Day 15 | riding with the giants
Distance
61.9 miles
Elevation Climbed
1,995 ft
Landscape
Short, small lumber and fish industry driven neighborhoods; towering redwood groves
Weather
Overcast to sunny, 50 to 65 F
Kirsten’s Notes:
Dad and I had a lot to look forward to on today’s ride since we were doing the first two thirds of the Avenue of the Giants. For those following along, you may remember mention of a cyclist who joined us for part of our ride in southern Washington. He had ridden from Seattle to San Francisco before (although doing 125 miles a day with only the clothes on his back) and said his favorite part of the ride was this Avenue. It’s been a fleeting thought on my mind since then and it didn’t disappoint.
The day started chilly and overcast but with only light wind and on a series of well-paved, wide shoulder roads. We knew we had sun to look forward to in the forecast as we got further south so it was an ideal day to pump out some distance and cruise through the first 40 miles without the temptation of a stop. We encountered a road with about a mile of repetitive, melodic up-down mini-thumps every ~3/4 seconds; I was curious how a road could be so perfectly janky and Dad explained that asphalt was put on top of a concrete road that, like every other concrete road, has spacers built in 10-15 feet apart and the road was cracking on those. Who knew! Dad also called my attention to an enormous lumberyard where there must’ve been hundreds of thousands of logs stacked waiting to be shaped into common board lengths. It was quite jarring to see that on the way to a beautiful living forest and makes me thankful for the forethought and effort conservationists and lawmakers had and make to protect some of the world’s most unique forests/ groves.
Dad and I found the sun when we arrived to the Avenue and spent 20 miles admiring the enormity of the coastal redwoods up close sharing the full road with the few cars that were there. No more shoulder hugging! The scattered light through the trees enhanced the light brown trunks, created shadows that optically deepened the ridges on them and illuminated leaves previously invisible deep in the grove. If we could bottle up the smells we noticed they’d be called Sun-Kissed Potpourri and Warm Mountain Meadow.
Lars’ Notes:
Having yesterday as a day off provided some much needed recovery. As it happened, our Airbnb for the night was across the street from a bicycle shop. I finally had to re-evaluate my seat choice, my butt is in so much pain from my existing rock hard seat. I found a touring seat with a lot more padding and it was a game changer! We got off to an early start from Arcata. We had cloudy and gloomy skies, but a nice tailwind. We left Arcata, and traveled the 101 to Eureka, a city of about 23,000 people, very much a coastal fishing and logging region. We found a nice bike path that traversed the inland cove. That was a lovely section of the ride, but not much of a view and it actually started to drizzle a bit. We pushed on, making good time. After about 40 miles of cloudy cooler weather, we arrived at The Avenue of the Giants, part of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
We had already gotten a preview of what a unique spot this was yesterday, when Lise, Kirsten and I traveled here on our day off. Biking it, however, was a completely different experience. There was very little traffic and we frequently had the road to ourselves. Riding through the forest with the tallest and oldest living things on this planet made me feel awestruck and humble. Quietly riding through these giant trees, submerged in an ocean of ferns and sorrels was so incredibly peaceful. I felt noticeably comforted and calm by these mammoth organisms. It actually felt like they were protecting us as we respectfully navigated through them. Their sheer beauty kept traffic slow so we did not need to worry about safety, their massive size and height and kept us shaded. We were often the only ones on the road, the feeling was surreal, nothing but peaceful breezes to be heard, astonishing beauty to be seen and the wonderful aromas provided by the rich diversity of plant life. At the end of many rides, I was relieved and excited to complete the day. Today, I wished this one lasted longer!
