Bike Tour: Day Two (Gualala to Point Reyes Station)
July 8, 2010
Stats of the Day
Distance: 76.2
Moving Time: 5:33
Elevation: 6,778 ft
(all stats and maps here)
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
Woke up a bit earlier than I expected this morning and ended up hitting the road by 6:40AM (would have been even earlier but I had to wait for Chris to call and wish me good luck on my last leg.)
Pre-ride breakfast = a banana
(knowing that I only had to go but 9 short miles until I’d come upon [drum roll please] Two Fish Bakery in Sea Ranch!)
I dream of the day when I know longer hear the siren call of bakeries, candy stores, and the like but, alas, that day is not today.
And so, I pedaled onwards to the bakery and, unlike yesterday, I did so without going through the thick pot-smoke-air that is the area directly above Fort Bragg. (Seriously, the air was so dense with the smell of pot I almost couldn’t breathe for a minute there!)
About 9 miles in I saw a sign for the left turnoff to the bakery. Bad part: the left was up a very VERY steep little hill (especially steep given my tired legs.) I think you climb like 300 feet in a very short space (like maybe half a mile). Not good for the legs!
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
After having my heart pump out of my chest I made it to Two Fish! And what a fantastic little stop. I was pretty much the only person in that tiny place that they didn’t know on a first name basis, but they were super friendly. In fact, when I was in line this guy just walked out and, upon seeing my bike, walked over to me and said “awesome bike.” At that I smiled and said “thanks” … and then after I got my snack (two pieces of banana bread [one for now, one for later] and a granola yogurt parfait thing), I realized he was still drooling over it. So, we ended up talking for 15 minutes. Best line from him, “you know, the word ‘beautiful’ is tossed around a lot where bikes are concerned, but I think it should really be reserved for titanium bikes like this. This is beautiful.”
Awesome.
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
Turns out he used to sell Moots and other bikes before he quit (no money in it unless you own the place) a few years back.
So after I got a little lesson in what makes my bike so great, I was told “happy riding” and “good luck” by a few more people leaving the bakery before I got back on my (much merrier) way.
The roads out of Gualala down the coast are definitely busier at times - more big trucks, not much shoulder at parts, and because of all the trees and turns, there’s an increased risk that people won’t see you. Thankfully, the only issue I ran into was a crazy pickup truck that was trying to pass a slower car in front of it (this is in oncoming traffic). He ended up going over the double yellow lines and was headed straight at me until he cut back in around the guy. I’m fairly sure he didn’t see me (and I’m fairly sure I peed a little), but it was ok. I ended up going way into the right side dirt and just waited for him to pass.
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
Other than that, the most memorable part of the ride was a climbing section filled with bugs and cattle guards about 30(ish) miles in. The climbing was long (at least it felt long with my backpack on), exposed, and hot. And, because I failed to look at any sort of elevation profile, I just didn’t know what to expect (and I’m not one of those people who likes not knowing what to expect on a ride.) But, putting all that aside, the views were absolutely unreal. The Northern California coast is just absolutely gorgeous - to the point where you are saying in your head, “is this really real?”
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
After that little trial, I hit Jenner and tried calling Chris. No dice. Continued on until I (thanks be to the gods) hit Bodega Bay. In Bodega I was hitting a bit of a low point (30 miles left and I just was feeling soooo slow), but luckily had cell phone reception. I got Chris and my mom on the phone and decided that my mom would continue up the one past Point Reyes station and instead get me before the rollers (which would save me about 9 miles).
With that new motivation I felt a bit better, that is, until the few miles going into Tomales Bay. So hot! All that climbing! No shade!
(ok it probably wasn’t that bad but I’m not in good shape right now! And my backpack is heavy!)
And as a side note, you can tell there’s a harder part of a ride when there are mysteriously no pictures for an hour or two.
After all that, I dropped down into little ole’ Tomales. And, per Chris’ recommendation, dropped by their bakery, too. I got some stuff to give to my mom as a thank you but took a quality assurance bite of each — very tasty!
