we decided to push on to a quieter place and take a few miles off tomorrow’s ride.
 Valley Ford is a (very) small farming community with just a general store, restaurant, and hotel that dates back to the mid eighteen hundreds – that’s where we are staying tonight. Kind of Fawlty Towerish, but quaint. When we got back from our restaurant dinner,  we were checking out the coffee machine in the hallway, when a couple of ladies popped their heads out of their room door and said “We’re having a pajama party!” Why they divulged that information to us I have no idea, but me being quick to respond said “Well, this maybe embarrassing ladies, as we don’t have pajamas.” They had a good giggle over that which gave me and Scott a chance to quickly retreat to our room. Strange day, eh?

 

 Valley Ford is still on Highway 1,  but the road sweeps inland from Bodega Bay for some reason – must be something to do with the coastline geology being too difficult to build a road on in that area. Anyway, very shortly after leaving the coast,  the temperature got warmer, the fog disappeared and the landscape changed as the photo above shows. From Valley Ford, Highway 1 sweeps back to the coast once more.

 

More tomorrow...

AdamK and Basil, "I hope we can see more tomorrow!"