Dave rides his bike to school

Above: Just before heading up the mountain to Leggett. This is the last ocean view until Eureka, CA.

Above: Tori actually took this pic while she was visiting me in Mendocino (I should have added it to that posting…). As we used to say in high school “Check ya later, nits”. Whatever that means.

Tuesday, 5/30 7am
Location: Leggett, CA
Coordinates:
39.8459 N
123.6940 W

Previous day’s mileage: about 56
Today’s destination: Stafford, CA

I’m at a loss for words right now. Tori left at about 6am to drive back to San Francisco. Today is going to be hard. I miss her already.

We had the most incredible weekend in Mendocino. Everything was perfect. For the most part, we just relaxed and took in the views in and around Mendocino. We ate some great meals, walked around town, and napped alot.

Yesterday (Monday), it was time to get back on my bike. According to the map, the route yesterday included the biggest ascent on the whole Pacific Coast Highway. Since Monday was Memorial Day, Tori didn’t have to work.

You would not believe how supportive Tori was throughout all of yesterday. To start off, she offered to do my laundry in town while I headed off on my bike. She also went to Longs and bought some supplies to make my life easier, like smaller bottles for my detergent and shampoo (the ones I had weighed a lot), a mini roll of TP (to save space), and a nylon wallet (so that I could leave my nice leather wallet at home). On top of that, she got lunch food, so that I wouldn’t have to carry it on my bike. When Tori caught up with me in her car after doing all of those errands, she stopped at EVERY pulloff to cheer me on. She would yell “Woohoo!! You’re doing GREAT, Dave-o!”, everytime that I rode by. I felt like I was doing my first triathlon with Team in Training again. She even drove behind me to block the cars that were zipping around the winding mountain road. When you’re trying to ride you bike across the country, it doesn’t get any better than that…

The day capped off with a climb from sea level to almost 1,800 ft., over the course of the last 15 miles. For about 2 hours straight, it was continuously uphill. Needless to say, it was a challenging ride, but with Tori’s support, I could have done it twice.

Thank you so much Tori.

Tags: Travel

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