Out of Tomales there were some massive headwinds getting into Point Reyes, but I survived! I also passed a couple who was biking down from Canada!
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
Eventually I made it to where Hog Island is (and where my mom and I were planning on meeting), but she wasn’t there yet so I just started my way down the rollers. I eventually decided to wait on top of one of the hills so I could easily see all the cars coming (so my mom wouldn’t unknowingly pass me!)
I saw her and, in her own words, “never had she seen me so happy to see her car.” I jumped up and down and my two-day tour was over! We went into Point Reyes for some delicious sandwiches at Cow Girl (where I highly recommend you stop on your own biking adventure) and another treat at the Bovine bakery (a must stop for cyclists.)
Overall the ride was beautiful, relatively safe, and a great experience. For all your wannabe cycling tourists, this would be a great two-day test run.
My only recommendation: get someone to go with you! It makes the hills less steep and the roads less lonely.
Happy riding!
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)
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
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?
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!
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 |
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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!
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
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.
Day One complete!
Bike Tour: Day Zero (Getting up to Westport)
July 2, 2010
After deciding that my summer was wasting away without me doing anything exciting, I decided to take some vacation time and give bike touring a very short trial run. At first I was going to do a ride from mi casa to Big Sur or San Simeon, but, upon reflection, realized that I’ve already biked from here to Monterey… so it wouldn’t be very “new.” Plus, the ride from Santa Cruz to Monterey is long and pretty much totally boring. So, given all that and the fact that Chris offered to drive me to my starting point, I decided I’d bike from Westport (about 20 miles North of Fort Bragg) down to Point Reyes in two days.
Day one: Westport to Gualala
Day two: Gualala to Point Reyes
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
Tuesday afternoon Chris and I left for the long drive up to Westport, and after about four and a half hours we arrived at the Howard Creek Ranch Hotel. Now I know some of you are already judging me — “you stayed at hotels and motels during your trip? Why not camp out and become one with nature and oatmeal?!”
Well, a few reasons
1) I don’t even have a proper rack with panniers, which would just logistically make carrying a tent, sleeping bag, etc. pretty much impossible. I ended up carrying everything for this ride in a backpack (more on the wisdom of that later.)
2) I’m doing this ride alone and while I am confident tons of women have biked solo up and down the coast with no problems, I just feel a little less freaked out by myself in the land-of-no-cellphone-reception when I can lock a motel room behind me!
3) I like sleeping in a bed after biking all day. (This is the “princess” reason)
4) I don’t like oatmeal
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
So anyway, we arrived! The hotel is a bit, in Chris’ words, “kooky,” It’s seriously in the middle of nowhere and basically consists of two big buildings that are across a swinging bridge from each other. The room we stayed in was a tiny little thing in a converted barn. In the living area on the second floor was an indoor jacuzzi (wish I would have realized that before arriving!), a zillion plants pushed up against the windows, and just a hodgepodge of antique(ish) Victorian furniture with trinkets on every empty space. In sum, I loved it. It’s the sort of place you’d go, stay a few days, and basically just get away from everything.
That night Chris and I went into Fort Bragg for dinner and, thanks to Yelp, had some truly fantastic pizza (and I’m told beer) at Piaci Pub and Pizza. Not Delfina good, but really good. In fact, you know it’s good because outside in downtown Fort Bragg everything was super quiet… but then you open the door of this pizza place and it was totally packed.
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
After that we got dessert at Cowlick’s Ice Cream. I totally recommend it! I actually sampled the mushroom flavor - totally delicious! More like maple syrup taste than mushroom, but the coolest part is they don’t add any extra sugar outside what’s already in the milk and cream. But it’s super sweet!
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| From Bike Touring: Westport to Point Reyes |
So after eating all that, bemoaning my lack of self control, and heading back to the hotel, I was ready for the ride to begin!
Bike to Monterey Weekend (I’m alive!)
