I vaguely remember trying to blog while lying in bed last night. I saw this morning what I managed to type and laughed out loud.
I am very proud of myself. We rode a 95 km section that I felt took a great deal of mental discipline to get through, and I am happy that we did since the California coastline is absolutely stunning. Oregon was gorgeous, but with the sun shining every day on this section of the coastline and the warmer temperatures, the views we get definitely justify the pain of hill climbing.
Misty and I left Standish-Hickey Park early in the morning to conquer the much-maligned Leggett Hill which takes us to the highest point on the Pacific Coast Bike Trail at about 1930 ft. The ascent was much gentler than a few of the hills we had done previously, and was challenging only because the road had so many bends it was difficult to see more than 50 meters ahead. The climb I would have done faster had I not stopped for more than 30 minutes waiting uselessly for Misty. I thought she was behind me but in fact she was already up the hill waiting for me according to a passing motorist that I flagged down. Perfect. The morning is starting well. The descent was exhilarating since it's fun taking up the whole lane and riding my bike like what I imagine driving a race car would be like. It was hard to keep the bike below 40 kph and predicting where the road went was anyone's guess.
After Leggett came the Rockport hill, a shorter but steeper climb right after the Leggett hill. Already tired from the first climb, this one often beat cyclists off their bikes because it is a sustained steeper grade. To get over this one, I flipped my iPhone on and started playing some dance music, thought of the Disney cartoon from the 1920s about the Little Engine that Could and just kept repeating "I think I can I think I can I think I can" and then occasionally looking down at my legs and thinking "oh Look! They're still working!" to take my mind off the burn. I also avoided looking up at the road ahead since it can be demotivating to look up and still see the road going up so I would know if the hill ended only when the pedaling got easier.
The rest of the day we contended with more hills, but now these were short and steep and much more frequent. In essence after the big ones we had to deal with a whole lot of small ones, and these were the ones that made me curse. Thankfully, Misty noticed I was dying and asked me how I was cycling these and gave a few tips on how to handle the terrain with the least amount of energy. It made a difference. The multiple stops that both Misty and I made also helped because at every turn, every peak there was something beautiful to gawk at.
We pulled into Mendocino after 5.5 hours of cycling, happy to be done and looking forward to well-deserved rest day. An inn at the top of a hill (surprise) was advertising vacancies, so we inquired and completely lucked out. She had one room left, the suite with the king bed. Usually about $300 a night, she gave it to us for half that for two nights!!!! Complete with a deck and deck chairs, with space for us and our two bikes, and waffles included in breakfast, I landed in the lap of luxury and really can't imagine a more perfect ending to this epic day of cycling.
We have four to five days of cycling left before we pull into San Francisco. Our journey this year will end there, mostly due to time constraints and because it doesn't appeal to me to continue by myself on the San Francisco to San Diego leg. We will enjoy this coastline and spend time in the neighborhoods of San Francisco to finish this vacation.
