Saturday, May 26, 2012
Friday, May 25, 2012
Riding Day 3: Myers Flat to Leggett
We just stopped for lunch in a hippy-laden town named Gerberville. Lunch was served at the House of Burgess - burgers and clubs for everyone! We visited a few hemp shops in search of bracelets and trinkets, with much success.
Here are a few of my observations from this morning's ride:
- Humboldt County gets a good drizzle rain every morning. Hence why there are so many marijuana growers here.
- Speaking of growers: we finally figured out why everyone is looking slightly tired but always banging espressos....
- There are LOTS of twenty-something folks wearing their baggy hoodies and cargo pants, also grumpy-looking...but we figure they are very well off thanks often lots of "mattress money"
- My beard (LP) is growing at an alarming pace... It's been close to a week since my last shave and I can see some thick stubble!
- We don't care much for people with pass' named after them...they often have difficult, extenuating climbs associated with them...
- Memorial Day weekend has begun and the amount of traffic on the highway has increased. The good news is people seem to respect the fact that May is Cyclist Month by giving us plenty of room when passing us.
- Jason hit a two-hill streak without walking...he is growing into quite the climber.
- LP still doesn't care for scraggly hippies...
- Jason loves his downhills...he even wishes there was a place where it was only downhill...I told him I'd start looking just after I finished inventing my perpetual motion machine made of Unobtanium :-)
- Jason is a total wild card : while Jo & I are wearing three to four layers each, he's wearing a cutoff jersey and track pants (??)
Tonight we stay at the STONEGATE VILLAS in Legget, CA. By this time tomorrow we'll be back on the coast, out of the redwoods, and making strong headway to San Francisco.
-LP
PS: I'm self-training during the climbs to get ready for Mt. Tamalpais just outside of San Fran. It will be a 2500 ft climb, straight up. My goal is to climb it in one shot, without stopping. It'll be a challenge, but also PURE awesome because that's where mountain biking was invented!
Here are a few of my observations from this morning's ride:
- Humboldt County gets a good drizzle rain every morning. Hence why there are so many marijuana growers here.
- Speaking of growers: we finally figured out why everyone is looking slightly tired but always banging espressos....
- There are LOTS of twenty-something folks wearing their baggy hoodies and cargo pants, also grumpy-looking...but we figure they are very well off thanks often lots of "mattress money"
- My beard (LP) is growing at an alarming pace... It's been close to a week since my last shave and I can see some thick stubble!
- We don't care much for people with pass' named after them...they often have difficult, extenuating climbs associated with them...
- Memorial Day weekend has begun and the amount of traffic on the highway has increased. The good news is people seem to respect the fact that May is Cyclist Month by giving us plenty of room when passing us.
- Jason hit a two-hill streak without walking...he is growing into quite the climber.
- LP still doesn't care for scraggly hippies...
- Jason loves his downhills...he even wishes there was a place where it was only downhill...I told him I'd start looking just after I finished inventing my perpetual motion machine made of Unobtanium :-)
- Jason is a total wild card : while Jo & I are wearing three to four layers each, he's wearing a cutoff jersey and track pants (??)
Tonight we stay at the STONEGATE VILLAS in Legget, CA. By this time tomorrow we'll be back on the coast, out of the redwoods, and making strong headway to San Francisco.
-LP
PS: I'm self-training during the climbs to get ready for Mt. Tamalpais just outside of San Fran. It will be a 2500 ft climb, straight up. My goal is to climb it in one shot, without stopping. It'll be a challenge, but also PURE awesome because that's where mountain biking was invented!
Riding Day 1: Crescent City to Eureka
Day One: Riding Crescent City to Eureka
We woke up pretty tired from the drive the night before down the Stunning Oregon Coastline. Nevertheless, we put our gear on, checked out our bikes and headed next door to Denny's.
We went over our route at the table and saw that we had two large climbs, the first was a 1,300 ft climb in less than two miles! Since we have never really practiced climbs we just assumed it would be tough and we would do our best.
