Day 14 | testing our limits
Distance
77.7 miles
Elevation Climbed
4,914 ft
Landscape
Redwood forests, rocky coastline, sandy beaches
Weather
Partly cloudy turned sunny, 60s F
Lars’ Notes:
We were pretty tired when we completed the day’s ride; so tired, in fact, that I fell asleep before writing my reflections. It was a tough day physically, we covered 78 miles with nearly 5000 feet of vertical throughout. The first of seven climbs was the highest and longest and confronted us within a few miles from the start. We climbed for over 5 miles and over 1200 feet of vertical. The shoulder of Rt. 101 was pretty sketchy on parts of the route, but we were lucky that there was some construction for a mile or so, which allowed us to ride in a lane that was closed to cars. Kirsten and I powered through and managed to smile at our accomplishment. “That wasn’t as bad as I expected” Kirsten commented as we met at the peak. With a five mile climb comes wonderful views and helpful declines! As the descents provide some huge relief on the legs, they can also be a bit stressful. Lise came to our rescue and provided us with protection with the car on some of the more treacherous sections. As we completed the descent, I saw a police officer checking speeds on the vehicles coming off the hill. I jokingly said to him “I’m not speeding am I?” “No”, he replied, “but that car almost took you out!” He then proceeded to chase them and pull them over. It was Lise he was talking about! Absolutely hilarious! When she informed him that it was her husband and daughter on the bikes, he laughed and said, “I guess I read that one wrong!” He was great, had a great sense of humor and continued to chat with us for a while; California’s finest!
The route led us through the Jedediah and Del Norte Redwoods State Parks and we had an amazing ride through the Coastal Redwood Trees. They emerged suddenly as we entered the forest. For the next several miles, we alternated between inclines and descents through the forest and coastal beaches as we descended to sea level. After the coastal portion, we turned inland again and entered the Redwood National Park. South of the National Park, we left Rt. 101 a few times for beautiful scenic detours along the Newton Drury Parkway and Patrick’s Point Drive. The next goal was to reach Clam Beach. The plan was to have Lise pick us up after a 66 mile ride. With about 14 miles from our Airbnb, Kirsten and I decided to ride the extra miles and save Lise the extra drive (and shorten our ride on Thursday). We had a tailwind and energy, so we went for it. We found a beautiful bike path that meandered through meadows and the coastline. The only issue was, the pavement stopped! We did some mountain biking on our road bikes and questioned our choices. As we stopped to reconsider the choice, and looked out over the Pacific Ocean, we saw over one hundred Sea Lions. Three very kind bikers came our way and informed us that the pavement began again in less than a hundred yards. We sailed through the last 14 miles with a generous tailwind and unique views of the agricultural land outside Arcada, California. A long day, but amazing…I’m truly grateful! Day of rest tomorrow 🙂
Kirsten’s Notes:
We set out on our ride today knowing we had one of our toughest days ahead of us: our 7th day of riding in a row, our highest climb of the trip, 6 other climbs and countless other hills that don’t count as climbs. We had ~78 miles scheduled to go straight to our Airbnb but decided together in the morning to redistribute 10 of the miles to a later day since our next few days would have less elevation gain.
Our day started on Pebble Beach, a sea-level road with a nearly continuously unobstructed view over the Pacific. By this point we’ve seen a lot of amazing coastline but this beach had a particular charm because of the texture that the high number of intertidal structures added to the horizon. We then embarked on our longest climb of the trip: 5.1 miles up 1,276 ft (4.8% average grade). For context, that means I was riding uphill for ~45 minutes (Dad, faster). To our delight, one of the two lanes was closed down to traffic so we used it for ourselves. The branches, bark strip and pine cone covered road made me feel like I was playing a NASCAR arcade game where you need to dodge debris – it was a very welcome alternative to close car proximity and provided an entertaining distraction on a long uphill effort. Overall it was a lot more manageable than originally anticipated because there were a few surprise flat portions halfway up and, well, we’ve biked a lot of hills in the last 2 weeks. Our cheerleader, Mom, passed us as we were going up and did what she could to slow down traffic behind us on the descent since the roads were windy and shoulder was narrow. I wiped out standing upright and stationary trying to talk to my parents behind me with one clip in…not my most graceful moment. Then mom got pulled over by a cop – not her most graceful moment either!
Dad and I had a lovely, sauntering ride through the Prairie Creek Redwood Grove on a road with very light traffic and very tall trees (towering over 300 ft in the air!). The added freshness in the air was palatable and the light streaking through the vibrant canopy made it feel magical. It was nice to be able to ride side by side to enjoy it together. We saw sea lions (?) at 2 different places today. They were making some lion-like noises so sea lions feels right today…
Our last climb was around mile 60 and at that point, even though our legs were heavy and energy depleted, we decided to send it and wipe ourselves out today by doing the full 78 miles since we had a rest day tomorrow. We were blessed with a smooth, paved bike road flanked by wildflowers and stalky coastal bushes and then jolted by a lumpy, sandy inclined beach path that we slipped and swerved up (our road bikes are surely not made for this). At the top, 70 miles in, I wiped out standing upright and stationary…again. Lying on the ground under my bike I dramatically told Dad “Leave me here” and proceeded to start looking at whether the road would become paved again soon. A group of lovely local ladies arrived and only then did I realize how insane I looked sprawled and contorted on the ground under my bike with my phone 6 inches from my face to block the 6pm late afternoon sun. They reassured us that the path we were on would be a dope bike path again in a matter of feet and we made it home it one piece.
