279 miles today, a fabulous day if you're riding bikes but we cheated with a rental car today.
😱
That's Angela loving on our Dodge Caravan as we picked it up at Enterprise in Ft. Bragg around 8am this morning. It was not an easy thing for me to do but Angela was truly happy to be taking a couple of days off of her bike and skipping down the coast to San Luis Obispo. A few days back when we struggled into Myers Flat beat up and worn out after only 35 miles this scheme was born. We both needed a couple of days off and yet not lose the time we needed to make it back for Graham's 3rd birthday. By skipping past the Big Sur landslide detour on Hwy 1 we would also avoid some nasty riding. Counting tomorrow's drive we'll be taking just over 400 miles or 8 days of cycling out of our trip.
Making "cheating" on our ride even more difficult, our friends who had camped a few miles north of Ft. Bragg for the night dropped by our hotel to say one last goodbye. We had all been on a similar pace but now we'll be too far ahead to see them again. I'm not usually an emotional guy but seeing Dietmar, Sabine, Heinrich and Domien this morning was very sad as well as heartwarming. We wish them all a safe and wonderful ride and trip back home. We hope to see them again, either visiting us in Colorado or seeing them again in Europe.
About 100 miles down the road from Ft. Bragg, after slowing to eyeball 12 other cyclist traveling south along the route, we finally caught up to one of our first friends from our trip, Katherine!
I was looking forward to crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on my bike so one more bittersweet moment as we cross south in our minivan. I have to admit though, covering 280 miles in one day today after riding a bike the last 24 days about 50 miles per day was a gigantic shift for us and did give me guilty pleasures.
Angela's long time GE colleague and friend Steve and his lovely wife Toni offered us a wonderfull home cooked meal and a great nights sleep in their home in Watsonville, not far from Monterey and Carmel. We had a wonderful evening and I got to sample some of Steve's home distilled whiskeys. Excellent. Thanks Steve and Toni!
That's Angela loving on our Dodge Caravan as we picked it up at Enterprise in Ft. Bragg around 8am this morning. It was not an easy thing for me to do but Angela was truly happy to be taking a couple of days off of her bike and skipping down the coast to San Luis Obispo. A few days back when we struggled into Myers Flat beat up and worn out after only 35 miles this scheme was born. We both needed a couple of days off and yet not lose the time we needed to make it back for Graham's 3rd birthday. By skipping past the Big Sur landslide detour on Hwy 1 we would also avoid some nasty riding. Counting tomorrow's drive we'll be taking just over 400 miles or 8 days of cycling out of our trip.
Making "cheating" on our ride even more difficult, our friends who had camped a few miles north of Ft. Bragg for the night dropped by our hotel to say one last goodbye. We had all been on a similar pace but now we'll be too far ahead to see them again. I'm not usually an emotional guy but seeing Dietmar, Sabine, Heinrich and Domien this morning was very sad as well as heartwarming. We wish them all a safe and wonderful ride and trip back home. We hope to see them again, either visiting us in Colorado or seeing them again in Europe.
About 100 miles down the road from Ft. Bragg, after slowing to eyeball 12 other cyclist traveling south along the route, we finally caught up to one of our first friends from our trip, Katherine!
We met Katherine and her friend Leanne on one of our earliest cycling days and then again several more times along the route. We'd been staying in touch via email, blog and YouTube and always hoped to catch back up with them. We had just about given up hope of finding Katherine when we finally spotted her climbing one of the many steep hills along Hwy 1 and pulled over to exchange hugs and catch up before saying goodbye for the rest of this trip. We hope to visit again when she gets back to Denver. Great job Katherine!!! Ride safe and see you soon!
I was looking forward to crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on my bike so one more bittersweet moment as we cross south in our minivan. I have to admit though, covering 280 miles in one day today after riding a bike the last 24 days about 50 miles per day was a gigantic shift for us and did give me guilty pleasures.
Angela's long time GE colleague and friend Steve and his lovely wife Toni offered us a wonderfull home cooked meal and a great nights sleep in their home in Watsonville, not far from Monterey and Carmel. We had a wonderful evening and I got to sample some of Steve's home distilled whiskeys. Excellent. Thanks Steve and Toni!
🥃
Good blog today, as usual.
ReplyDeleteLove it! I'm honored to be featured again! I met Leanne, Sophie, and Sarah for breakfast yesterday to bid them farewell as they pedal on towards Florida. It was bittersweet, but ultimately I know I made the right decision to stop here. Leanne was thrilled that I saw you and was happy to hear your well wishes for the rest of her journey! I'm sure you're happy to be back on your bikes, and I imagine your muscles are grateful for the rest! Happy pedaling the rest of the way, and I'll see y'all in Colorado for a coffee or beer later this month!
ReplyDelete