April 5, 2010
I should really re-title this post “Galactic Justice” because that’s pretty much what happened. If you remember from my last post (about our double century), it was me who was going along without a care in the world while Chris wanted to scream out and curse the gods. Well, apparently I wasn’t humble enough about it because the gods condemned me to the slowest most painful 111 miles of my natural life. And while it wasn’t a cake walk for Chris either, he certainly wasn’t dying.
And I was dying.
Thankfully in the end Chris and I puled ourselves together and made it all the way without the need for rescue. And after that, the rest of the weekend was spent with Eric, Kevin, and Adrienne in Monterey and Carmel — hanging out, eating yummy things, and taking loads of pictures.
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| From Monterey Bike Weekend |
So why was this ride so painful? I blame the hardcore leg, back, and ab workout we did the night before. Chris, being smarter than me, took it wwaaaayyy easy during the workout. But did I? No. And did I pay for it? Yes.
Going up Old La Honda (which is the major climb to get up to Skyline) was just painful. My heartrate at the start was 160! At the start! And pretty much the rest of the climb up consisted of me trying desperately (and in vain) to keep my heartrate out of the mid-high 160s. I was a bunny heart trapped inside a giant concrete body. You know how back in the day the power ranger would sit inside that giant mondo machine-dude to battle sometimes? It was like that. Except, instead of a (dare I say) kung-fu fighting warrior inside the machine it was a weak bunny trying to pull an impossibly heavy block of concrete up a mountain… with itsy bitsy levers.
In other words, pain!
Finally, after a freezing descent and moderately painful second climb, we made our way to Pescadero and had some much needed food. My stomach was actually growling by the time we got there, which doesn’t usually happen to me on rides (which tells me part of the pain probably came because I was so tired I wasn’t forcing myself to eat properly.) In Pescadero I ate a good 1/2 a loaf of garlic bread and 1/2 a coke and started feeling significantly better. Not 100% by any means but better to the point where I could at least imagine making it into Santa Cruz.
From there we went down Cloverdale, suffered, suffered, and then oh! A sign about chocolate dipped strawberries and coffee! At that point I took the lead, picked up the pace, and lead us into Swanton farms.
Oh.My.Gosh!! We parked our bikes next to the door and were delighted to find all sorts of sugary delights waiting for us inside! Baskets of strawberries, truffles of all sorts, chocolate dipped strawberries, jams, etc. and in the frige they had these awesome looking strawberry shortcakes and little crumble tart thingies. And last but not least coffee and strawberry hot apple cider!
After my little excited “new foods!” dance, we settled on coffee (for the caffeine), a chocolate dipped strawberry, and strawberry shortcake.
They were all perfect! I’d especially like to point out that the whipped cream on the shortcake was most definitely hand whipped and perfect. One of my favorite parts about biking is the freedom it gives you to explore and find awesome little places like this! Total score!
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| From Monterey Bike Weekend |
After our most wonderful break we made our way (slowly but surely) into Santa Cruz. And, after calling Eric and realizing he wasn’t going to even be leaving his house for quite a while, we decided we’d suck it up and keep making our way to Monterey.
And so we did! I think the only other highlight of the ride was the bike path going into Monterey where these dumb cute little bunnies kept running in front of me wheel to cross the path. Solution? I started making a (loud) high pitched tone as I biked, hoping it would scare them off. And by-diggily — it worked!
If you want to see the nitty-gritty details of our ride (or copy our route in the future) you can see it here.
Once we arrived at our Days Inn (I can now say I prefer Motel 6), showered, and talked with the gang a bit, we headed out to Bubba Gump’s for dinner! We tried a few other places first but they were either busy or no longer the restaurants we thought they were.
I got steamed crab legs (which must be a new addition to the menu, since they did not use to have those at all!) and was quite satisfied. Especially because I ate a big bag of candy beforehand!
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| From Monterey Bike Weekend |
Sunday consisted of a lazy breakfast with huge pancakes, doing 17-mile drive (you should really stop and check out the tide pools!), looking at adorable houses, walking around Carmel, and taking the long way back.
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| From Monterey Bike Weekend |
All in all a great weekend!
