Epilogue

Statistics:

Jordan's bike computer logged 996.5 miles. Longest day was 95.6 miles. Shortest day was 36 miles. Jordan, age 13, biked the entire trip.

20 days on the road from Lynnwood to San Francisco. 14 days of riding and 6 days of resting.

8 days camping and 12 days in hotels. Note: we originally planned 11 days of camping and 9 days in hotels.

Martin, age 10, rode approximately 60 miles on the Trail-a-Bike attached to my mountain bike. About 12 miles each day.

We hauled the tandem bike but only used it one day. Jordan liked the freedom of riding his own bike. Plus, our tandem is not a tandem built for speed.

Planning Notes:

Prepare for cool weather riding along the coast in the summer.

Obtain reservations for campgrounds and hotels months in advance of trip (if you have a sag wagon). If you just have bikes, just wing it!

Make sure your training involves riding in traffic to desensitize yourself to traffic. Also, include hills in your training regimen. The west cost is nothing but hills.

Obtain Adventure Cycles plan and profile maps, very useful tool for planning and during the ride.

If you are biking with a family or you are not in the greatest shape, I highly recommend mixing in layover days to allow family to relax and your bones to recoup.

Save your money and don't buy expensive recovery drink powder. Chocolate milk is the ticket.

Favorite Things:

The scenery was amazing. You can really see things at the right pace on a bike. My favorite scene was descending a long steep hill through a forest near Sandhill, Oregon. I really was not expecting to pop out of the forest and see sand dunes with doug firs growing out of them. Seemed very surreal.

Hotel on the beach at Lincoln City and waking up the next morning to the Kite Festival that we were not expecting.

Soo's coffee shop discoveries.

No rain.

Lunch and dinner.

Interesting Stuff:


Lots of wildlife spotted along the coast. Bald eagles, seagulls, redtail hawks, pelicans, ravens, steller's bluejays, crows, seals, elk, deer, squirrels and chipmunks. We also saw many different colorful finch type birds. By far the most common animal we saw was the turkey vulture.


These things were in every state and seemed to get bigger the farther south we went. Perhaps we saw so many of them because they were expecting some large roadkill.

Speaking of roadkill, we saw lots of that crows, seagulls, deer, squirrels, dogs, cats, opossum, snakes, etc. Seemed to be more roadkill the further south we travelled.

The Tsunami warning signs were ridiculous. As we rode down a hill we would see the "Entering Tsunami Area" warning sign, then a "Leaving Tsunami Area" as we peddled up the next hill. We must have seen dozens of these signs.

Thanks:

Thank you to my wonderful wife Soo for partnering with me in this adventure. Without her help and encouragement, I could not have accomplished this dream.

I am very proud of my son Jordan for biking every mile of the trip with me. I would not have had the same satisfaction on biking alone or with anyone else for that matter. I pray that the lessons learned on this epic adventure will enrich his life for years to come.

Martin, thanks for taking care of Mom during all the driving. Also, I'm proud of all the biking you did with us. I'm looking forward to your adventure when you turn 13 in a couple of years.

Thanks to all our family and friends that prayed for us and hosted us during our trip.

Thanks to my partners at KPFF for giving me this gift of time.

Thanks above all to God for family, friends, provision and creation.

Day 20 - Marty's Journal

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Samuel Taylor State Park to San Francisco, California: 36 miles

Today was supposed to be a rest day but we decided to push on so we could have a day just to ourselves in San Francisco.  Given the low miles and the last day of riding, why not ride four straight days?  What could go wrong?

No I didn't get lost this time.  It was actually a very nice warm day.  Jordan and I set out first.  I think I started out too fast because 20 miles into the ride, my left knee tendon started hurting pretty bad.  Then my right knee tendon started hurting too.  Just 16 miles to go, hang in there Marty!  

Martin joined us at the College of Marin about 12 miles from our destination.  As soon as he joined us, we experienced a moderate head wind.  Those last 12 miles were pretty intense.  Besides the head wind we had a tough hill to climb on a road called Camino Alto.  

The last few miles were the toughest because the climb from Sausalito to the Golden Gate Bridge was steep, cold and windy.  The temperature feels like it dropped from 80 degrees to 55 degrees.  Finally, we reached the bridge, but we couldn't see it because it was shrouded in fog!  

Even in cold, foggy and windy conditions, there were a million tourists on the bridge not realizing that they were in our path to complete our epic trip.  It was slow going across the Golden Gate.  When we finally reached the San Francisco side of the bridge, it seemed so anti-climatic.  No throngs of well wishers congratulating us, just dealing with the reality of the moment: where to hookup with Soo, Martin freaking out about not knowing exactly how we are finishing this thing and needing to pee.  

We took care of the reality needs in short order and peddled to a parking lot where Soo was waiting for us with a big hug and congratulatory excitement.  That was all we needed.  We finished!  993.5 miles! 

This accomplishment will take a while to sink in.  Now I'm just interested in lunch.

Day 19 - Marty's Journal

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Jenner to Samuel Taylor State Park, California: 53 miles

Soo drove us from Bodega Bay to Jenner.  Half way there, we realized that Jordan forgot his bike shoes so we had to go back to the hotel.  This put Jordan in another teenage funk for most of the ride.  He is too hard on himself.  I just need ride a bit ahead of him (can't do that on the hill climbs, however) so his mood does not affect mine.  

