Santa Barbara Day Off

August 7 Reseda Free Day

It is 8 AM and already 78 degrees. I am hoping to see one of my friends from Heidelberg days.  Craig Beeker, the RA on my floor my freshmen year is a Lutheran pastor not too far away from here.  Very slow start to the morning. I slept in until 7:45 AM, that is the latest I have slept since July 10I .  It was nice to sleep in. 

I lounged around this morning.  Chatting with our riders and thinking about what me might do on our free day, recognizing that we don't want to do too much outside since it suppose to be hotter today than yesterday.

I was able to meet up with Craig. He drove over to Reseda from his church, which is  about 1/2 away with his 3 boys.  We had a wonderful timing catching up over lunch.  The last time I saw him was 1985 when he graduated from Heidelberg. He's been at his church for 19 1/2 years.  He has twin boys 15 and a 13 year old son.  All of them are in band and Craig's wife is a funeral director and avid horse person.  Craig is one of those special people in your life.  He made my freshmen year of college survivable and all these years later he remains a comforting warm soul.  It was a blessing to see him and meet his boys. 

A group of us are taking Allen out for dinner tonight.  We are a bit limited on our food selection since Allen is happiest eating hotdogs and beans, and we're in So. Cal where spicy food is the food of choice.  We may go bowling as well.

August 6 Santa Barbara to Reseda

I woke up not feeling that great. My ankle was swollen again and hurting.  I packed my cycling stuff in my day pack with the intention of riding in the van the fist segment and then getting out at the start of segment two to ride the rest of the way.  I slept the first 25 miles in the van.  We stopped like along the beach for the first rest stop.  It was beautiful, and I thought about putting my cycling clothes on and riding, but it was starting to get warm.

I made the right decision not to ride. By the time we reached the second rest stop it was 90 degrees and over 100 by the third rest stop.  With the antibiotic I am on, I would have died ridig in such heat and direct sunlight for 5 hours plus.  It was almost unbearable in the van at rest stops.

Tomorrow we may or may not have a completely free day. It is a no ride day, but it is suppose to be a build day.  The build day has been cancelled, but we may do some volunteer work in the community or at the church.  It was still in the 90's at 9 PM at night.

Our host church is Kirk of the Valley, PC USA.  There is a clergy couple who co-pastor the church.  They are Princeton grads.  The husband grew up in San Diego.  The sanctuary is set up for worship in the round and has a full sound booth and instruments for a full band.  The church has a K through 5 school as well.  It appears to be a very happening place and according to the pastors the facility functions as both church and community gathering space.

August 5 Santa Barbara Free Day

The mornings are always more relaxed on free days.  No set wake up time, breakfast on your own and because it is Sunday worship with either the host church or a church of one's choosing.  Five us decided to attend First Congregational Church of Santa Barbara, UCC.  We rode our bikes there.  It was about 2.5 miles from our host. I had left a voice mail and e-mail message for the pastor the night before.

She warmly greeted us the moment we arrived.  There were 36 visitors in worship, including us. There was a baptism, which accounted for some of the other visitors.  The congregation was very welcoming and warm.  I think we spoke to nearly everyone in worship.  I was able to bring greetings from the Central Atlantic Conference and the Conference Minister John D.  First Cong. Santa Barbara is John's home church.  I was able to speak about the ride and the work of the Fuller Center. 

After worship we continued to speak with folks from the congregation.  Santa Barbara holds its annual Fiesta this weekend.  We learned from the husband of the Christian Ed director at our host church to go to Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic church for authentic Mexican food and avoid the Fiesta, which is exactly what we did.  It was amazing and loads of fun.  Then we headed to the beach, rode on the pier and just enjoyed the waterfront of Santa Barbara before heading down State Street and back to the church.

We parked our bikes and jumped on the bus to go back downtown for dinner.  We caught the tail end of the outdoor symphony concert by the West Coast Symphony.  It was magical.  We spoke with a few members of the symphony and got good local suggestions on where to get some reasonably priced pasta in not so reasonably  priced Santa Barbara.  We bummed into the same people later in the evening, when we went into a restaurant where some of the other cyclists were getting hamburgers.  The people who had recommended the Italian restaurant were sitting next to the cyclist we went in to see.

Taxi ride home, which was more expensive than planned, but it was taxi or walk 4 miles.

August 4 Santa Maria to Santa Barbara

Santa Maria to Santa Barbara 74.8 miles 5 hours and 8 minutes.

Back on the bike.  I was prepared to stop and ride in the van if necessary depending on how I felt on this new antibiotic and how my energy the Staph infection had sapped from my body.

I was a little sluggish into the first rest stop, but overall I was feeling pretty good.  I rode with several different people and rode by myself for a number of miles. My pace was not as fast as other days, so I could not keep up with the faster riders and it was not as slow as some of the the other folks, although everyone was riding a bit slower after 105 plus mile day the day before.

The thing I most remember about today's ride was the long slow climb between rest one and two. The rode was bumpy due to the type of pavement, which makes one slower to begin with becuase one's rolling efficiency is so much less. I was pedaling at a good cadence and only able to maintain a speed of about 10 or 11 miles an hour, which is very slow on fairly level ground.  There was also a bit of a headwind.  Riding long strentches under such conditions becomes very demoralizing.  I started to wonder why I was putting myself through this and praying for smoother pavement and less wind.  What I did not realize at the time was I was going up hill as well.  This became clear when the climb got more steep and then I rode downhill for 5 minutes or more at 28 miles an hour.  Not only had I been riding on very rough pavement, I had also been pedaling uphill.

Much of the final stage into Santa Barbara was along the ocean.  It was beautiful and soul renewing to ride along the seashore. 

Santa Barbara is the end of segment 3 and Dean the rider who joined us in San Fran will be leaving.  Our host church is the First Baptist Church of Santa Barbara, an American Baptist Church.  Hans, the longboard skateboarder is the senior pastor.  He is what one might imagine a So. Cal surfing pastor would be like.

Tomorrow we have a free day in Santa Barbara.  I have always heard good things about the town of Santa Barbara.  I'm looking forward to exploring the downtown and the waterfront.

August 3 Cambria to Santa Maria

I did not feel all that great when I woke up so I made the decision to ride in the van.  Turns out this was a very wise decision.  The ride route was not very scenic and I received a phone call from the doctor's office in San Fran that treated on Monday.  The doctor told me I needed to stop taking the antibiotic I was put on in San Fran, because I had a Staph infection and Staph is resistant to the antibiotic I was taking. 

By the end of the day I was on my third antibiotic in less than 3 weeks. Bactrim, which is broad spectrum antibiotic is my new drug of choice. I sure hope this antibiotic works.

August 2 Carmel to Cambria

Carmel to Cambria 107 miles 7 hours 44 minutes.

Early morning in order to hit the road before too much traffic joins us on the road.  Today's ride will mostly be on CA-1, which means I'll be riding along the coast line and crossing Big Sur.  The ride started at dawn in 50ish degree weather.  I thought about wearing my tights along with my long sleeve shirt.  I took the tights off, but stuck with the long sleeve shirt for two reasons: one it was cool and two the hyper sensitivity to UV rays caused by the antibiotic I'm on.

We had four scheduled rest stops on today's ride: 25 miles, 45 miles, 65 miles, and 85 miles.  My goal was to make it to the first rest stop and see how I was feeling at that point. I did not ride particularly fast during the first segment.  There were lots of ups and downs on CA-1 with glimpses of the ocean through the thick fog.  I knew the ocean was beneath me because of the steep drops and the sound of the surf from time-to-time.  I stopped to take a photo of a "valley" where the fog was beneath me and looked more like a ceiling than fog covering the ocean and valley below. 

