Bike Tour: Day One (Westport to Gualala..lalala)
July 2, 2010
Stats of the Day
Distance: 78.3 miles
Moving Time: 5:20:27
Elevation: 6,410 feet
(all stats and maps here)
7:05AM and I was on my bike. The day before I got a nectarine and banana to eat for breakfast, knowing that about 20 miles in I could stop by the Fort Bragg Bakery for breakfast numero dos. Thankfully the weather was super cooperative - warm enough that my ear-covering headband, knee warmers, and hideous neon yellow jacket were enough.
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
20 miles in and I was in Fort Bragg. I rode up to the bakery and at first walked in and left my Moots right out the door. But, after realizing that I was having a mini panic attack as I stared at it from the other side of the glass, decided to just accept that I was freaked out that someone was going to steal it, so I went out and brought it in with me. The woman behind the counter smiled and asked me “so did you bring that in because you think someone is going to steal it?”
me: “Yeah, I just can’t handle it”
her: “Umm… nobody is going to steal your bike here”
me: “really?”
her: “Yeah”
[enter a guy who ended up being her husband]
her: “He and I are both big riders… [looks at him] she’s not going to get her bike stolen here, is she?!”
him: “Yeeaahhhh, no. But what if she did”
me: “Exactly! But what if I did! I’d die!!”
her: [laugh] “Yeah, true”
From there we talked a bit more about biking and my bike specifically. They were both super friendly and as I left with my bagel for now and a “savory pocket” (pastry thing filled with sun-dried tomatoes and feta) for later, some other random woman sitting in the corner yelled out “have a great ride!” How cool is that?
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
I rode down to eat my bagel on a bench when this homeless guy passed me and asked what day it was. And what did I say? “Thursday” … I said “Thursday.” It wasn’t until about an hour later that I realized it was actually Wednesday…
After finishing my bagel I pedaled over to the bike shop I saw on the main drag. Unfortunately, it was closed so I couldn’t actually buy a patch kit and extra tube. I just had to pray that my one tube would be enough. Ended up being ok but that’s not so smart!
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
The cool part about the stop was running into two other cyclists who were waiting for the shop to open. They were actually biking South to North, which is a much harder ride — in part because of the strong headwinds they’d no doubt been battling.
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
From there I just kept pedaling along…and along…and along. At one point there was some construction that required them to stop traffic and let one side go and then the other, which meant waiting for our turn for like 10 minutes. In the meantime a bunch of cyclists ended up chit-chatting. I was the only woman doing touring solo and the only other woman in the pack period (of like 8 riders) was doing it with her husband. I was a bit jealous… biking it great but it’s made so much better when you are with someone else - even if you aren’t talking that much at all! Just having someone to say “wow look at that” or talk with for a short break — those are nice. On the AIDS ride I did last year I was basically riding alone, but the diference was that I’d see people at all the rest stops and just randomly see people on the road from time to time. On this ride I barely saw anyone. At. All. …Ever
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
Anyway, I kept on riding and eventually made my way to Gualala. At first I was nervous I was going to miss it but, like the girl from the motel said on the phone, that’d be very difficult to do. And, in fact, she was right. Most of the “cities” down the 1 are, like, lierally on the 1. “Main street” is the section of the 1 that goes through their town. And that’d be the whole town. So, when I saw the signs for Gualala I realized pretty quickly that I’d better start looking for the motel because in about 30 seconds I’d have biked through city limits!
Pulled up, showered, went to the grocery store next door to get a deli sandwich and chocolate bar for dinner, bumped into some cyclist dudes I saw earlier in the day (they were at that shop still in bike clothes getting lots of beer for their campsite down the road), and then called Chris from a pay phone.
The rest of the night was filled with talking on the phone, walking down to the beach, and watching junk TV.
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
Day One complete!
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
Comments
One Response to “Bike Tour: Day One (Westport to Gualala..lalala)”
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Seriously, only one tube?!
Wish I could’ve been there with you. <3