Well, I made it. In one piece. Actually, more like 1,000 pieces held together by a dirty jersey and smelly bibs. I know I say this a lot but yesterday was a real bitch. I started out at Fort Ross and had about 90 miles to get to SF. Around mile 70, I decided to continue on HWY 1, instead of splitting off through the back country roads.
Check out nine more photos below!
But let’s back track a bit. Waking up to a foggy coastline is an invigorating way to start your day. There were 100’s of spider webs, all capturing dew.
I had a hard time waking up. There were no warm showers at the camp site, so I washed up in the sink the night before. I was trying to set up another shot when I yawned halfway through and a truck came skidding around a turn.
There was heavy construction along the 1, so lots of backed-up and frustrated drivers.
My wool armwarmers were covered in dew.
As were these flowers.
It stayed like this until about 1 in the afternoon. A heavy cloud cover just settled over the coast.
I met up with this dude who was touring on a road bike with a Bob trailer (he even brought a floor pump!!!!). We cruised for about 15 miles before splitting off at Pt. Reyes. From there, I had 10 miles of headwind along the 1 before hitting Stinson beach. Now I know why the ACA maps take you inland. Man, what a climb that was and it didn’t stop. Winding roads, gnarly climbs and everyone that passed me on a bike said “you’re crazy for doing this loaded!”.
That’s when I knew I was close to SF. Check out the sticker!
The road was long, my legs were tired and my bags weren’t getting any lighter but I made it. I rolled into SF at 6pm after starting at 8:30am with 100 miles and 7,000 feet of climbing. Here’s the route:
What did I learn?
-Get rid of everything you don’t need on your last day. I still had peanut butter, granola, bread, pasta, sauce, etc. It weighed a good 8 pounds!
-If you don’t wanna follow maps, be prepared to deal with hell!
-You can ride any kind of bike on tour, even a stock road bike.
-A beer, a bourbon and a burger is the perfect way to end the day!
In the next few days, I’ll return to regularly-scheduled posts but today, I need a break! I’ll put up a “what you need and what you don’t” post as well as an equipment break down of what I traveled with and a rough estimate of what it all cost me.
Thanks for coming along!