The area around Big Sur was covered in fog as well. In fact, most of the 95 miles on CA-1 were fogged in, which made the ride cooler, temp wise, but somewhat less interesting from a visual standpoint.

I was ready to stop at mile 25, but I kept going to the next rest stop at mile 45 again, I was ready to stop.  By mile 45, I had climbed a very long hill that had a short downhill and lots and lots of smaller hills.  The ride had the feel of an uphill ride from the start to nearly the finish.  I pushed on to the next rest stop at mile 65.  I was feeling better by this time and riding with more easy.  I kept my long sleeve shirt on and kept applying sunscreen to my exposed areas.

There was one more big climb and a number of rollers betweenn mile 65 and 85.  The 20 miles or so were pretty flat, and I still had enough energy to ride at 20 plus miles an hour on the flats. I stopped to take photos of the Elephant Seals at Elephtant Seal Beach.  In the town of Cambria there is a bakery/restaurant that makes wonderful pies.  I had learned this from Turbo Tom's son who lives in LA county and buys pies from this bakery whenever he has the opportunity.  Turbo Tom, Jenn, Erik and I made a bee-line for Linn's once we reached Cambria.  The pies were better than imagined. Of course, after 105 miles on a bicycle almost anything tastes good.  Two more miles to the church and my first Century plus ride was under my belt.

August 1 Santa Cruz to Carmel

Santa Cruz to Carmel 57.2 miles 4 hour and 30 minutes

A short ride today, which is good because tomorrow we have the longest ride of the trip 105 miles. I have been to Carmel once before, but not to the "in-land" part of Carmel.  I've been to Carmel by the Sea, which is beautiful.

The ride was uneventful and easy due to short distance.  Most of the ride was several miles in-land so I did not see much of the coast line today, which is a bummer.  Did not have the opportunity to do 17 mile drive or pass through Pebble Beach.

The only excitement I had was my chain fell off at a stop light near the end of the ride. Our host church today is an Episcopal congregation.  There was choir practice in one of the rooms.  The choir invited us to join them. I'm sure there are some good singers in our group, but I'm not one of them.

July 31 San Francisco to Santa Cruz

San Francisco to Santa Cruz 80.1 miles in 6 hours and 1 minute.

After breakfast the priest of the Armenian congregation led us in morning devotions.  It was a very moving service. In the free church tradition one tends to forgot how moving liturgy can be, especially when it is done with purpose.

On the road again, without my riding buddy Hannah and Pete. The group picked up two new riders Dean and Chris F.  Dean will be riding with us for a week and Chris F the rest of the way. 

The ride was mostly in-land with a little bit of costal riding near Half Moon Bay. I rode with several different people depending on my speed and theirs.  I rode through strawberry fields that stretched as far as the eye could see. The strawberries were being picked by migrant workers--100s of them.  The strawberries were for Driscoll, which is the brand Martin's/Giant sells in my town.  It was amazing to see the strawberries being picked, packaged and placed on pallets in the field and then loaded on to trucks that will eventually deliever them to my neighborhood grocery store.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. Our host church for the evening is called Vintage Faith. It is a Presbyterian Church, but has re-made itself into a West Coast version of the emergent church.  The coolest thing about the church is the coffee shop the church runs, called the Abbey.  Great coffee, 70's rock, lounge chairs, couches,and lots of young people reading, chatting, studying and simply hanging out.  Every church needs such a coffee shop.

Tuesday is the college night at the church.  The church hosts a dinner, informal worship, and discussion groups for college age folks.  Santa Cruz is home to one othe UC campuses.  It was the last college night until Sept.  We had sloppy joes for dinner and good conversation with students in attendance.  The worship service was the polar opposite of the morning's devotions at the Armenian  church.  It was informal, with praise music, powerpoint, testimonies, and a rambling homily, but it felt good to worship with such a large group of young adults.

Tomorrow is a short day Santa Cruz to Carmel.  Maybe I'll get to see Clint Eastwood.

July 30 San Francisco, CA Free Day

Slept in a bit, ate breakfast, and went to work on locating a nearby doctor to look at my ankle/infection.  I ended making an appointment at a concierge medical group.  It will cost me $150 to join the medical for a year, but I can see them this morning.  The only other option was going to the ER and waiting for hours.

The concierge medical group is in a neighborhood in what appears to be a converted house.  I arrived at 9:30 AM for my 10 AM appointment.  I had to fill out my medical history on a computer in the waiting room.  The doctor called me a few minutes after 10 AM to go in for my appointment. The doctor who treated me, is actually a nurse practioner who graduated from Harvard.  She did her residence at Mass General and lived in Cambridge.  We chatted about Boston.  She and her husband are heading back up to Boston to visit friends in the coming weeks. 

Turns out it was a very good thing I went to see the doctor.  The infection was not clearing up, in fact it is getting worse.  She took a culture and prescribed a stronger antibiotic and gave me a antibiotic cream to put on the wound itself.  Off to the pharmacy to pick up the new antibiotic and then on into San Fran for some sightseeing.

Fisherman's Wharf with Luke, Hannah, Andrew, and a college friend of Hannah.  We walked around for a bit and then went for lunch. Andrew and I got sushi at a restaurant at the end of Pier 39 overlooking Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, although we could not see the Golden Gate Bridge due to the heavy fog. Every so often we could see the very top of the bridge's suspension system, but nothing else. We walked to Lombard Street and watched the cars zig-zag down.  Then it was off to Chinatown for Chinese food. 

We wandered around Chinatown for an hour or more people watching, popping into stores and tasting tea.  We could not decided on a restaurant, so I asked the mailman if he had any suggestions.  He gave us the name of two restaurants. We picked the one that served traditional Hong-Kong style.  The restaurant, like most in Chinatown, appeared to be a mom and pop operation.  Luke, Hannah, Chris B., John, Andrew and I went to the restaurant for dinner.  Chris B made friends with our waitress/mom owner right away by asking if the $20.00 min on credit card purchases was firm.  With attitude our waitress informed him that it was.  We continued to make her happy by telling her that we wanted individual checks, which led her to walk away in a bit of a huff.  When she returned 4 people said they were going to share checks.  When she made it around to John, he added fuel to the fire by asking if the restaurant served crab rangoon, she informed him that was not real Chinese food.  We continued making an impression by asking for our water glasses to be refilled numerous times, which ultimately led to us asking for a pitcher of water.  The husband brought the pitcher after making like it was the only water pitcher in the entire restaurant.  We did win our waitress back in the end by asking her to join us in a group photo. She was so delighted that she ran back to put lipstick on. 

Most of our group along with several others were heading to the baseball game.  Chris F. the newest Chris and I wanted to go back to the church using public transportation. I rode into town with Hannah and her friend. Chris took the public transportation so he was pretty sure he could get us back.  We walked all the way back to Fisherman's Wharf in an effort to retrace his steps on the bus and subway. We were having little luck when fortune would have it, we bumped into Pete and Carmen who were asking directions from one of the bus employees.  We joined up with them.  Turned out we could have stayed in Chinatown and walked one block to Union Square to catch the subway.

Back at the church time for bed. 80 plus mile day tomorrow.

July 29 Santa Rosa, CA to San Francisco, CA

Santa Rosa, CA to San Francisco, CA 72.3 miles 5:28:10

Today's ride was one of my most anticipated days on the bike. I love the city of San Francisco and the opportunity to cross the Golden Gate Bridge on bicycle is truly special.

