How did I get here?

Day 23, Stage 16 - San Francisco to Santa Cruz 81 miles in 7hrs 40mins (incl. 1 food, BK stop)
Total distance 1,247 miles
You know that feeling you get when driving along and you can't remember the past mile or two? (Or is that just me?) Well that's exactly what the last 50 miles of today were like. Probably the most unremarkable stretch of coastline. The one stand out sight, and a seriously impressive one at that, was these incredibly unstable looking cliffs somewhere along the coast.

At least my destination for today, Santa Cruz, is memorable. Namely cause it's just so bad it's an absolute must see (maybe I should have listened to you, Sara). Though, I've got to be honest, it's so bad I actually kind of like it.

The first 30 miles out of San Fran were also more memorable. I had contemplated staying on for an extra day but my legs were getting twitchy to get spinning again and when the pneumatic drill started out in the street early this morning I was pleased I was moving on. It was a late start though as I had to replace my rear tyre which was worn to the thread after a mere 1500 or so miles. And the city didn't let me out easily though as every corner I turned seemed to unveil yet another frighteningly steep climb and, as a result, I'd done some 2,000ft of climbing before I'd reached the 20 mile mark at midday. 25 miles in and I passed the site of the legendary Mavericks big wave at Half Moon Bay. Alas, it wasn't breaking - all was quiet - much like the next 50 miles.

Sorry for the short blog but today is the start of a possible six day stint in the saddle so need my rest tonight.

Go to jail. Go directly to jail.

Day 22 - Tourist day
Just back from a hugely impressive tour round this little 'Rock' in the bay. Fabulous place to visit although the seriousness of the setting was comically reduced by the noises coming from the colony of nesting snowy egrets on the island. Beautiful looking birds but definitely worth a google to hear their calls - got to be up there as one of the most ludicrous animal noises going.

Bowl you can eat

Day 21 - Rest Day
And as you can see I found the perfect meal - chilli served in a loaf of bread. Awesome.

...and that's just for starters

A Golden day

Day 20, Stage 15 - Jenner to San Francisco
85 miles in 7hrs 50mins (incl. only 1 food stop but an obscene amount of adrenaline)
Total Distance - 1,165 miles
This was it, the day of the final push into San Francisco.

I set off at 8.25am assuming I had some 80 miles to go but was quickly cheered up by the first, and come to think of it, only mileage sign 2 miles in saying it was 72 miles to the city. The sky was blue, the wind was with me and I didn't feel as god awful as I had the past 3 mornings. I was almost feeling good about the day ahead. Now, I'd assumed, that this close to a major city that towns (read cafes) would be relatively plentiful so hadn't paid too much attention to the map in terms of planning food stops along the way. There was nothing at the first town of Bodega which I breezed through after 13 joyous wind-assisted miles along the Sonama Beach Park. So I continued on and the road then headed inland for a cafeless 20 miles through beautiful lush dairy fields stopping only to eat the blueberry muffin (and paper case) that had been stuffed in the bottom of my Camelbak for three days. I was making great progress despite my growing hunger and when I met the ocean again the wind almost picked me up and carried me the 10 miles along the coast into Point Reyes where I finally refuelled properly(ish) on a slice of pizza. It was midday and I had 44 miles on the clock - by far my best by that time. This was followed by a slowish 7 miles up a gentle climb as I attempted to digest the dough, after which a short fast descent took me out of the woods and back into the tailwind. As I looked down the road I was a bit surprised to see a couple of road bikes zooming along a couple of hundred yards ahead. I couldn't figure where they'd come from but these guys looked serious and they weren't hanging about. But, to my complete astonishment, without really trying I was gaining on them, 18mph, 20, 24mph, I just kept going faster, but still not trying, and when I glided past them on my fully-laden 70lb battlecruiser of a bike the look of incredulity from them was so priceless you would not believe. Now to be fair, they did put in a sprint to get back past me after a couple of miles, but only all of 30 yards ahead. And they chatted away to me in a perfectly civilised manner when they passed, but their pride was so obviously hurt it was cruelly comical. However, after 8 miles of this the road then went up sharply at Stinson Beach and I was, not unsurprisingly, dropped. Still, I'd had my moment of glory and boy had it been fun.

