We met up with our host, Jesse, back at his shop where he has pieces together several mountain bikes for some of the big tours he has completed over the years. Jesse gave us some great advise on mountain bikes, smart ways to lock up bikes without heavy locks, and neat ways to potentially use small umbrellas to catch the tailwinds to ride up hills. Thanks for a fun stay in Mendocino, Jesse!
Our first 50km was absolutely stunning and extremely fun to ride. With the ocean waves eroding parts of the shoreline, Highway 1 often dips in and out of the edge of shore, dipping downward closer to sea level and upwards again at a 6 or 7% grade back towards the ocean. With these dips constantly appearing throughout the day, we ending up climbing more than 2000m for the second day in a row. We did have one 80m climb with 12-15% grades around the bends, but other than that the climbs were more manageable.
The drivers have been extremely accommodating along Highway 1 so far, and there are even signs every once and a while that note “Cyclists May Use Entire Lane”. It has certainly been a confidence booster to see pro cyclist safety signage throughout the Pacific Coast.
Tonight we’re staying at our second host throug Couchsurfing, Tatyana, who works at Russia House #1. The restaurant is completely pay as you can or donate what you can for meals throughout the day, and often large groups get involved with cleaning dishes or sweeping rather than paying. Local farmers and guests pay with other contributions to keep the place going smoothly, and it’s in a really stunning location just off of the Russia River bridge in Jenner.
Tomorrow we head towards San Fransisco! We will take a few days off once we arrive, so we will try to muster all of our remaining energy for our 7th day of cycling in a row, and make our way into the Bay Area.
We are officially considering our bodies “hurting units”, but we have also looked up a few intense Strava riders today, and compared to them, our ride is ‘peanuts’. It’s all a matter of perspective I suppose?
Count:
Bars devoured – 31
Bananas chomped – 33
Peanut butter wraps – 18
Arizona iced tea drained – 11L
Warmshower hosts – 12
Total ascent – 15800m
Calories burned – 59,000
Total distance – 1600km
Pacific Coast Trail 