The ride out of Santa Rosa was much different than the ride in. The ride in was hilly. The ride out was completely flat. Me thinks it would have been possible to reach the church yesterday without climbing two hills. When this ride started a 72 mile day seemed like a long ride, but as the days of riding have turned into weeks 72 miles has become a short day or at least a very manageable day.

The first 50 miles of the ride were pleasant and mostly uneventful. Passed through a few vineyards. In the town of Ross, where the last rest stop of the day was, a friend of Chris C, Moe joined us. Moe is a writer for one of the national cycling magazines and the editor of Dirt Rag, a mountain biking magazine. Moe and Chris used to work together at the cycling magazine.

Leaving Ross on our way to Sausalito there was a long climb. The hill went on for more than a mile. It's never a good sign when you are chugging up the hill and you the top is just around the next corner and on the opposite side of the road a cyclist comes whizing down—a tell tale sign that there is much more hill to climb. This happened on more than one occasion climbing this hill. Finally, the top and now the drop. It was a fast descent, but probably not as fast as someone who knows the road well.

Rolling into Sausalito brought back fond memories of the last time I was there in 1999. Stopped in for ice cream near the maria. Time for the Golden Gate bridge. The road up to the Golden Gate is a twisty one with lots of dust, which is surprising with all the moisture from the Bay. Almost the entire group gathered to take photos of the bridge and the group before venturing across the bridge. There was fog, but I could still see the city and all of the bridge. One side of the bridge is for foot traffic and the other side bicycle traffic. It took a good ten minutes to cross the bridge. I have some great photos and video of the crossing.

Once on the other side, it was time for the hills of San Francisco. I went up. I went down. I went up again. I went down again. And without fail the church hosting us sat halfway up a hill, although some people rode through Golden Gate park, which meant they avoided most of the hills. Our host church is Armenian Orthodox Church.

The priest is a relatively young guy. He lives with his family on the second floor of the church. Oh, how thankful I am that I have my own place. Living in a parsonage, especially one connected to the church means the pastor is “always” available.

The church cooked dinner for us. The folks cooking dinner were very funny. They had planned on cooking an Armenian feast for us, until they received a letter from the Fuller Center stating that the riders on the trip eat healthy. The letter included a few pages of food suggestions with things like Quinua. The folks cooking admited to us they had never heard of Quinua and had no idea how to cook, but I must say they did a great job with. Those of us that heard the food cooking story laughed a bit. It was too bad they did not cook Armenian food, but the meal was wonderful nonetheless.

A group of us went out that evening to say good bye to Hannah and Pete. This was the end of the ride for the two of them. The look establishment we went to had the Olympics on. It was nice to be able to see some of the swimming events and gymnastics. Several of us took a cab back to the church because it was chilly and we did not feel like walking a mile and a half up hill to reach the church. Tomorrow is a free day in San Fran. I'm going to go to an Urgent Care to have my infection checked. The meds I got in Crescent City don't seem to be working. The infection is holding on and my ankle is still swollen and starting to hurt again. Not good signs.

July 28 Ukiah, CA to Santa Rosa, CA

Ukiah, CA to Santa Rosa, CA 68 miles 4 hours 32 minutes

The church folks, the same couple that prepared dinner for us, made a wonderful breakfast. I wish we could take them along with us on the entire trip. The couple has a daughter that lives in Rockville, so they know Hagerstown. Their daughter works in DC.

I rode through miles of Mendecino wine country. I was reminded of my last trip to France driving through one of the many wine regions. I was riding with Jenn and we were chatting about wine country. She asked if we would be riding through Napa Valley, sadly our ride does not take us through Napa, but it will take us through more wine country.

I had my first flat tire on the trip. It was a front tire flat. I got it right after Jenn took a restroom break along the side of the road. The owner of the property was exiting the property as Jenn was walking back to her bike. He stared us all down. He may have put a curse on my bike, that resulted in the flat. Of course, I don't need any flats with $350 rear derailleur repair. In fact, I would take a lot of flats over that major repair.

Rode through a small town hosting a triathlon. It was the bike portion, which gave me and the folks riding with me the opportunity to “race” for a mile or so. I passed several of the triathletes . The folks I passed appeared to be stronger swimmers than bicyclists.

I took a photo of a directional sign post that listed 6 or 7 different wineries. While I was taking this photo an SUV stopped and the driver asked Jenn and I if we were part of the tri, and we told him, “no” and then pointed him in the right direction.

The ride was relatively flat, until we reached Santa Rosa. There were two steep hills, one longer than the other, that I had to climb. After 60 couple miles hills, even short ones are not much fun. The campus/church facility is enormous. The church runs a Christian school. We are staying in the gym and cooking in the kitchen used to prepare food for the concession stand.

Discovered Santa Rosa's version of Whole Foods, Oliver's Market. On the weekends the grocery store runs a BBQ stand in front of the store. I was with a group of 6 seeking a late lunch. We surveyed our options: a local burger joint, which some other folks had eaten at, a pizza place, and the grocery store BBQ. We all agreed the BBQ was a good change of pace from burgers. Geezer Tom stepped up to the window first after looking at the menu painted on the glass side of the window. There were 9 or 10 food items on the menu. Tom ordered his BBQ Pork sandwich and then asked the guy if he had french fries. The guy's response was a very rude, “only what's on the window.” I knew from past experience that Tom was about ready to cancel his order, after such a rude exchange. Since the BBQ is part of the grocery store, although it is a free standing trailer in front, one pays for one's order inside the grocery. I stepped up to the window placed my order, and then asked about drinks. I was told the same thing Tom was, “only what's on the window.” With my order ticket in hand, I headed inside Oliver's Market. It was a little slice of grocery heaven. Locally sourced foods, a glorious deli/bakery, and on and on. I purchased some chips and two beverages to go along with my pulled pork sandwich. The sandwich was amazing and it appeared to have half a pig.

After finishing our food several of us went back into Oliver's to see what else could be had in the way of sweets and treats. A couple of people purchased milkshakes/malts from the ice cream, coffee, bakery counter, and a few others purchased cookies and/or chocolate. I went with the chocolate. Back to the church to relax for a bit before it's time to start making dinner.

Two very short video clips from the road

July 27 Redway, CA to Ukiah, CA 96.8 miles

Redway, CA to Ukiah, CA 96.8 miles 7:01:10

Early morning wake-up call. I'm a bit nervous about today's ride at nearly 100 miles it will be my longest ride to date. The previous two centuries: the CASA Century on May 19^th is when I crashed and the 95 mile day out of Newport is when my derailleur sheared off.

Out the church door and down the steep hill I climbed to get to the church yesterday. It was easier to go down, but required caution. Shortly after leaving the church, I had my first climb of the day. The climb was somewhat difficult and my legs were not fully awake. My slow ascent left me near the back of the riding pack and far behind my riding partners.

The ride to the first rest stop seemed much longer than 25 miles. I refueled at the rest stop and caught up to my riding buddy Hannah. She only has two more days with the group. She'll be leaving us when we reach San Francisco, the half point in the ride and the end of segment two. She and I rode together off and on between the first rest stop and the second.