Now when I say the road went up, I really mean it. In all the 1,200 miles I've done, the unexpected 1,500ft climbing in miles 60-68 today were the hardest by far. But as I stood, an hour and some later, gasping for breath at the top of the final climb before the road wound down into the city suburbs, the stereotypically brash but wholly welcome yells of encouragement from the group in a passing SUV lifted me from my happy tiredness. I was almost there. Or so I thought. It turned out that the mileage sign I'd seen was to the edge of the city, my destination lay some 11 miles beyond that. It could easily have been notably more as the GPS then tried remarkably hard to get me lost on several occasions over the next few miles as I tried to find the Golden Gate Bridge. Finding it actually proved considerably harder than I'd thought it would be finding something that size but after taking to navigating by the sun I realised I was on the right track. The adrenaline was surging now though and I even caught and passed another pretty serious looking roadie on the final 200ft climb up to The Bridge. Relative to the previous two guys, he actually took it remarkably well.

I savoured the ride across in the sun for all it was worth in near delirious laughter making me all but forget about the howling crosswind trying to make go swimming. Then into the city where I had my first taste of the famous hills this city is built on. Much, much steeper than they look. At one point I thought the gps was trying to finish me off by sending me down something nearer a cliff face than a road. The taxi drivers were chuckling at my obvious novice performance. I survived though and am off out on a pub crawl tonight to celebrate so will see if I've actually got any liver left or if I've metabolised it away in the past 3 weeks - it's the first thing to go, apparently. That combined with the fact I'm shattered, dehydrated, I haven't been drinking much beer at all and am probably around 10kgs or so lighter than at the start of the month means I reckon I might last 2 beers if I'm lucky.

Still, it's a rest day tomorrow and I think I deserve a beer.

The First Millenium

Day 19, Stage 14 - Mendocino to Jenner
88 miles in a gruelling 9hrs 40 mins (incl. 2 long food stops and a puncture)
Total Distance 1,080 miles
I need a vacation!

Woke up this morning truly exhausted, or so I thought, but in truth it was nothing compared with this evening. Thankfully a tailwind was already blowing, and if the forecast was to believed (a very, very big assumption for this trip) then it was going to be right behind me for the whole day. As I set off, I was 165 miles from San Fran and determined to leave myself less than 90 miles for tomorrow, but given how I was feeling I knew it would be a struggle. And so it proved as the winding, undulating coastal road combined with slow service for brunch meant I'd only done 17 miles by the time I left said cafe at 11.40am, 2hrs 20mins after I'd set out. Easily my slowest start of the whole trip with the only cycling bright spot (among the innumerable scenic ones) being the odometer ticking over to show four figures for the first time - 1000 miles done, only another 4,400ish to go, yikes.

As the road improved I sped up over the next 30 miles but was still struggling both mentally and my fuel levels. So I stopped in Gualala for fajitas and to fix another rear wheel puncture. Solid food still isn't really go down well and this meal was no different but I hoped I had managed enough to get me at least to bulk of the remaining 40 miles to Jenner.

Now, after almost three weeks on the bike I hadn't seen a single other fellow Pacific Coast tourer. Then as I left Gualala, I spotted a couple of fully laden bikes. Chatting to them over the next wind assisted super fast 15 miles it turned out they'd set out a couple of days ahead of me from Seattle and were on their way to San Fran. They also mentioned that, coincidentally, they'd met another Scottish guy a few hundred miles up the road who was heading south, and probably a day ahead. Bit of a coincidence, I thought, but not as much of a coincidence as when I stopped 10 miles later in a tiny grocery shop near Stillwater campsite and said Scottish guy walks into the said store. Small world!