OMG! We got about 500 ft up the hill and had to break. The huffing and puffing could be heard over the sound of cars passing by. Jason started taking off all his extra clothing, Joseph and LP kept they're jackets and warmers on because the cool breeze off the pacific was in their word "cold".
The climb was grueling LP only took breaks to wait for Joseph and Jason and at some point, for the sake of moving forward Jason started walking the bike up the mountain until a spot would somewhat level off for a few hundred yards. This climb went on about an hour and a half. In Jason's words, if it was not for the cool air off the ocean blowing into the trees,he wouldn't have been able to do it.
Finally, at the very top LP was waiting and said that it is "all down hill from here". Jason will never use the phrases "uphill climb" or "downhill from here" so nonchalantly for the rest of his life now that he has experienced the literal meaning!
As the three of us took a big death to head down the hill, LP shouted "LETS DO THIS! THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR! It sounded similar to Brad Pitt's line in TROY, where he said " immortality! Take it! It's yours!".
Thank god for downhill!! The feeling is hard to convey in words. The wind picks up, the speed of the bike goes faster than you can petal and so you stand on one pedal and let that awesome cool Pacific air dry off the beads of sweat. You come around the corner and the bluest of blue water appears before you with the coastline crashing into the Pacific. It's truly a moment of bliss. The entire struggle of the climb melted away as we headed down towards the ocean with the sun shining on us as we left the forest with the trees.
We pulled over to take some pictures at a vista point and met a couple David and Lila sic? that had driven from Yellowstone and continuing down the coast to their residence in San Diego. Very nice couple and they gave us all the best wishes on our journey to San Francisco.
At e vista point wee also ran into a group of girls that were tracking from Astoria Oregon to San Francisco as well! These girls were impressive. They camped each night and packed everything they would need for their journey. It made us look a bit like light weights with our hotels and bed and breakfasts along the way HA!
Our second climb began in the Redwood state park and we took an offshoot on the Newton B Drury road in the Pr airie Creek redwoods State Park, this would take us through the redwoods. Again, grueling climb. We ascended to 900 ft with a few stops but fewer than the first climb. Jason got frustrated with his clip on shoes and said that he was going to slow to even stay on the bike without falling and couldn't clip out in it e before falling. So, in true Florida fashion, he packed the bike shoes and put on his flip flops!! But kept his socks on HA! Surprisingly, he did much better when he got into gear that was familiar for him. he also had a sleeveless shirt on in the chilly forest but said he loved the cold air on his skin- he is such a wild card.
The ride downhill was one of the most majestic scenes ever. The redwoods on either side of the road are ancient. They have stories to tell if we can could only listen to them. It sounds crazy, but these are not just trees, they are infinitely more.
We cleared the redwoods and headed through Elk Prairie where herd of elk stay year round in the meadows, they lie in the grass like cattle and have no reason to
Do anything beyond that- such a hard life!
We ate lunch/ dinner in Orlick at The Palms restaurant cafe. Nice little restaurant and very accommodating on bringing pitchers of water for us to gulp down. We also stopped at a small furniture store to ask for directions and found that wood shop owners cannot collect the beechwood off the shores, they have to be brought in by others and the shop will purchase e wood from them, must everything be regulated??
Our next 40 miles was a blur, gorgeous, but a blur. We had to make it to Eureka before sunset and still had 40 miles to run and it was 4pm . The route took us along the coast but there were hills, smaller than the two large ones but they still took time. But the downhills again made up for it. The loneliest stretch was between ar ate and eureka, the terrain was flat but boring. We checked into the Quality inn and the lady gave us a room right reside the jacuzzi and sana!! We unwound for the day and ordered dominos pizza.
Fun fact: we have climbed a total of 12,234ft we felt it!!!
We woke up pretty tired from the drive the night before down the Stunning Oregon Coastline. Nevertheless, we put our gear on, checked out our bikes and headed next door to Denny's.
