Day 19, San Francisco to Santa Cruz 82 miles

Is it bad that the San Francisco Bridge still reminds me of Full House? We left that huge hilly terribly cold city this morning with a heavy heart. At least I did. Yesterday was the definition of a hard day. Cold, long, and disappointing.  So this morning I was more than a bit hesitant. We wound our way through the streets, climbed one of San Fran's finest MONSTER hills (well, I walked it) and trudged through until noonish. I never allow myself to look at the speedometer, so I didn't know the exact mileage, but I knew we were...pardon my French...sucking on miles. But at that point I think we got just far enough from San Fran, thus just far enough away from the curse it has upon us, and the wind blew fiercely...at our backs. Tailwind baby!  We put down 50 miles in about three and a half hours. The last ten miles I got a crazy allergy attack and could barley see, so it was quite a hot mess, but we survived one more day and live to tell the tale. We're in Santa Cruz, and they have palm trees, and streets named tropical things like "Ocean" and "Pacifica"! That's the California I'm talking about. As Dad mentioned yesterday, my left shifter was broken all day, so right when we got into town we started hitting up bike shops looking for a replacement. We got a tip to go to a place called "Bike Church"- a little community bike garage that carries random parts. We found a new shifter there (it's not technically called a shifter, but all I do is pedal, Matt and Dad handle all the technical stuff). It was the coolest place ever. Just a bunch of people (hippy looking, so, y'know, awesome) there to help us out. So today was good. We're in a shady motel, Matt is pretty sure he saw a drug deal go down in the parking lot (don't worry mom!), and I'm once again reminded of the serial killer in No Country For Old Men, but hey! One more day down. I'd like to do a shout out to Baby Boston, Kate's kid, who is ONE YEAR OLD today!!!!! Wish I could be there to give you a fat kiss. Also our prayers go out to Grandpa Ian and hope he's feeling all right after his stroke. Lastly, Matt would really like me to clear something up...the "bathroom problem" that he had yesterday was just trouble FINDING a bathroom, there was no less-then-appropriate-to-mention-publicly "bathroom problems" that occurred. If you have any questions you can talk to his attorney.

Thank you all and GOODnight. Kris

Day 18, Bodega Bay to San Francisco, 73 mile

We started in a fog this morning, which stayed with us for a couple of hours. It made for nice riding, cool and quiet. About 9, Kristi had a collapsed housing on her shifter cable. I walked to a farmhouse to borrow some wire cutters, in hopes of cutting back the housing to good section. We got it cut back and strung her a new shifter cable, since the frayed end of the old one would not rethread. That whole process lost us an hour. Then we had a bathroom crisis for Matt, plus a food stop that took way too long so we lost another hour. (Some details have been omitted as to why all that took another hour). Next we got lost trying to wind our way through the outlying cities, and stay on an elusive bike path that kept disappearing. The next delay was for a completely worn-to-the-metal brake pad on Kristi's bike. Because of the steep hills, we decided for safety’s sake to get her new pads so she could use both brakes. Scratch another half hour at a bike shop. The last straw was Kristi's front derailer broke completely and refused to shift. She was stuck in her small ring the last hour of riding.

So. It was a short mileage day. We got in late, which always creates stress (encroachment on sleep time), ate pizza in our room, washed our clothes in the sink, and took apart Kristi's hood to try and fix it. (A plastic piece that keeps the ratchet in place is busted inside the hood. Matt and I jury rigged it so at least she's permanently stuck in her middle ring, but some hills will be hard to climb until we can get a new hood.)

Good night. We hope Tuesday will be better. Richard

Day 17, Bodega Bay, rest, 0 miles

Bodega Bay is very small. There isn't even a real fast food place, just one hot dog place that closes at 6PM. However, it's a little resort town right on this protected inlet of the ocean that's very peaceful. For you movie buffs, it happens to be where Hitchcock's "The Birds" was filmed. This morning we all slept in until 7:30. It felt like noon. So indulgent! Right now we are sitting in a Laundromat dressed only in rain gear because all of our other clothes are washing. Kristi is writing postcards, I am writing this, and Matt is looking for something to eat.