This section had a serious climb, meaning it was two or more miles long. In a car such a climb will take two or three minutes and depending on the grade the car may slow a bit, but otherwise it is no problem. But for a cyclist, especially one like myself who is not the most efficient hill climb, a 2 plus mile climb can sap all the strength from one's legs and leave the person gasping for air and praying for the end (the top) to be near. This climb is less winding than some, so it is possible to see the top off in the distance. When I'm climbing and I can see the top, it is like the shoreline from the open water—it appeas closer than it really is. I must say., the human body is amazing. Climbing the hill, I feel like I'm going to die and I'm praying not only for the top of the hill but also for the ride to be over, and then comes the down hill hitting speeds of 40 miles an hour, filling the lungs with fresh air, and the legs with new energy.

I cruised out of the next rest stop, which was at mile 60ish. I was burning up the flats with a 21 mile hour pace. Hannah was pushing to keep up with me. Of course, all that will change when we hit the next big climb. She's a natural cyclist and a very good climber. Part of the reason I was riding so fast was due to the fact that my left foot was numb. I just wanted to get to the end of the days ride. I rode for about 10 miles with my foot being numb. I had developed a spasm in my lower back, which was causeing my foot to be numb. I pulled off the road and into a rest area where I could lay down on the ground to have Hannah stretch my leg and back. All stretched and feeling much better and back on the bike for the homestretch of today's ride.

The homestretch included a long descent, which I flew down. As I was speeding down the hill, I happened to look down to my right as an exit approached. It was a good thing I did, because the exit was the exit I needed to take. I took the exit, and stopped to signal other riders, as they came flying down the hill, that this was the exit. Geezer Tom was the last person down in the group I had been riding with so I hoped back on my bike and rode with him all the way into Ukiah.

We met up with some other folks in our group, who had stopped off to buy a few things. We rode through town looking for the turn to the church. We were more than a mile beyond the total distance and had yet to see the turn. The group Tom and I met up with kept riding further, while we stopped for a Malt and a Shake. We asked the women who waited on us where such and such address was. She told us it was a mile or so back. After our ice cream break we turned and headed back the way we came. We bumped into Blake and Sarah who had also missed the turn to the church.

We rode a little over a mile almost back to where we entered the town of Ukiah to locate our turn to the church.

Our host church was the Ukiah Methodist Church. Members of the church cooked us a fantastic dinner and breakfast as well. We had a brief presentation that evening at the church, which was open to the public. The presentation was lightly attended, it was a Friday night after all, but those in attendance asked great questions.

July 26 Eureka to Redway 76.8 miles

 

76.8 miles of riding in 5 hours, 26 minutes and 30 seconds. Not a speed demon, but fast enough. Up early!  I was excited and a bit nervous to get back on the bike after 5 days off: 3 riding days and 2 rest days.  It was great to ride through part of the Redwood forest south of Eureka.  I felt pretty good.  My ankle is feeling better.  I hope the antibiotic is working.  My tender areas are feeling better. Riding in the van helped with these issues, at least in part.

I certainly noticed how much slower I was compared to the other riders who have been riding every ride day, especially on hills.  I'm not particularly fast to begin with, but their strength and speed has increased considerably.

The ride was pretty easy, all but the last two miles or so.  There was a long hill climb into the town of Redway where we are staying. I joked that Allen found another church at the top of hill for us to stay at.  This has been a common pattern throughout the trip.  However, when I reached the top of the hill there was no church.  Continued on down the hill through the "big" town of Redway.  Stopped to asked directions to the church because the folks I was riding with were sure we had missed the street to turn on to get to the church.  We learned we had a bit more to go and that the turn to the church was well marked. Sure enough, a bit further down the road and we found the turn.  Much to my dismay, I faced a very steep hill.  I did not check my gps to see what the grade was on the hill, but I later learned it was 15% or so. There sat the church at the top of the hill. 

The church is the Redway New Wine Fellowship. The church is housed in a pre-fab building. The sanctuary/worshp space appears to be in a converted garage.  There are couches, lounge chairs and folding chairs.  The church has a very non-traditional worship space.  It has the feel of an emergent church worshp space with the artwork, photography, drum set, etc. 

The members of the church made dinner for us.  It was wonderful and filling.  I spoke with two members of the church during dinner.  The church is an off-shoot of a much larger Assemblies of God congregation.  The pastor of the congregation started the off-shoot in his front yard with 14 or so people. He has a tent-making ministry.

The members I ate dinner with noticed the bandage on my ankle. They asked me if they could pray over my injured an ankle for healing.  I gladly accepted their offer.  Prayer and antibiotics ought to get me back to full strength in a minute.

Early to bed. Nearly 100 miles to ride tomorrow.



July 25 Day Off Eureka, CA

My bicycle is at Revolution Bicycle Repair in Arcata, CA a few miles north of Eureka.  I had a great breakfast this morning with two of the three Toms: geezer Tom and Turbo Tom. We ate at Ramones Cafe. I had a cup of coffee. I gave up coffee prior to the trip, since I did not know what access to coffee and coffee in Thailand, where I'll be going after the trip ends is not good. I also had orange juice, which made me really happy. We have not had any orange juice on this trip. The conversation and food was great. The geezer Tom is 70, the oldest rider on the trip. He lives outside of Denver. Turbo Tom, so named by Sarah D, is 63 and from Chicago. Sarah gave him this name last year, because he would not use sunscreen on his nose, which led to him developing a bright red nose. Sarah called it his turbo button.

After the leisurely breakfast we headed back to the church to see what the rest of the folks were up to. A number of folks have plans to go to see the new Batman movie. I'd like to go, but I need to wait to hear about my bike. It needs to be picked up by 6 PM. I chilled at the church the rest of the morning.

I joined the movie goers for lunch at Star Burger. Several people ate there yesterday afternoon. I had a hamburger, spinach salad and chocolate shake. The hamburger was good, but what made me most happy was the spinach salad. I was in deseparate need of greens. While at the lunch the bicycle repair shop called. The total cost of the repair $344.00.

The shop gave me a break on parts and labor, which I greatly appreciate. If you need a quality bicycle shop in and around Arcata, CA go to Revolution Bicycle Repair. Back on the bicycle tomorrow! Hooray. No more van unless I need it for health/fatigue reasons.

coast of oregon video

 

Photos from several days

July 24--Day 10 of Bike Adventure

July 24 Crescent City to Eureka, CA (85 miles)

The morning started out slow. All but 4 of the riders headed out right after devotions. The four remaining riders: Blake, Carmen, Jenn, and Mike. Mike and Jenn are the sweeps today. Blake discovered he had a flat before leaving. He and Mike changed the tube. Carmen headed out on her and returned 5 minutes later. She did not know which way to go. She and Blake headed out together, and returned a few minutes later because Blake had an other flat tire. Finally, we're off.

Morning climb through Redwoods State Park outside Crescent City. The fog had yet to lift in the forest and the early morning sun shown through the tree branches, which gave the trees a magical quality.

The first rest stop was at the end of this segment of the ride. The climb and descent was a total of about 8 miles. I wish I had been able to get out of the van to take some photos as we traveled through the Redwood Forest. I'm glad that I'll have another opportunity south of Eureka, when I'll be back on my bicycle.

There was a herd of elk along side the road. We stopped to take a few photos. The were on the left side and the ocean was on the ride. The elk seemed to be tame. Three of them were right up against the road and they did not move when walked up to take photos. Most of the elk were young. There were two with small sets of antlers. One the elk was calling to the other elk. The elk's call sounded like a porpoise or a whale than like a land mammal.

Yurok Tribe—Native American

Stone Lagoon Station Humbolt State Park

Our second rest stop of the day.

As we approached the rest stop there were cars parked everywhere and a large group of people on the hillside. As we got closer we could see that some of the folks were wearing some type of Native American headdress. I asked the folks directing the traffic if I could walk up to observe the ritual. They said I could as long as I did not take photos or video.