We went over our route at the table and saw that we had two large climbs, the first was a 1,300 ft climb in less than two miles! Since we have never really practiced climbs we just assumed it would be tough and we would do our best.
OMG! We got about 500 ft up the hill and had to break. The huffing and puffing could be heard over the sound of cars passing by. Jason started taking off all his extra clothing, Joseph and LP kept they're jackets and warmers on because the cool breeze off the pacific was in their word "cold".
The climb was grueling LP only took breaks to wait for Joseph and Jason and at some point, for the sake of moving forward Jason started walking the bike up the mountain until a spot would somewhat level off for a few hundred yards. This climb went on about an hour and a half. In Jason's words, if it was not for the cool air off the ocean blowing into the trees,he wouldn't have been able to do it.
Finally, at the very top LP was waiting and said that it is "all down hill from here". Jason will never use the phrases "uphill climb" or "downhill from here" so nonchalantly for the rest of his life now that he has experienced the literal meaning!
As the three of us took a big death to head down the hill, LP shouted "LETS DO THIS! THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR! It sounded similar to Brad Pitt's line in TROY, where he said " immortality! Take it! It's yours!".
Thank god for downhill!! The feeling is hard to convey in words. The wind picks up, the speed of the bike goes faster than you can petal and so you stand on one pedal and let that awesome cool Pacific air dry off the beads of sweat. You come around the corner and the bluest of blue water appears before you with the coastline crashing into the Pacific. It's truly a moment of bliss. The entire struggle of the climb melted away as we headed down towards the ocean with the sun shining on us as we left the forest with the trees.
We pulled over to take some pictures at a vista point and met a couple David and Lila sic? that had driven from Yellowstone and continuing down the coast to their residence in San Diego. Very nice couple and they gave us all the best wishes on our journey to San Francisco.
At e vista point wee also ran into a group of girls that were tracking from Astoria Oregon to San Francisco as well! These girls were impressive. They camped each night and packed everything they would need for their journey. It made us look a bit like light weights with our hotels and bed and breakfasts along the way HA!
Our second climb began in the Redwood state park and we took an offshoot on the Newton B Drury road in the Pr airie Creek redwoods State Park, this would take us through the redwoods. Again, grueling climb. We ascended to 900 ft with a few stops but fewer than the first climb. Jason got frustrated with his clip on shoes and said that he was going to slow to even stay on the bike without falling and couldn't clip out in it e before falling. So, in true Florida fashion, he packed the bike shoes and put on his flip flops!! But kept his socks on HA! Surprisingly, he did much better when he got into gear that was familiar for him. he also had a sleeveless shirt on in the chilly forest but said he loved the cold air on his skin- he is such a wild card.
The ride downhill was one of the most majestic scenes ever. The redwoods on either side of the road are ancient. They have stories to tell if we can could only listen to them. It sounds crazy, but these are not just trees, they are infinitely more.
We cleared the redwoods and headed through Elk Prairie where herd of elk stay year round in the meadows, they lie in the grass like cattle and have no reason to
Do anything beyond that- such a hard life!
We ate lunch/ dinner in Orlick at The Palms restaurant cafe. Nice little restaurant and very accommodating on bringing pitchers of water for us to gulp down. We also stopped at a small furniture store to ask for directions and found that wood shop owners cannot collect the beechwood off the shores, they have to be brought in by others and the shop will purchase e wood from them, must everything be regulated??
Our next 40 miles was a blur, gorgeous, but a blur. We had to make it to Eureka before sunset and still had 40 miles to run and it was 4pm . The route took us along the coast but there were hills, smaller than the two large ones but they still took time. But the downhills again made up for it. The loneliest stretch was between ar ate and eureka, the terrain was flat but boring. We checked into the Quality inn and the lady gave us a room right reside the jacuzzi and sana!! We unwound for the day and ordered dominos pizza.