It was after 5pm by then and I still had 15 miles to go if I was to make it to Jenner. I also knew that the last 10 miles consisted of a climb up and along the cliffs that the lady in the store described as 'awful'. As if that wasn't bad enough, the two guys had re caught and passed me telling me to take it easy cause I was looking very tired. So, at the start of the climb at Fort Ross I did the sensible thing - ate half a rice krispie cake, and pressed on. 'Summit fever' had well and truly taken hold :) So, as the shadows lengthened and the air cooled I pedalled very slowly up. And was I pleased I had. Stunning views in the evening sun down the coast (and the several hundred feet cliffs below). A very tentative descent down then took me into the fantastic River's End cabins/restaurant Jenner - definitely the best meal and lodgings of the trip. I had made it.

The final push into San Fran tomorrow, and at least two days much-needed rest. Can't wait.

P.s. - Phone signal

Forgot to say, I'm still stuck unable to make outgoing calls texts.
Hopefully that'll change at San Fran.

Sent from my iPhone

Back to normal (if I ever was?)

Day 18, Stage 13 - Garberville to Mendicino
81 miles in 9 hrs (incl. 1 long food stop)
Total distance - 992 miles
Safely checked in here in Mendocino, a quaint and picturesque little town on the coast that is surprisingly populous given it was the setting for most of Jessica Fletcher's adventures in Murder She Wrote.

Much better day today but still worryingly tough. I could tell that I was flirting dangerously close to another monster blow up on more than a few occasions.

Starting off, the forecast was again for another warm day, though not as hot as yesterday. However, I hoped to avoid the worst of the heat as I would be crossing over the mountains out the valleys back to the, hopefully cooler, Pacific Coast by the afternoon.

The first 20ish miles into Leggett were mildly irritating with far too many 300ft climb/descent stints, making for a slow start. I was therefore, in a way quite happy to finally, after some 900 miles, turn off Highway 101 and set off at the very start of Highway 1 (see pic). Once in Leggett I took the short detour to cycle through the legendary 'drive-through-tree'. Yup, I know it sounds tacky but I actually thought it was a really impressive sight, especially considering said tree is still very much alive and well. So I sat there for quite a while eating lunch chuckling at the irony of folk tentatively inching their over sized SUVs through.

I was also in no rush to move on as it was warming up and I knew what lay ahead. It was the Legget Hill, probably the third-toughest climb on my whole route (behind two on the never-happened Mattole stage). Finally I rolled out of Leggett and began the ascent with the thermometer now around 27C. It was definitely tough, not insanely so (approx. 1300ft in 5 miles), but the really remarkable thing was that in those 5 miles I can't remember one single pedal-turn of downhill, or even flat, it was just continuous grind - strangely enjoyable though. But nowhere near as enjoyable as the descent down towards the Pacific again. 1,800ft and several miles of unadulterated cycling joy, sweeping and twisting through the shadows of the forest. One for the purists and easily up there in my top three downhills ever - and, yes, if you're wondering, I've got favourite climbs as well, cycling uphill can be fun in my book.

The descent back to the ocean also brought the temperature drop I was hoping for, and some. From 27C at the summit it was suddenly a relatively chilly 13C at sea level, despite still being under blue skies. Temperature inversion? Definitely.

The next 45 miles are a bit of a delightful blur of surf, beaches, sea lions and headlands. A blur that was, however, frequently punctuated by that temperature inversion. The boundary could only have been a hundred or so feet up but it made for the counter-intuitive concept of climbing into the 20C heat and then descending into the 13C cool. 7C doesn't sound much, but with it being the 'wrong-way-round' it caused some real issues with my thermoregulation.

Still, I made it here in one piece and hoping the forecast is right, being for things to cool back to civilized temps tomorrow as I begin the final 160 miles into San Fran.

