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.