Kris and Matt were talking this morning about the next week being our last full week. Kristi said it made her sad that this ride was that close to ending (!).  The transformation that I've seen happen to others so many times has come to Kris. I was able to experience one of those unique parental moments where your insides glow with a silent recognition of a child's precise moment of growth. It's a pleasure beyond any I know. We are about 60 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge, so we probably will be past San Francisco by Monday eve.

Have a nice Sunday. I sure will. 

-Richard

Day 16, Elk to Bodega Bay, 84 uphill miles

A word on hills from the desk of Kristi. 

The hills of California are doozeys! I'm not sure what else to say. We started the day climbing and ended it in much the same manner. I think they learned how to make the roads here with one template: they take you down, down, DOWN, and then do a crazy sharp hairpin turn, and then pull you right back up, up, UP. We rode this same thing probably a hundred times today. The up, up, UP is particularly intense. I do several things on these up, up, UPS that seem to make them better. One tactic that has been successful is I start singing Coldplay's "Viva La Vida." Who can be sad singing that? Also, I've been trying the whole Pavlov dog experiment. Every time I climb a big hill I give myself a candy. If it's a really big hill I give myself two candies. And if it's a HUGE hill I break out a Snicker's and...dare I say it...take a swig of Gatorade. I hope, in time, to actually train myself to salivate at the sight of hills. We'll see how this plan fares. Another thing I realize is the hills end. They always end, which is what me sitting in a bed right now is testament to. There will be more Monday, but even those eventually will be over. And ah heck, I bet I'll miss them. The only cure I've found to get over my stress is just keep biking. I looked down at Matt's speedometer after about three hours and saw 30 miles. I didn't like that. 30 miles compared with the 80 I needed to have at the end of the day was just gross. But I got on, and just rode. Rode far away from that place; those 30 miles; that gross feeling. It goes away people! The 30 miles is long gone, and I will never, ever be there again. So my Sunday message is this:  just keep biking! Bodega Bay is right on the ocean and just as gorgeous as ever. We got our first batch of pretty intense sun and are all looking a bit Latino. Especially Matt with his 'stache. Hehe. Sleepy time, later skaters.

LOVE,

 Kris

Day 15, Richardson’s Grove To Elk, CA, 87 miles

Today was a LOT of climbing. The first big one came at mile 15, over the mountains from Leggett to the coast, 22 miles. However the downhill was the best ever full 12 miles! There are not words to describe the pure joy of an empty road and a screaming downhill after a hot sweaty ride, unless you've experienced it. Without even thinking about it you are laughing out loud as you make effortless sine curves across both lanes at 35 mph. At mile 38 we broke out of the mountains to another postcard view of the ocean, with large rocks in the surf poking up through the fog. The rest of the day was lots of typical coastal hills; very steep 4-minute leg burners, with a 1-minute torrid downhill.  Even Matt had enough. However, every corner of the road brought views to inspire paintings. The good news about today is that Kristi is really getting her legs. She no longer gets left way back on hills, but is only a short ways behind when I top out. (Matt, of course, is way ahead of both of us.) She is starting to discover the mental skills needed to pedal all day.

(Warning--Dad is about to wax philosophical). There is definitely a unique mindset that must be conquered to go all day, day after day. This is an invaluable life lesson of long rides, because once learned, it can be called upon in any situation to pace yourself and lock in for the long haul.  It is a combination of patience with yourself and patience with the external forces that cannot be controlled yet hinder your progress. For instance, a rookie to long rides will curse a headwind and get mad, but after the transformation will just push through it and maybe even laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. However, the skill is deeper than normal patience, just as waiting for, say, the semester to end, is quite different than a mother waiting for a baby to be less maintenance. In the mother's case, if not careful, she can find herself merely tolerating the drudgery and miss the unique joys of her new baby. A bike trip has similar parallels; with a novice so consumed with their own pain they cannot enjoy even spectacular scenery. Anyway, it's great to watch it happen. Matt calls it "making peace with the bike". Even though the scenery might be great, making peace with the bike is really what endears riders to the experience.

We found a great place to sleep and eat after a tough day, the best of any so far. It's on a big cliff overlooking the ocean, with groomed gardens.