The group watching consisted mostly of Native Americans, and a few non-Native Americans. A young tribal member was speaking when I reached the group. He was explaining that the group would be climbing to the top of the hill, which would take about 2 hours. The ritual would continue on the top of the hill and then there would be a communal meal for all those gathered at the top. Tomorrow they would continue walking toward their destination Redwoods. The entire journey would take roughly two days. After he finished the speaking the young men performing the ritual made several tonal calls, joined hands and rhythmically moved forward and backward. Throughout the ritual different members would sing out with a tonal call, sometimes short and other times longer. The leader of the group, or at least the young men I believed to be the leader he was in the center of the line. He would crouch down move forward then back and then to the right and then to the left. Periodically the men would stomp their right foot hard on the ground, and at one point they all jumped up together. The entire segment of the ritual I witnessed went on for 10 minutes or more. At the conclusion of the segment, a tribal elder stood up to explain the ritual.

He started off by thanking God for the opportunity to witness such a beautiful ritual. He said this is the first time in 150 years the ritual has been performed. The ritual began on the other side of the lagoon. The men performing the ritual came across the lagoon in canoes, part of the ritual was performed in the canoes. During the ritual those engaged in it lift up praise to God and give God thanks for the blessings received through the abundance in nature, and they push down to the ground all that is evil and bad. The stomping is symbolic of driving the evil into the ground. The purpose of the ritual is to restore goodness to the earth, to restore balance between humanity and nature, and remained humanity of how fragile the ecosystem is. It appears that some of the young Native American women are also part of this ritual, since there was an equal number of them wearing grass skirts and handmade woven skull caps.

The third rest stop was along the ocean at mile 65ish. It was a beautiful location, which was good since it turned into a three hour rest stop. It was so long that I fell asleep at one point woke up and we were still there. In my groggy sleep state, I said, “this looks just like our last rest stop.” I thought we had driven off and stopped somewhere else. The last riders, Carmen, Blake, and the sweeps were way behind the other riders. Jenn got a flat about 2 miles before the last rest stop, which really delayed her and Mike.

I was getting worried with such a long rest stop because I needed to be at the bike shop by 5:30 PM to drop my bike off. Made it to the bike shop. My bicycle is now in the able hands of the bike mechanic at Revolution Bicycle Repair in Arcata, CA. The bike shop is a Giant dealer. They had a number of Giant road bikes, sadly no Advanced Defys, but several of Composite Defys, otherwise the mechanic could have cannibalized the Advanced Defy to repair my bike.

Reached the church around 5 PM. Need to shower and be ready for dinner at a church member's home by 6 PM. Showering at the local high school. The first group headed to the shower. They were gone forever. When they returned, we learned that there is only one shower room functioning at the school, which means taking turns—all girls and then all boys. The girl's shower room was the functioning shower room. We boys went first and then the women.

Back to the church and off to the family's home cooking us dinner. It was nice walk to their house, although a little on the chilly side. It was good that I took my jacket with me. I was part of the first group to arrive, and although it is tradition to let the sweeps eat first it was already 7 PM. We went ahead and served ourselves, homemade beef stew and rolls. I sat out on the back patio with 8 or so others. We kept sitting there after we finished eating. Sandy, the wife, came out and told us to look further into the backyard. There was a fenced in area beyond there yard. Inside the fenced area were “wild goats.” The goats do not really belong to anyone, in fact people come by and drop off goats. The person the owns the land “uses” the goats to the keep the grassed “mowed.” Sandy set up croquet for those who wanted to play. I thought about playing, but the yard was not really suited for croquet and I was getting cold, northern California is not all that warm. Finished my ice cream and went inside to sit with the rest of the group. The husband and wife are sort of hippies who belong to a Pentecostal Fundamentalist church, which is an interesting mix. I checked out their dvd collection. They had movies like Carrie and Live Free or Die Harder and a bunch of religious dvds.

Jason, Andrew, Hannah, and I played a few hands of Spades after dinner. The couple lent us a few movies. One of the movies we borrowed was the last Batman movie in prep for tomorrow's visit to the cinema to see the new Batman movie.

I was only able to stay awake for an hour of Batman. I was tired from all the van riding/waiting. The infection on my leg appears to be clearing up and if all goes as planned I'll have my bike back by the end of the day tomorrow.

Photos of the Pacific at Port Orford

July 21--Day Seven of riding

I was able to sleep in, the entire group was able to sleep in, due to the shorter ride distance today--57 miles.  Many folks reading this may think that 57 miles is not a short riding day, but when one is riding an average of 75 miles a day, with days approaching a 100 miles, 57 miles is short in that context.

Breakfast was light also, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, and coffee.  A quick sweep of the church to check for lost and found, and then into the van.  I'm vanning it because of my derailleur issue. No fun,riding in the van and the derailleur issue.

Andrew and Pete volunteered to be sweeps today.  Andrew is the fastest rider in the group, or at least the person who rides the fastest each day.  He often gets to the church, where we'll be staying 45 minutes before the main portion of the group.  It will be a test of patience for both of them since they enjoy riding fast.

Burgess and I did a good thing by chalking a section of road that had loose gravel.  The section was on a downhill and people were moving fast when they approached the section in the road.  The riders thanked us at the rest stop.

Andrew had to get off his bike due to a very sore ankle.  Sue took over for him as the second sweep.  Andrew lent his bike to Burgess.  This is the first time Burgess has ridden a bike on this trip.  He is doing an intership for college and acting as the communications director.

The second rest stop was in the little borough of Langlois, at the Langlois market.  This market is an old school general store. They sold everything from firewood to organic meats and there was a deli with fresh made hamburgers, chicken patties, garden burgers, and the store's "famous" hot dogs. Over the deli hung a sign stating that they have sold 615,000 of their hot dogs.  I ordered one of their hamburgers with the works and their homemade mustard. This hamburger was one of the best hamburgers I have ever had.  It was juicy, delicious, and perfectly prepared.  It made the van ride a little bit better.

We reached Port Orford, OR around 1:30 PM.  Port Orford is a town of 1,000 right on the water.  A group of us walked down to the beach.  Port Orford is a very windy town.  It was freezing at the overlook, but once we walked down to the beach we were sheltered a bit from the wind.  The sand was warm and soft.  I went into the water up to my ankles. The water was cold, like the Atlantic Ocean along the Maine coast.

We found a dead seal washed up on the beach.  Several of us took photos of the dead seal, and then we headed over to the wharf to see about going deep sea fishing on our day off.  Most of the boats are commercial fishing boats, but some appear to be charter boats.  One of the locals informed us that it was going to be very windy on Sunday, and therefore not a good day for fishing on the open water. We walked around the wharf and then went into the little gift shop/restaurant.  The young women we spoke with is a recent college grad from Port Orford working at the gift shop/restaurant for the summer with her younger sister. The woman studied political science and plans on attending George Washington Univeristy in DC.  She's going to travel for a year before going to GW.

Back at the American Legion,where we are staying in Port Orford, Jason, Andrew, Hannah, and I started a game of spades.  We played until dinner, then resumed our game after dinner.  The game continued on the back deck of the Redfish restaurant.  The deck overlooks the ocean. It was very windy.  We had to use our cell phones to hold the cards down.  The restaurant closed at 9 PM, so we moved the card game to another local establishment in Port Orford. Jason and Hannah won, but not without a fight from Andrew and I.