..and, by the way, have you started humming the theme tune to Ms Fletcher's show yet? Cause it's been on repeat in my head since I arrived here 3 hrs ago.

When the wind, no longer chills

Day 17, Stage 12 - Ferndale to Garberville
59 miles in 7hrs (incl. numerous juice stops and even more collapse-at-the-side-of-the-road-with-heat-exhaustion stops)
I awoke after a relatively sleepless night with still-tired legs and a still-strained and delicate stomach. The Mattole was looking like a non-starter and any lingering thoughts I had of doing it were finally vanquished when I put on my Camelbak outside the hotel and realised the waist strap needed tightened by some 3 or 4 inches from where it had been only on Saturday. Had I really been that I'll? Apparently so.

So, I turned left instead of right and rolled out into the late morning sunshine for a fast first 10 miles past the cows trying all the while to avoid shredding the numerous, seemingly suicidal butterflies. I felt almost good but then I hit the first hill of the day. It went up a trivial 200ft and I didn't, at least not easily. I knew then that the Mattole would have been a serious, if not terminal mistake. My tank was still very close to empty.

While missing out on the Mattole is gutting from a cycling point of view, fortunately the back-up route I was doing was by no means dull taking in the Avenue of the Giants (see pic). So, for most of the 32 miles of it I was back feeling like a three-year-old again and a three-year-old who was mercifully grateful for the shelter these mighty 'creatures' were giving as my thermometer had been showing over 20C when I'd first disappeared into the Avenue. It was now moving up markedly, even in the shade. By the time I'd arrived in Myers Flats, where my stomach was still quietly but adamantly insisting on a liquid only lunch, it was reading 30C in the shade. I was starting to fade and to make it worse, the trees were thinning and the temperature was continuing to increase.

Now, I'll be honest, I don't fully understand the concept of wind-chill. Sure, I get that it generally makes it feel colder but, as it gets warmer, it has less effect. Then, above around 32C, it all gets a bit bizarre (at least in my book) of actually making it feel warmer. Today was the first time I've actually experienced it on the bike but, believe me, it ain't pleasant to reach the top of a climb, dripping in sweat, hoping for the usual cooling breeze of the descent, but instead getting a blast of even warmer air. Something just isn't right and I could almost feel what little energy was left in me being sucked out by the heat.

The last six miles along the freeway, with the thermometer at 34C into Garberville were, frankly, hellish, almost comically so, but my spirits were lifted by the driver of the parked lorry who got out his cab to laugh at me collapsed in the shade from his trailer. I actually think he was quite worried, and probably rightly so.

I finally made it into Garberville and having gratefully checked into a motel here and done my stretches, I finally, for the first time in almost 3 days, feel hungry. Thankfully.

Here's hoping tomorrow's better, though, to be fair, the only thing that could be worse would be if I end up as carrion. Which was definitely not out the question today.

However, there's now a Mattole rat that's crept in my head quietly gnawing away.......

Recovery

Day 16 -Rehydration Day
Feeling a lot more human today but still far from ideal. Just doing a rough calc. and I reckon I'm on about a 9,000 - 10,000 calorie deficit since Friday am (which works out at about 4kgs). Still, the weather's finally brightened up and it's been beautiful couple of days here in Ferndale with only the occasional but disconcertingly random tsunami warning siren disturbing the peace in this charming little town

Forecast is looking good for tomorrow but still not sure if I'm up to doing the Mattole, or more importantly the next 3 days after.

Will see what the morning brings.

Setback

Day 15 - 'Rest Day'
Rest day, yeah right. After 2 weeks being stuffed full of all sorts, my stomach has thrown in the towel. It's 7.30 am over here and I reckon I've had about 3 hrs sleep having been repeatedly ill all night, unable to even keep water down.

It would be lunacy to attempt the monster stage tomorrow given how I'm feeling now so I'm either going to take the bail-out route or take an extra rest day here.

Off to try and get some sleep now.