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| From Monterey Bike Weekend |
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| From Monterey Bike Weekend |
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| From Monterey Bike Weekend |
Europe Christmas 2009: New Year’s Eve in Paris!
January 4, 2010
Today was one of my favorite days so far, and it wasn’t because of amazing art and views. No, it was because of the food and company!
Last night when Chris and I made our way back to Paris after a day of rain and train stations, we decided we needed to do a bit more food research to make sure we had the most delicious breakfast possible on our last full day in Europe. And, thanks to chowhound, I think we succeeded!
We woke up bright and early and made our way to the famed bakery of Eric Kayser in the Latin Quarter. And oh my god was it worth it! When we stepped inside the magical location all I could smell was bread and sugar and butter and yeast. And my eyes, well they were just in bit of a frenzy — I wanted to freeze time, grow to the size of a giant, and just grab everything all for myself (well, I’d share with Chris of course… a little…)
But, since I couldn’t freeze time, nor turn into a giant, we settled on pain au fromage (cheese bread) and a pain brioche avec chocolat blanc (basically a sweet, light, yet still happily dense brioche bread with white chocolate swirls throughout).
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
I only wish I took pictures of the food but, alas, I was too excited! The cheese bread was friggin phenomenal. This isn’t like cheese bread back home - the cheese by itself was amazing, with a light covering and swirls and chunks throughout. Oh god I want more. The cheese here is SO much better!
And the white chocolate concoction was the perfect blend of white chocolate swirls in a bread that was denser than brioche I’m used to but still light enough to scarf down in no time at all (for better or worse.)
Eating good food puts me in an amazingly good mood, so I was pretty much skipping all the way to the Sainte Chapelle chapel (second time’s the charm!)
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
And the line to get in was totally worth it - the chapel was absolutely gorgeous. The stained glass windows on the second level were out of this world beautiful and that, in combination with all the pretty fleur-de-lis symbols everywhere, made it feel like I really was in some sort of fairytale place.
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
After that, Chris and I made our way back to Sennelier to see if it’d be open this time around. (As a reminder - Sennelier is who makes the oil pastels I use).
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
The weirdest thing happened while we were walking back over there - out of nowhere I thought I was going to throw up! Like, we were just walking along, everything hunky-dorey and then, out of the blue, I ran to the side of the road and was convinced I was about to puke into the river Seine! But, as quickly as it came on, it was gone… and I was ok. My guess: I ate just a little too much cheese bread! Well worth the pain, though! (get it… the “pain”?? Anybody, anybody??!)
Soon we made our way back to Sennelier and were it luck - it was open! We spent the next 45 minutes or so walking around the rather tiny store looking at lots of artsy things. In the end I bought a few oil pastels and can’t wait to use them in my next painting! The coolest thing we saw, though, were these absurdly expensive Henri Roche soft pastels — I believe I read they were almost 20 euros each!
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
Piece of history for you… did you know that oil pastels were in fact invented by Sennelier in 1949. Picasso wanted colors he could use on any surface, without all the hassle of oil paints, etc. and so, Henri Sennelier came up with oil pastels! Viola!
After our artsy outing Chris and I decided to try our second chowhound recommendation - La Charlotte de l’isle on Ile Saint-Louis for some (we were told) out of this world hot chocolate.
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
Dear chowhound, how I love thee! The place was a small, whimsically cluttered abode filled with the most beautiful little foods and trinkets! And, upon entering, Chris told the lady behind the counter we would like some chocolat chaud — at which point we were led to the adjoining tiny room to sit down and order.
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
I got the hot chocolate and a piece of carrot curry cake and Chris got hot chocolate and a lemon/citrus tart. Oh sweet lord that carrot curry cake has invaded my very being since that fateful first bite! An interesting spicy cake that, to much delight, had a very thin layer of rich chocolate on the bottom of it. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. I am trying desperately to find a recipe so I can recreate at home!!
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
All in all you absolutely must stop here if you’re in Paris. The hot chocolate is nuts (almost too rich, which is why I recommend getting something spicy or tart to go along with it… no need for much more chocolate!) and the place is adorable. Even the menus, with their barely legible cursive descriptions are to die for!