Fun fact: we have climbed a total of 12,234ft we felt it!!!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Riding Day 2: Starting Notes
Its noon on Thursday - and we haven't left Eureka yet. Jason is pretty cool about it but Joseph is getting antsy. LP is rolling with it because it's beyond much of his control.
Why are we leaving late? For starters, yesterday's 81 mile/ 10 hour ride was a GRINDER. It started off with a 6 mile, 1400 foot climb. It was no small feat...twisty, sinewy with lots of banked turns and switchbacks. But once atop we were rewarded with our first gorgeous vista. When we reminded Jason to look as far ahead as he could to keep balanced on slow sections, he hilariously replies "I AM BUT when I do that al I see is PURPLE!". Quote of the day...
Long story short we arrived in Eureka around 21h, hit the hot tub as soon as possible and ordered some Domino's pizza. It was well deserved after a day where we had each burned between 10-12K calories.
We are just finishing lunch at the Eureka NORTH COAST COOP Market (everything else was burned down or out of business, it seemed) and are hitting the road. We've cut out a detour from our itinerary for the day, reducing from 95 miles to 53 miles to give us a break from all the huge climbs.
Tonight we stay at Myer's Inn, halfway along the scenic Avenue of the Giants.
Wish us luck and be happy you have chairs, not Italian bicycle seats, to sit on ;-)
-THIRD WHEELS
Why are we leaving late? For starters, yesterday's 81 mile/ 10 hour ride was a GRINDER. It started off with a 6 mile, 1400 foot climb. It was no small feat...twisty, sinewy with lots of banked turns and switchbacks. But once atop we were rewarded with our first gorgeous vista. When we reminded Jason to look as far ahead as he could to keep balanced on slow sections, he hilariously replies "I AM BUT when I do that al I see is PURPLE!". Quote of the day...
Long story short we arrived in Eureka around 21h, hit the hot tub as soon as possible and ordered some Domino's pizza. It was well deserved after a day where we had each burned between 10-12K calories.
We are just finishing lunch at the Eureka NORTH COAST COOP Market (everything else was burned down or out of business, it seemed) and are hitting the road. We've cut out a detour from our itinerary for the day, reducing from 95 miles to 53 miles to give us a break from all the huge climbs.
Tonight we stay at Myer's Inn, halfway along the scenic Avenue of the Giants.
Wish us luck and be happy you have chairs, not Italian bicycle seats, to sit on ;-)
-THIRD WHEELS
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Day 2: Portland
Day 2: Started the day at Voodoo Doughnuts, famous for their bacon-maple doughnut. AWESOME! Although we were apprehensive, the sweet and salty treat was incredible.
We ate the doughnuts in the Tahoe on our way to the Evergreen museum in Mcminville. On our way out there we passed beautiful vineyards in the world renowned Willamette Valley. Something about the cool and dreary weather really highlighted the lush vegetation down in the valley. Jason remembered something in his high school science classes about higher nitrogen levels during storms that makes the green of plants more saturated in appearance. See,education stays with you for a lifetime, never take it for granted.
We drove through various small towns with cottage style gardens in their front yards that gave way to enormous cedar and fir trees lining the road. Out of no where the trees cleared and the HUGE museum appeared to our right. In all honesty, we were expecting a far less statement than what the museum actually has.
We toured the planes, most notably the Spruce Goose. Yes, THE Spruce Goose!! Howard Hughes, though "Two sanwhiches short of a picnic" as our decon Vietname vet said, really knew how to make a statement. The plane is spectacular! Though made entirely of wood, it only has a small amount of Spruce wood and is made mostly by Birch.
The informational videos and signs really captured Hughes' personality. Our tour guide into the cockpit said that originally, the Goose was not supposed to fly on its inaugural day. However Hughes was a "Rule breaker, and by default a hero and badass"-Jason Hughes purposefully did not have a copilot on that historic day when he was only going to take the reporters on a "Taxi" through the bay. Two taxis later and a drop off of all but one reporter Hughes gunned the engines and flew the ship barely above the water and less than one mile, pissing off precisely everyone that he wanted to piss off HA!-American Hero!!