At Bodega Bay we turn inland and the temperature increases significantly, then drops again as ride along Tomale Bay and increases as we ride away from the water.  We arrived to our campsite in the early afternoon.  It was hot, felt like the mid-90's.  Fortunately, there was a creek adjacent to our campsite in the shade.  I put my camp chair in the creek and soaked my feet and legs while Martin explored the creek banks.  Soo and Jordan just snoozed at the campsite.

Tomorrow is our last day.  I'm excited and sad at the same time.  Except for the logistics of packing and unpacking the van everyday and the pain in my legs, I could easily keep going to San Diego if we had the time.

Day 18 - Marty's Journal

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Fort Bragg to Jenner, California: 94 miles

Today was only suppose to be 81 miles but the night before we decided to skip the camping and stay at a hotel.  The closest place that had lodging was Bodega Bay.  There was no way that we would be able to peddle all the way to Bodega Bay but we figured on riding as far as we could until Soo caught up with us, which is why we ended up in Jenner.  

This stretch of road was magnificent on a bike.  Lots of hills, winding road, remote and scenery that will knock your socks off.  See Soo's blog on what she thought of driving the road.  Early on the ride, Jordan got to close to the edge of the road and spilled.  Chewed up his knee pretty bad.  I told him to "rub some dirt in it."  He was in a bad mood for quite a while, which kind of damped the excitement of riding on such a great road.  Moody teens are no fun.  I got my revenge 50 miles later, however.  We stopped at a grocery store for a coke and Jordan asked if I could get something for his wound.  I bought a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a big bandage.  Pouring the HP on his wound was great.  First it bubbled and oozed kind of greenish followed by the stinging sensation.  It was a big bottle and I used it all!  In some weird way, that seemed to make Jordan feel better and his sour mood was gone.  

We saw a couple of good sized bucks chasing a fawn, lot's of raptors and the lagoon at Jenner was fabulous.  It served as a breeding ground for sea lions and pelicans.  I've never seen more pelicans in one grouping before.

Day 17 - Marty's Journal

Monday, July 7, 2008

Humbolt State Park to Fort Bragg, California:  90 miles

I felt pretty good today.  The morning ride was great.  We started out on the Avenue of the Giants, which follows the Eel River and headed toward Garberville.  Once we reached Garberville, we started a steady climb that would be the biggest climb of the entire trip.  About 2,000 feet of climbing over around 20 miles.  Most of the climbing, however, seemed to be in latter 10 miles from Leggett to the pass.  It was our toughest riding day yet.  By 11 am the temperature reached around 100 degrees, remember, we are several miles inland from the coast and blocked by a coastal mountain range.  Also, the smoke from the forest fires though not really thick, seemed to add to the heat affect.  The toughest part of the ride prior to lunch, however, was dealing with trucks, construction and no shoulders.  between Garberville and Leggett, 101 transitions from 4 lanes to 2 lanes and 60 mph to 35 mph with winding roads.  We are now competing for road space with trucks and RV's.  By the time we reached our lunch spot in Leggett, Jordan was frazzled.  Fortunately at Leggett, highway 101 heads down to the Sacramento Valley and Hwy 1 starts.  All the trucks head down to 101.

Before we tackled Hwy 1, we finished off a pizza and lots of root beer in a nice air conditioned pizza joint.  I'm glad I was feeling good today because the climb ahead was brutal.  I took it easy and let Jordan race on by me.  There were so many switch backs that I eventually lost sight of him.  When I reached the summit, I did not see him.  I had hoped to rest a bit.  Fortunately he had the same idea and was resting under the shade of a big oak tree.  Jordan had beaten me up to the summit by about 3 minutes.

The downhill ride was long and glorious.  Lots of turns.  I actually had to use my breaks.  The temperature change was amazing.  Soon after heading downhill, the temperature changed from 100 degrees to probably 60 degrees with the wind chill.  It felt like the sensation you get when you open a commercial freezer door with that rush of cold air hitting you.  It was good to see the coast again but the head winds made the going tough.

We reached our Fort Bragg hotel before Soo and Martin.  We earned those 90 miles.  I'm really proud of Jordan.

Day 15 - Marty's Journal

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Arcata to Humbolt State Park, California: 56 miles

Soo drove Jordan and I to Arcata where we stopped our ride yesterday.  Today feels like a good day.  My legs feel good, the weather is just right and we finally have a tail wind.  Just south of Eureka on 101, we hit a stretch of level road with a tail wind.  I rode hard and we cruised along at around 23 mph.  Boy did that feel good.

We stopped off at Rio Del for pizza and root beer.  Pizza sure tastes good after riding about 40 miles.  We continued the ride following the Eel River.  Beautiful country.  At some point, we peeled off 101 and rode the Avenue of the Giants.  The redwoods are spectacular.  Unfortunately at about 5 miles from our destination, my right knee started hurting for the first time.  Must have been the hard riding.  It's frustrating because my mind wants to do more than my body is able to do.

We arrived at the campground before Soo and Martin.  Our campsite is huge.  Lots of space and big trees.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow's layover day.

Day 14 - Marty's Journal

Friday, July 4, 2008

Crannell to Arcata, California: 12 miles

This was supposed to be a layover day with no riding.  Soo wanted some time alone at a coffee shop.  With the weather so nice, I had her drop me and the boys off at the place where we left off yesterday.  This was a very nice ride.  Most of it was on a bike trail.

Arcata is a nice town.  A bit too hippy for me but I could see living here.