After all that I was once again floating as we made our way to Notre Dame to meet up with my friend Will and his brother, Chris. Will and I were co-editors of Aleph (UCLA’s undergraduate research journal) and he’s now studying medieval history at Oxford. And his brother, Chris II (we’ll call him), is following in his big brother’s footsteps, studying at King’s College in England.
After we got together (which was after some very interesting people watching at Notre Dame and fun twirl on this little sit and spin thing in a nearby park), we thought it high time for lunch. I was hoping Will, due to his globe-trotting ways, would be full of recommendations for back-alley bistros in Paris. But, alas, turns out he doesn’t know a spot of French and was up for whatever. In the end we settled on a whatever place, but it was nice to get out of the freezing cold, have some food, and chat.
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
After a protracted lunch we split ways so we could go to our respective hotels to get extra layers of clothes before making our way to Montmartre for New Year’s Eve celebrating!
We decided on Montmartre because I heard that the crowds at the Eiffel Tower and the like were totally insane - like you can’t sit, you just stand all squished together for a zillion hours waiting for midnight. I’d much rather have some space to sit down, have some food and wine, and cheer in the new year with 1/2 a cup of excitement and 1/2 a cup of relaxation. And, having not yet been to that area of Paris, it was an opportunity for more exploring.
Having decided that I would eat absolutely whatever I wanted during my last day in Paris, I told Chris we had to detour (once again) to my dear Kayser’s for more treats on our way to the hotel! This time we got a pain au chocolat (normal), another cheese bread, and at the last minute I saw the word “mazipan” attached to this very dense looking bread thingie called a “stollen”, so we got that too.
We were supposed to save some of it for breakfast the next morning (since we were leaving before the crack of dawn for the airport) but, and I’m sure this doesn’t particularly surprise you, only the stollen made it. And that’s because the stollen is gross! I was imagining some bready thing filled with mazipan (which would be friggin phenomenal) but it turns out “stollen” is just this raisin filled (and I dislike raisins) fruitcake thing. Ick. But, thankfully, Chris liked it enough!
Being totally stuffed, I fell asleep a little too long at the hotel and was thus about 10 minutes late to meeting Will and Chris II in Pigalle. Well let’s just say at that point we were all even 
Walking around a bit, I quickly realized that we were in something like the sex district of Paris. We even saw the Moulin Rouge (which is surprisingly cheapy looking when you’re there). I really wanted to go to a cabaret show on New Year’s Eve (like at the Moulin Rouge or Crazy Horse) but, alas, it was (I kid you not) about 570 euros EACH to attend!!!!
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
So, coming in a close second, we spent much of the frigid night in a cafe drinking coffee and chatting and then, hiked our way up to the top of Montmartre, at which point we all ordered crepes and paninis (some of us more easily than others!) and sat for a very long time in the cold.
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
It’s hard for me to explain in words how cold it was up there. Let’s just say, I was wearing pretty much half the contents of my suitcase and I still could not feel my feet. And my fingers weren’t just cold, they hurt. But (thankfully) it eventually became funny and we all rallied until midnight! (I’m sure the wine didn’t hurt most people’s disposition either…)
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
Right after midnight (and the less than stellar display of fireworks) we all made a run for the metro! But, sadly, I think the entire bottle of wine sitting in Chris II’s stomach did not appreciate the run… because after being on the metro for approximately two minutes, I turned to discover that Chris II had decided to generously help clear our metro car of any crowd by puking all over himself. I felt so bad for him!! Luckily, though, Chris II was in good spirits and we had fun joking as to who would get to shower first — Chris II or Will. 
I’m not quite sure who ended up winning.
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
Eventually we had to part ways, so I hugged Will goodbye and waved in Chris II’s general direction and then Chris and I made our way back to our hotel and packed up our stuff.
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |
Tomorrow the journey is over and we make our way back to California!
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| From Europe 2009 Day 7 |