July 20--Day six of riding

July 20—Day six of riding (98 mile ride) 42.7 miles

Up early to cook breakfast for the crew. We need to leave early to cover our 98 miles before it gets dark. Breakfast was great! Everyone got enough to eat and they enjoyed the potatoes.

I volunteered to one of the sweeps today. Tom T is the other sweep. The sweeps responsibility is to ride at the back of the group to make sure no one falls behind and also to be available to assist riders who need help. Part of the reason I volunteered was to ensure a slower pace for myself after only riding 20 miles yesterday. The good news my friction issue is much better. I applied some diaper rash paste and took additional precautions.

Tom and I stayed around the church a little longer to give everyone a chance to get out ahead of us. The ride began in a heavy midst, which turned into rain. The fist 25 miles were in the rain and it was cold. There was a good headwind as well. Not fun. Tom and I rode very slow. We came across the fist members of our group at a little over mile 14. One rider Jim had a flat. His second one of the day. There were two other riders helping him. They headed out when we arrived and we stayed to help him get rolling again.

Back on the road. Stopping even for a few minutes caused one to get cold. Tom and I reached the first rest stop at mile 25. My front derailleur is not functioning at 100% due to the rain and road scum. I cleaned my derailleur off and that seemed to help a bit, but not completely. The first rest stop had a special treat, a little bakery that made fresh baked muffins, scones, and cookies. It also had hot chocolate, tea, and coffee. I purchased a Marionberry muffin and a hot chocolate. Tom and I stayed inside the bakery to warm up while we ate our muffins and drank our hot chocolates.

Quick trip to the restroom to check on things. Looking good. Time to hit the road for the next 20 miles. The rain has stopped, which is a blessing. Now, if it warm up. Lots of beautiful coastline riding with majestic views of the rocky coast and the lush green hillsides. At mile 36 or so, there was a long climb right along the coast. I ran the handlebar camera all the way up and all the way down. There were sweeping vistas of the Oregon coast on the descent.

I controlled my speed for two reasons: no shoulder to speak of and my brakes were still wet from the first 25 miles. The long descent led to a flat straight and then a shortish climb. Going up the hill Tom was in front of me. I was pedaling when I heard a loud snapping noise and then my pedals stopped. I looked down to see my chain off the front chainring. I thought I had simply thrown my chain. I quickly unclipped my feet before falling over and then I looked back to see if there was a problem at the rear of my bike. When I looked back I did not see my rear derailleur, which is never good. I looked straight down and to my horror I saw my derailleur lodged in my rear wheel. Neither Tom nor I had cell coverage, so when flagged down a motorist. It turned out the motorist we flagged down had been at the bakery earlier in the morning and had spoken with Sher, one of the riders.

The motorist took off to let the van driver know my bike was inoperable and that I would need a ride. While Tom and I were waiting for the van, we took the derailleur out of my rear wheel. It took us 4 or 5 minutes to get the derailleur untangled. The derailleur was completely destroyed, a couple of spokes were bent and my chain was bent. I took some pictures of my trashed derailleur and rear wheel. I took the photos with the warranty in mind, assuming Giant would want photo proof of the major bike failure. The van arrived. I loaded my bike into the trailer and we had to the rest stop, which was about 2 ½ miles away. Each person that came into the rest stop had to look at my bike, hear the story about what happened and a few took photos.

On the way to the next rest stop, I called Scott at River City Cycles where I purchased the bike. I told him what had happened and asked him about the warranty. He said the manufacture warranty does not cover mechanical failure, although this failure appeared more structural than mechanical. Next, I turned my attention to a local bike shop that sells Giant bikes. I found one in Newport, the town were are staying in for the night.

I called Moe's bike shop. I spoke to Moe's son. He was not sure if his dad had the parts to repair my bike. Arrived at Moe's bike shop at 5 PM. Moe took one look at my bike the part that broke, the derailleur hanger, and informed me that he did not have the part. He said there are 150 derailleur hangers. He called his Giant in-house distributor. Giant would not be able to get the necessary parts to him until Monday, which did not work for me. Moe gave me the phone number to a couple of bike shops in northern California where I'll be on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I called a bike shop in Eureka. The employee I spoke with is going to check to see if he can get all the parts necessary to repair my bike.

July 19th Day Five of riding

  (Estimated distance 75 mile day) Rode 20 miles

The past two days have been long rides 80 plus and then 90 plus. I am looking forward to a shorter day, but I am also dealing with a friction issue. I treated the area before going to bed last night and then again this morning. The area is very sensitive, but I'm hoping I can push through it, especially given the fact that tomorrow is a 98 mile day.

I started out riding with Dan and a two other people at a slower pace. My riding buddy, Hannah, took off with the fast pack this morning, which is fine. I knew that I was not going to be able to ride hard today. The ride started out fairly flat with a few rolling hills, but nothing too tough. Dan and I were riding at a moderate pace between 14 and 17 miles an hour.

Round about 10 miles into the ride, we came to a climb. Our group had grown to about 6 people by this point. The climb started. Dan is a helicopter pilot, in the Army reserves. As we climbed he suggested we sing a cadence, similar to the ones soldiers do on long marches or runs. Dan started us off, and the group followed with the antiphonal response. We went through 3 or 4 cadences before the group spread out too far and our breathing became way too labored from the climb. The road switched back and forth and just when you thought you had reached the summit the climb continued around the next bend.

We climbed for nearly 3 miles. The total altitude was only 800 feet, but on a bike over three miles that is brutal. The ride down was exciting, fast, and equally winding. I kept my speed between 26 and 40. I forgot to mention the climb was through lush forest. At the bottom of the descent, I came upon sand dunes with small pine trees and dune grass. By now, I was a little over 15 miles into the ride and my friction issue was giving me cause for concern.

When I reached the first rest stop at mile 20, I examined the situation more closely and made the decision to ride in the van to at least the next rest stop at mile 40ish. This was not an easy decision, but part of being on sabbatical is learning good self care. I am not on this ride to prove anything to anyone. A couple of other riders jumped in the van at this rest stop. These folks were wiped out after the climb, in fact one person walked up part of the hill.

Riding in the van gave me the opportunity to put my feet up. It also made me realize that I don't really want to have to ride in the van any longer than necessary. The only good thing about the van, aside from the rest for weary legs and back side is the fact it climbs hills much quicker than I do. Speaking of hills, if I had stayed on my bike, I would have had another long climb. At two miles after the 20 mile rest stop another long climb presented itself. The rides in the van with me, who stopped due to fatigue, were very happy to have missed this hill. I dozed sitting up. Turns out not only am I have friction issues, I'm pretty tired. Waking up at 4:30 in the morning to help with breakfast and get ready for the day's ride does not leave much time for quality sleep. Sleeping on church floors is not so conducive to quality sleep either.

One of my van riding companions offered to clear off the back seat of the van for me so I could lay down. I took him up on the offer. I stretched out on the full back seat of the van and slept for about ½ hour. We picked up 1 new van rider at the mile 40ish rest stop and the two folks that joined at mile 20ish got out to finish the ride on their bikes. I decided to stay in the van for the rest of the way. The 40 mile rest stop lasted 2 hours as we waited for all the riders to come through. Two hours is a long time to be waiting around.

Off to the last rest stop at mile 60ish. We stopped at state park senic overlook. It was one of the best rest stops of the entire trip thus far. There were whale watching boats not too far off-shore. Over the course of the hour and a half we were there, we saw a number of whales. I was not able to get any photos of them, but it was cool to see them blow and then crest the water before going under the water again.