Later. It's 8 and time for bed.

-Richard

Day 14, Eureka to Richardson’s Grove, 84 miles

Today was a very nice ride through forested hills and mountainous terrain. We traveled about a third of it on the famed Avenue of the Giants, where the old highway 101 winds it's way through 30 miles of giant redwood forest. The road is shaded most of the way due to the narrow road and the height of the trees, and it was overcast as well. Absolutely perfect riding weather, at 55 degrees or so. There was also almost no traffic as the tourist season is not here yet. The trees are really inspiring, huge 12 ft and bigger in diameter lining the highway on either side, most over 200 feet high.  We found one at a tourist trap with a road through it where we all 3 could ride abreast. We ate lunch at Myers Flat, where we camped on the first California trip. At 2:30, we had 84 miles and started looking for a motel. There were several small towns south of us but we soon found out the nearest motel was still 55 miles away. We were at a campground with primitive cabins to rent (plastic covered mattresses) but the beds have no bedding! We convinced the camp director to lend us 3 sets of her personal sheets, and 3 pillows. Voila! We had a place to stay. We had to use our pillowcases for towels to shower, and we had to get liquid soap from the sink dispensers for shower soap by cupping our hands. We were very lucky this place was here.

Today was the first day we rode without our rain shells! Prior to now we have always needed them for warmth, even when it was not raining. My sunglasses even made their debut for a few hours. Kristi continues to be daunted by any talk of miles to go or any perceived pushing by Matt to make time. So...the rule is no talking of where we expect to be during the ride.  We all just ride. To stave off boredom on hills, Matt will often ride up them with only one foot clipped in. He also will ride with a hand on Kristi's back to push her. Sometimes she let's him help her, other times not.

Later, Richard

PS-In Eureka at a pizza place we saw a guy with a BYU shirt on. Maybe Cassandra knows him-Paul Edmunds.

Day 13, Klamath to Eureka CA, 65 miles

Well, the apocalypse is near. Matt is in a grumpy mood. Since day one, Matt's been letting me wear his long sleeve biking jersey, because it was way colder than I expected so I needed that plus arm warmers and my rain jacket. Apparently, Matt thought this extension of kindness was only temporary, and that I'd buy one for myself first chance I got. But ah, hello? $65 for something I'll only use this trip? I'll pass. But both of us didn't understand the other's point of view, and the showdown occurred today, in Eureka, California's local bike shop. He found one for me to buy, I said heck no, he fully realized his jersey was staying on my back indefinitely, and the fire of injustice has been burning ever since. A few minutes later he flipped a brick when dad took a bite of his snicker's, and now he's in the corner complaining about a gummy bear being stuck in his nasal cavity. This is rare. Matt's usually the one pushing us up hills and making up songs (yesterday's: "the sun'll come out...in a few more days...probably not...bet your bottom dollar that it...might.) But today he's just a bit fussy. When really I am the only one to have a reason to be grumpy, my sunglasses flew out of my pack today narrowly missing Matt's back tire, luckily they were recovered with minimal harm done. Luckily.  Today otherwise turned out great. We left Kalamath and took a gorgeous ride through a road lined with redwoods and got our pic with "Big Tree". It was, as you can imagine, big.  Dad says this ride still ranks in his top 5 of all time.  We passed mile after mile of HUGE trees lining the road. It was, dare I say it, fun. We kept down the road, the terrain a bit hilly but fine. Dad busted it about mile 40 to try and get to Eureka before we did to get his bike fixed, and fixed it now is. But, with the time it took, plus a stop at FedEx Kinko’s to get a camcorder we had shipped to us (the other went bonkers because of all the rain we've been having) it was just too late to continue. We had more miles in our legs, just not a 27 hour day to use them in, unfortunately. A word about our motel—holy canoli it is the most ghetto thing EVER, gotta love holes in the walls and cockroaches everywhere. Thanks everyone for the happy birthday wishes, it was definitely a unique one but one I'll never forget. Dad even got me a present, pink colored shoelaces that are quite fab. I love it. I wish you all well. I think we'll go for an 85-mile bike ride tomorrow.

Love,

Kristi Kay