Leggett to Point Arena 93 mi and 7,000 ft of climbing
When I did google map last night, it said 68 miles to Point Arena! I thought that was shorter than I remembered but great news! We need an easier day to recover!
Mike had trouble with his Garmin 520 and its mapping features so we got started a little late but with a short day no big deal! Adventure Cycling maps are terrific in many ways, but it is poor with giving you a good idea of terrain and elevation gain! Today's route looked to be an easy one! A few climbs from Leggett to the coast and Westport but easy after that!
Boy was that it accurate! The 3 climbs to the beach were not easy!7-9% and real rough roads ! The thought was well - once we are to the beach - it will level out and the wind will be with us! WRONG!!! Once we arrived at Westport the road was like a whipped rope ! Steep up and down we went with pitches frequently jumped over 10 %. So it meant stand and push hard get over the top of the hill, coast down, and then grind up the next hill! It was very tiring! The prevailing northerly wind we hoped for never came, but a cross wind was frequently strong!
Boy was that it accurate! The 3 climbs to the beach were not easy!7-9% and real rough roads ! The thought was well - once we are to the beach - it will level out and the wind will be with us! WRONG!!! Once we arrived at Westport the road was like a whipped rope ! Steep up and down we went with pitches frequently jumped over 10 %. So it meant stand and push hard get over the top of the hill, coast down, and then grind up the next hill! It was very tiring! The prevailing northerly wind we hoped for never came, but a cross wind was frequently strong!
The situation became worse when we came upon a sign that said 59 miles to Point Arena!
"What - how can that be? We have already ridden 34 miles! We should only have 34 miles left!" The next city sign confirmed that the goggle map distance to Point Arena was not accurate!
"What - how can that be? We have already ridden 34 miles! We should only have 34 miles left!" The next city sign confirmed that the goggle map distance to Point Arena was not accurate!
To be honest I was already very tired especially after yesterday's effort! In addition to being tired, I now became very discouraged! I was riding slow and cursing every time the road headed up - which was repeatedly! Mike patiently waited for me! The sun started to break through so we decided to stop and take a picture! I took a goo pack and tried to focus on the beauty of the ocean and not on my situation!
Waves crashing the beach just past Westport Ca.
Another view at the same spot!
On top of these problems my rear derailleur was not working well and my left cleat kept popping out of the pedal! Very frustrating!!! We kept riding! Mike was dealing with the frustrations better than I was! I looked forward to getting to Fort Bragg! We hoped to get a chance to say hi to Mike Hassur's son, Connor, and go to the bike shop buy new cleats and get my bike fixed! Well, bike shop was closed and no Connor! I wanted to get going, but Mike convinced me to go get some lunch! We found a nice deli and had a fine lunch! Some good nutrition and some time off the bike was good! Talked a couple different people at the deli! Two of them lived at one time in Puyallup of all places! Our waitress was going to be a freshman at Conor Collins' school, USCB! What a coincidence! My attitude improved as we continued down the road! Met an architect who was riding from Vancouver to SF. He was doing 120 mi a day and sleeping in a hammock! He road real strong ! We ran into some problems tonight, and it is almost 10:00. I am going to sign off now and finish the blog tomorrow! Safe riding!
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