Day Twenty Six - Riding the Wind Up

Day Twenty Six – Riding the Wind Up

Fort Bragg to Bodega Bay

Daily Brief

The day went by fast, and so did we. The Coast provided some huge winds, huge drops, and tight turns. That’s mostly all there was too, from start to finish.

The Ride

In the morning we loaded up at the continental breakfast. We all had had a nice nights rest due to Cecil Pill who hooked us up with the Hotel. It was the first time I had a bed to myself for at least a month. After we left Fort Bragg we hit cruise control and didn’t take a full on rest until 43 miles into the day. We ate some snacks then kept moving because it gets cold along the coast when you aren’t moving. We must have been doing well because some other bicycle riders we passed made the comment “You must be training for something!” At lunch we took a rest in a little town that was all closed down. Chilling on the steps of a closed down market, we met some other cyclists. They had come from Philadelphia and were returning for a total of a 9,000 mile journey. We were impressed.

As we continued on, we came across some steep drops and climbs. The road was narrow and the drops were huge and the turns were tight. We probably would have hit it faster except for the wind gusts that were 30+ MPH at times. Bonnie said that cows were usually a road danger, which is why she was surprised they were just chilling right off the road, with nothing in-between them and us. The traffic didn’t help things but we still had some really fun runs. The view to our right was fantastic. There were cliffs to the ocean and rugged rocks piercing the surface of the ocean. We were hundreds of feet up so we could see far along the ocean. The one good thing about the wind was when we were climbing up the hills it gave us an extra push. It almost felt like we could ride the wind up the hills, and I’m sure if we had a sail we could have.

Ashley pushed ahead of the group after lunch and gave us the hook up in Bodega Bay for a place to stay. When we arrived we set our things in the hotel room, and went for the hot tub, which to our delight had super jets. It was just enough to help our sore muscles feel better. The pool was warm and was almost like a hot tub itself. After that, we cleaned up and Bonnie had Chris and Shaun pick up some Pizzas. We ate and relaxed, getting ready for the ride tomorrow.

Daily Stats

Distance: 109.75
Time: 6:10
Avg Speed: 17.6
Max Speed: 49.1

Total Distance: 1911.27

P&C Pushups: 120