Day Twenty Five - Tight Turns

Day Twenty Five – Tight Turns

Garborville to Fort Bragg

Daily Brief:

We hardly noticed the 1,200 foot ascent but the downhill was a blast. Tight turns, fast runs, even cars couldn’t go much faster then us. Then we came out onto a sunny coastline with rolling hills. At night we met Brandon who has EB. His Grandfather, Cecil, provided us dinner and a place to stay in a local motel.

The Ride

We started the days ride around 9:00 AM. The road we took was a little rough at first; we even had a little bit on a dirt road. It hooked back up with the 101 and we took that. Then we eventually made our way to the 1 and wound around the hills. We hardly noticed that we were climbing 1,200 feet in elevation. Perhaps it was that the up hills were offset by some downhill runs so we never got the feeling that we were really moving up, or maybe it was because we were talking so much. Either way, it went by quickly.

We passed through Legget, than had some great downhill runs. The road was narrow, and had tight turns. This was the first time we had to use our brakes to keep from flying off the road. What a rush. Even the Cars had a hard time going much faster then us. Chandler actually drafted a jeep most of the way down. Bonnie met us at the bottom and we took a break. That’s when we made the backpack cam. I had been trying to video tape the downhill ride, but it was hard to ride the tight turns with one hand. What we ended up doing was putting a tripod into my backpack and turned the camera on for the next downhill run. It wasn’t as twisty, but it was still a lot of fun. The video didn’t turn out, but the one where I held it did.

After we emerged from the second long downhill run, descending almost to sea level, we came to the ocean. It was a huge blue sky and seven shades of blue underneath reflected in the ocean. We cruised along the coast for the rest of the day ending up in Fort Bragg with plenty of time to spare.

In Fort Bragg we stayed in a motel 8 inn. The accommodations were set up by Cecil Pill, the grandfather of Brandon who has EB. Cecil also provided the entire team dinner and was a very hospitable host. The team appreciated his support and kindness in providing us food and shelter for our stay in Fort Bragg. Brandon, the boy with EB is 14 years old and is just graduating from middle school. He is in MESA, gets great grades and lives out of the city where it is nice and quiet. He was a cool kid. In talking to his mother, we agree that he, like many EB kids is not only brave, but helps the rest of us to keep a good perspective on life. Brandon’s example of positive attitude shows that we can be happy in whatever circumstance we may be in.

After dinner we gave Cecil and his family team t-shirts, retired back to the hotel and rested up for the remainder of the evening.

Daily Stats

Distance: 71.64
Time: 4:48
Avg. Speed: 14.9
Max Speed: 42.7

Total Distance: 1801.52

P&C Pushups: 200