Day 24, 25, 26 & 27: Standish- Hickey Park over Leggett and down to Sea Ranch

September 7, 2010

Days 24, 25, 26 & 27 123 miles Total miles so far 946! Hello after several days away. Feels like we have been on the 'lost coast' no connections of any kind! Well I am back and need to see if I can remember where we have been. The problem with not being able to post each day is you lose the emotion of that days ride and I am sure the post will reflect a calmer less emotional take....more reflective maybe. Day 24 - 49 miles Standish-Hickey to MacKerricher State Park -- Over Leggett!! Well this was the day we or at least I had been worried about. Because we broke it into two rides by doing the first 1200 ft the day before we only had 820 ft left to climb! That turned out to be a very good idea. It was hard but not terrible!!! We were both very pleased. The down was long and we stopped to rest our hands a few times from breaking. It was in fact not nearly as difficult as I had anticipated....thankfully! What we were not prepared for was the next climb. After you have descended to nearly sea level you are rewarded with a 700ft climb which is much steeper than the Leggett climb! Do not take the Rockport Hill lightly! When you reach the bottom of this hill you are once again on the coast. However we were greeted with extreme fog. We could hear the ocean right beside us but could not see any of it. The rest of the ride was a series of coastal roll-a-coaster hills. You would climb steep then drop then have to climb back out again. All in all it was a very tough day.Day 25 - 51 miles MacKerricher State Park to Pt ArenaOk, the guide book says today's ride will be 'strenuous'. Watch out whenever this happens! It was indeed. Our Surly gang headed out together. We took the trail through the park and around Ft Bragg. It was very pretty. We stopped at Denny's for breakfast then rode through the rest of Ft Bragg. This is the biggest weekend of the year for the town so it was very busy. There was a beer fest (two of our camp did not make it back from the night before) a fire mans annual party and some sort of parade going on. Very festive. We headed on down the road and very quickly the roll-a-coaster started again. This continues for the entire ride. We are having strong winds which are mostly tail winds but every now and then they are cross or dead head on at @20mph. We have decided to get a room because the Manchester State Pk has no showers so we call an Inn we find online and book a room. We are really hopping it will turnout better than the one at Port Orford!! We continue to the town of Elk and are heading out of town make another climb and have a great downhill and turn the corner and start UP and wham we hit a head wind and a 15+% grade all at once!! I could not move my bike forward...it just would not go. I got off and started walking up the hill and at one point it was so steep I could barely push my bike - I looked up and even Jack is walking.....we have come 900 miles to be humbled by a CA switchback! We checked the guide book and it did say (which we didn't read prior) "take heart this short climb is the steepest on the West Coast!" Didn't make me feel any better.We made it to Pt Arena and found a local market. Bought some sourdough bread, cheese, olives, sliced turkey, wine and a brownie and went looking for the Wharf Masters Inn. The folks at the market said take a right at the corner then follow the road down about a mile. We were so tired a battered that if it had not been there think we would have just camped on the road. We found it at the very end...because it turned into the ocean. The Inn was wonderful and maybe the nicest place we have ever stayed. It is a little pricy and it was a holiday weekend but it was worth it. We sat on our balcony and ate our food and watched the sunset and the day didn't seem nearly so bad. Day 26 - 23 miles Pt Arena to Sea RanchWe enjoyed our room and breakfast and didn't get on the road until around10:30am. We head back up the mile long ride to the Inn and get to Hwy 1 and who is right there to greet us? Our Surly Gang! Catherine, Jimmy and La Shelle...they stayed the night at the KOA near Manchester. Today's ride was not as difficult as yesterday and we were going to a friends house so we were excited to get there. We had directions and were fore warned that the hill up to their home was very steep- be prepared to walk! Well we did...the second time in two days!! I knew California was steep! Another friend is here also ...so good to see Michele, Eron, Sue, Murphy and Owen. We had a great dinner and visit and decided to take them up on their offer to stay over and rest today. So we are here in their beautiful home enjoying the redwoods that surround it and just doing nothing!Day 27 - 0 miles Sea RanchJust resting, reading, soaking and catching up on Crazy Guy On A Bike! Pretty Blue Flower I tried to get for a few days

Sleeping Options..Note the two hammocks and the bike tent.Ours is the little one on the left.

The red line by the 35 shows the 0 ft start of the hill after Elk that made us walk#%*%^%+#^~%

Today's ride: 123 miles (198 km)
Total: 946 miles (1,522 km)

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