We reached our destination, Newport, OR, around 3:30 pm. We showered at the local Y. We had to pay $2.00 to shower. Sucks that we had to pay for showers. The church has lots of space and couches to sleep. I picked one right away. The is a ping-pong table, air hockey, and pool table. The youth group of the church made dinner for us. Pasta, toasted bread with butter, and salad. It was good and filling. After dinner I headed out with the laundry crew to wash clothes. The laundromat was older than the last one we used but less expensive. Half of us stayed at the laundromat while the other half went to get ice cream at Flashbacks, a local ice cream, malt, burger shop. The design was retro-dinner.

Flashbacks had black licorice ice cream. I have never seen this before. I love black licorice. I sampled it and then ordered a waffle cone full of it. The other riders with me and those already at the ice cream parlor were a little grossed out by my jet black ice cream, which turned my tongue black immediately. I should have had someone take a photo. The ice cream was awesome. I headed back to the laundromat with the others. We relieved the others at the laundromat so they could get ice cream. Laundry done; back to the church to prep breakfast.

We planned a big breakfast: eggs and country potatoes with bacon. We prepared the potatoes, bacon, onions, and garlic. Tomorrow is our first really long ride, 98 miles, and therefore we want a hearty breakfast.

The notion of playing ping-pong, pool or air hockey went out the window after breakfast prep was finished. Before I headed to bed I applied some old school baby paste to prevent/help heal diaper rash, although I am not suffering from diaper rash the friction issue I am having should be helped by the paste.

July 17th Day Three

July17—Day Three on our ride to San Diego 90.3 miles 5 hours and 59 minutes Avg. speed 15.05 mph

Wake up was 4:45 AM. The van needs to be loaded prior to breakfast, which was at 5:30 AM

Our host church Faith Baptist went out of their way to make sure we were well cared for during our stay with them. For breakfast, we had choices of pancakes, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, coffee and orange juice. The first orange juice I've seen on this trip. Hannah my riding partner for the day had me try the “super food” Chia. It's just like the chia of chia pet. You mix the chia seed with water and let stand for about 10 minutes and then stir. It turns into a jell like substance with little or no taste. It is good that I don't have any texture issues. Someone with texture issues would struggle to eat the jell like Chia “super food.”

I'm not exactly sure what time we hit the road this morning, but it was around 6:30 AM. It was pretty cool, but not too cold. A large group of us headed out together. It was clear almost from the outset that the person leading us was a little unsure about the direction we should go after our second turn. We headed straight stopped at an intersection to check the cue sheet. The person we were following started riding in the direction we were heading when another rider appeared behind us telling us we had missed the turned. Our moment of lostness led to an extra mile on the ride at the end of the day. Back on course, we headed out of town South and East toward Naselle our next stopping point. Naselle is near the state line with Oregon. Today's ride had relatively few turns due to long stretches, 20 plus miles, on one road.

I road with Hannah, although we did not stick together as much today as yesterday, since we were in a larger group for a good bit of today's ride, and longer into the ride I was really dragging. She was a swimmer in college and is 25 years younger me, which gives her a huge advantage in recovery time, lung capacity and although she is not a long distance cyclist she is very efficient in her cadence. I'm not sure I was as efficient as Hannah is when I was her age.

My legs were not very strong today. I did pretty well for the first 22 miles, but after the rest stop I struggled to keep up with Hannah and the folks we left the rest stop with. It took about 8 miles for my legs and lungs to get back on track. There were lots of climbs on this ride, which did not help my legs and lungs. Hannah took off on most of the climbs, but I was able to catch up on the back side/descents. I hit 32 mph on a couple of the descents. I am sure I could have gone faster if I had opened up the bike.

The next rest stop was at 44ish miles. I was rolling pretty well when I reached the rest stop. The rest stop was across the street from the general store/post office. The store had a port-a-potty, which was serviced right before I arrived. It was a great port-a-potty, clean, running water, toilet paper and paper towels. I felt better after this rest stop, but a mile or so out there was a hill climb. The climb killed me again. A head/cross winded had kicked up as well. It took 10 miles or so for me to get rolling, but once I did I was fine.

The last rest stop was at 71 miles. A bit further out than planned. It was a roadside rest stop with no facilities, aside from the trees and bushes. Hannah and I rode the final 19 miles together. I slowed her down, but she was a great sport. By slowing her down, I mean from 19 miles an hour to 15 miles per hour. We arrived at the Noselle Assembly of God together.

The van/trailer followed us in and we had to immediately unload the trailer, then it was off to the local high school for showers. The showers felt great after 90 miles in the saddle. Now, I'm just waiting for dinner. I'm starving. It's 5 PM and there's another hour to wait until dinner. I feel like I could eat a horse right now, but I know that is not a good plan. I am also looking forward to sleep. I hope I can sleep better than I did last night.

On an aside my crash injuries are almost healed. I do have a few other physical issues that have cropped up. I hope they will not become a problem. My knees are doing well.

July 16th Day two of the ride

July 16—Day two of the ride to San Diego Chehalis, WA Faith Baptist Church hosting

Woke up at 5 AM to help with breakfast, but I got lucky too many people in the small kitchen let me off the breakfast duty detail. The swelling in my ankle went down significantly over the night. My wrist and thumb on the other hand were still stiff and painful.

We had eggs and homemade cinnamon buns for breakfast, an excellent way to start the day. I checked my bike over and noticed a few more cosmetic blemishes on my bike from the crash. I added a little air to my tires and I was set to go.

The ride began straight up hill, the rest of the hill that the church sits on. Oh what fun. I made it to the top without falling off and having to stop at a traffic light until I reached the top. The first 10 miles of the ride was in Tacoma, which was not much fun. Once we reached the bike path, the beautiful portion of the ride started. I rode most of the way today with Hannah. She was an awesome riding partner, good conversationalist and we rode at a similar pace. There was a really beautiful section of the bike path that was tree lined. I took video on the second half of the ride today. I think the video should be nice. I was in the second group of riders today. My pace was faster today than yesterday, which was surprising because of my accident.

I arrived in Centralia just after noon time in the second group of riders. The first group was hanging out at a little cafe/bar on the main street. The group I was riding with stopped and chatted with them and some folks ordered lunch. The rest of us decided to continue riding to the church. We arrived at Faith Baptist church about 12:45 PM. The church had a large lawn with a swing set. Several of us swung on the swings and/or laid on the lawn in the sun. The van arrived about ½ hour later, at which point the van started shuttling people to the city swimming pool for showers. I took a dip in the pool, it was refreshing.

Came back to the church gathered the laundry together for laundry detail and headed to the laundromat with the laundry crew. There were five large garbage bags. The laundromat was pleasant. There was a young couple with a 3 or 4 year old son. He was very cute and very shy. Sher gave him an M&M. His grandmother came by the laundromat and entertained him while his parents finished their laundry. The group laundry cost nearly $40.00 and took about 2 hours.

The church made a wonderful dinner for us. We ate like kings and queens. After dinner some people hung outside to watch the sunset, while others went into town and the rest of us worked on our blogs or read books.

July 15th The ride begins

July 15 40.7 miles 3:17.14 hours/minutes/seconds

Day one of the ride to San Diego. We left Fauntleroy about 1:15 PM. We made a left out of the church parking lot, which meant we had to climb a hill. The first hill was followed by another hill. I was already wondering what I had gotten myself into 5 minutes into the ride. I wsa panting like a dog and my heart rate was way up. Several people passed me going up the second hill, which was a bit disheartening at the outset of the ride. My solace was most of the people passing me by were 20 or more years younger than me. It could be a long ride with people passing me on hill climbs.