We left the Goose Hanger and toured the Space Hanger where they had a SR71! This is the fastest, and highest flying KNOWN aircraft. Fun fact, the SR71 leaves the ground with almost an empty tank of gas and refuels in the air. This is due to the "Skin" of the plane-which feels like a chalkboard. The skin takes the fuel through all of its capillaries to cool the surface which approaches 400 degrees Fahrenheit. If the fuel tank was full on the ground, the plane would leek fuel on the ground because the capillaries expand and seal off the fuel only in the heat of breaking the sound barrier. This plane flies at Mach 3!! Or Los Angeles to Maine in 1 hour!!
The docents of the museum were wonderful, most were Vets. We ended up meeting Bruce. Lo and behold, he and his wife are YouTube celebrities as "The Happy Huffmans". Very nice guy, he let us privately climb on a plane and pose with 50 caliber guns. Joseph remembered shooting these in the navy on the Kittyhawk and he said "it was so much fun"
On the way back we stopped at Red Hills Market. Yelp suggested the Roast beef sandwich and DAMN was it good!
On our way to Portland!
Fun day of Sightseeing.
We took LP to see the majestic Columbia Gorge waterfalls (Horsetail Falls, etc...) and the Historic 30 scenic view. For kicks (and so LP could do his WA FourSquare checkin!) we took a jaunt over to Washington state to hunt for natural hotsprings. Alas, these were all safely guarded by hotel properties or wealthy locals; we briefly flirted with the idea of starting an OCCUPY RURAL WASHINGTON movement but were quickly discouraged by the pouring rain. FAIL.
Back to Portland
We stormed back into the River City to knock out a few final purchases. We visited a badASS bicycle store (River City Cycles) with the friendliest staff imaginable. LP decided that one of his retirement plans would include owning a bicycle store, even if at a loss ;-)
After RCC, we went to the gorgeous Starbucks overlooking a plaza in downtown Portland to refuel. LP was all smiles after getting his collectible SBUX mug, but it didn't come close to Crazy Cathy (that is a fictional name to mask her true identity, although it's debatable if she knows said identity). Cathy--truly crazy, or "Station 3" as the ER Department would say at Methodist Hospital, and her friend- a voluntary transient-were jamming out to their CD's on a portable CD player in a way none of us had ever seen before. Jason was blown away by her Madonna Insta-Shrine - she picked up her Madonna CD and gave it a big wet kiss followed by a belted rendition of LIKE A VIRGIN. We also couldn't help but love how Cathy and her Accolyte reveled at a Sarah McLaughlin song about her dog.
LP needed to visit a CyberCafé to send off a little outstanding GE work, so we visited BackSpace. This place was a smorgasbord of PDX personalities - hipsters, cyber surfers, people pretending to be busy mashing their keyboards and a bearded stocky man in a rainbow-lit transparent vinyl raincoat. He was definitely the mover & shaker in the joint.
Faced with growling stomachs, the trio headed back towards the Tahoe in search of food. Upon the cold and painful realization that our Noodle House eatery was nothing more than a shacked up food truck (most eateries close at 20h apparently) we walked right past the 24H Subway ("I will NOT eat Subway on vacation!" -LP) and peeled off for our hotel-recommended FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN. The joint was packed and we were grumpy - at the snap of a word our meal transformed into a series of TOGO boxes. We turned in for an early night, wolfing down super spicy wings and chicken sandwiches watching Rob Dyrdek's RIDICULOUSNESS on MTV (nothing like watching people hurting themselves in poorly thought-out games!)
LP NOTE: Jason felt it was important to highlight that I not only did not care for the Playboy model on the show, but that I was indeed partial to the other female guest's teeth.
In all, we had a great day of doing everything and nothing. Off to assemble our bikes and hit the road for CRESCENT CITY!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)