Once the road leveled out and we got out of Seattle traffic and on the bike path, I caught up to some of the folks who had initially passed me at the start of the ride. I dropped my cell phone, shortly before we entered the bike path. Of course, I did not have the new plastic protective case on it when I dropped it. The phone came up and the battery went flying. I was able to retrieve all the parts and put it back together. The fall took a nice piece out of the glass front and a piece out of the metal rim around the glass front. I had taken the protective case off to put a new battery and had not put it back on since it was so hard to take off. Lesson learned. The good news is it appears the phone still works.

The bike path was great to ride on. No traffic, aside from other bikes and walkers, and no traffic signals and no hills. It may have been a bit boring, but it was safe. I could ride on such a path all the way to San Diego. At the end of the bike path, it was back to “city” riding, cars and traffic lights. The 15 miles or so of the ride I rode with Al, a member of the church where we stayed in Seattle. He is avid cyclist. After worship several people encourage him to join us. Turns out he had ridden much of the ride we were doing the day before with his wife. Al is a defense attorney. He defends people facing federal prosecution. He has been an attorney for 40 years. His wife was a college professor. She has retired and Al is making plans to retire in the not to distant future. They have grown children and three grand-daughters. Al was a very pleasant riding partner, and he was very caring when I had my crash about 5 miles from the church. My pedal or buckle on my cycling shoe caught a high curb, that was painted black and not very easy to see in the late afternoon soon. I went flying off my bike on the concrete sidewalk. My bike has some cosmetic damage, but is otherwise fine. I too have some cosmetic dings, bumps, scrapes, and a swollen right ankle. I am worried that my ankle and sore wrist might be a problem on tomorrow's 60 mile ride. I am icing the ankle and the wrist with the hope that by morning the swelling will be down on my ankle and the wrist/thumb won't be as stiff.

We are staying at the Urban Church in Tacoma, WA. The church is very large right down and as luck would have it ¾ of the way up a very steep hill with 4 traffic lights. I had to stop at one traffic light. Thankfully I was able to clip out and get around the corner a bit so as to have level ground to start up when the light changed. I did a little cross traffic jay walk with the bike to reach the front door of the church, in order not to have to stop on the hill again.

Right after I arrived at the church a homeless woman, who appeared to have some mental health issues as well came to the front door looking for the jacket she had left at the church earlier in the day. I explained to her that I did not work at the church and did not know if anyone from the church was availabe to look for her jacket. She started to walk up the stairs and then promptly turned around said, “they can keep the coat,” and walked out of the building. One of the other cyclist in out group carried my bike downstairs, while I waited for ice for my ankle and my luggage so I can go to the Y down the street to shower.

The Y was small, but nice. The shower felt good after a rainy, wet, ride that included my crash. After showering, I returned to the church to wait for dinner. The kitchen we had access to was tiny, which made it difficult to prepare dinner. For dinner we had baked potato with chilli. I am on breakfast, laundry and whatever Allen needs us to do.

After dinner several of us played rummy. The funny thing about our rummy game was that myself and Sarah were the only people who knew how to play rummy and I did not do the best job explaining the rules, which for interesting play. Lights out was at 10 PM. I got to sleep on the couch because of my mini accident. I slept much better than the past two nights.

July 13th Bicycle Adventure Orientation

Friday the 13^th! The bicycle group is gathering at Fauntleroy UCC in Seattle. The church houses the local YMCA, which is where we'll be showering tomorrow after our shake down group ride. 15 of us had lunch at a local restaurant down the street from the church. Our waitress was very fun, but a bit overwhelmed by how many of us there were at lunch, and of course we asked for individual checks. She was operating on one leg due to a broken leg. Before we knew she had a broken leg we tried to convince her to join us on our ride. She thought about it for a moment, then she showed us the soft case on her left leg.

We made it back to the church just in time for our first orientation session. We went around the sanctuary introducing ourselves and saying the three things we would take on an island with us knowing that we would survive and had our bicycle and bible. The three things ranged from a cruise ship with a full crew to a kindle to a kayak to a coffeemaker/grinder with a solar panel. The group is diverse as the things we would take on the island. The bikes each rider will be riding are as unique as the riders, although there is a little giant posse, which I'm proud to be a member of. There are several folks riding treks, a couple cannondalee, a fuji, a jamis, a couple of motobacanes, and a mix of other bikes. Most of the bikes are aluminum, but there are a few other carbon fiber bikes.

For the first week, I'm on chore group number 4, which is breakfast, laundry, and whatever else Allen, the group leader needs us to do. Good thing I'm a morning person and I like doing laundry. Laundry duty means doing everyone's laundry.

It's free time now, some folks are at the grocery store shopping, a handful of us are hanging out at the church chatting and working on bike stuff, two guys went for a bike ride, a novel thing to do for people about to ride 1,650 miles, and a group went into Seattle to explore the city. I did my exploring yesterday, which is why I'm here writing my blog.

July 12th Seattle, WA

My full free day in Seattle started with a wonderful home cooked breakfast by my friends Dave and Chris. Dave is a friend from my Key Biscayne days. He's another New Englander. We used to play roller hockey, roller blade, snorkel and other fun stuff on Key Biscayne. Chris is Dave's wife. I am also very happy to say that I was the person who officiated at their wedding on the Cape in MA, a decade ago. They have two wonderful girls. It's been great catching up with them and seeing their life here in Seattle.
After breakfast Dave and I headed to the Coast Guard station where he works as a civil science officer, not sure what his actual title is. He gave me a tour of the research vessel he works on when at sea.

The ship is undergoing renovations in preparation for its next research mission to the Arctic Circle. Dave will be going on part of this mission.

When the tour was done and we successful avoid the Admiral who was on base for a tour of the station and a change of officers, Dave headed to his office at the Station and I headed downtown. I walked along the waterfront bike/walking path to the ferry terminal and then climbed the hill to 1^st street. From there I headed to Pike Place. I wish I lived in a community with such an awesome public market. The fresh fruit and vegetable stands and all the amazing fresh fish/seafood. I did not catch a fish, but I watched as others did and I ate a very over the top fresh baked cinnamon bun with frosting and chocolate chips. The only thing that could have made the cinnamon bun better would have been a great cup of espresso, but I'm off coffee during this bike trek/trip to Southeast Asia.

In Pike Place, I happened upon an artist who make clocks out of recycled bicycle parts. I just might to to order one when I get home in honor of my ride. The clocks were very cool. My limited space will keep me from buying non consumable items along the way, at least for the bike part of my trip.

From Pike Place, I continued on foot to the Space Needle with a stop for lunch at the Virginia Inn along the way. The Space Needle was fun and the sky was clear blue or as clear blue as Seattle gets. I took at great photo of the Space Needle rising out of the clouds on the morning drive into downtown. Sadly, I did not have enough time to visit the garden and museum connected to the Space Needle.

Some really good sushi for dinner, a little laundry and time to write a piece for the blog. Dave and Chris at a dog training school. The Forcucci family has a third child as of three weeks ago a little puppy named Willie. He's very cute and full of energy, like most puppies. Tonight was the first night of dog training school. I think the school is probably as much about training the parents as it is training the dog.

Bicycle Adventure Covered by local newspaper

http://www.herald-mail.com/news/local/hm-hagerstown-pastor-to-ride-for-housing-20120708,0,3983880.story

A good quote for a long bike trek

“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” William Barclay