day15 125km 6:33 fairfield

Had an early start this morning. Got going around 8a.m. and my fingers were really cold. The stretch of road leaving the state park was bad, ruts and changing pavement and patches. There was a nice bike path coming into san fransisco and I saw a lot of cool little shops. Made a detour up some hill because I couldn't read my map correctly. Saw a lot of cyclists, 2-3 groups, solo riders, women riders. Everyone seemed to be wearing some type of kit. Don't any of these people have jobs. Just before the bridge I crested a hill and caught up to a land rover on the descent because it was kind of twisty and went through a speed trap at 38m.p.h. Rode over the golden gate bridge and it was nice. Got a couple of pictures of the bridge and then was starting down to the bike path and my front fender got caught in my fork. I put my fenders on backwards because I am an idiot and never changed them around. My front tire locked up and my back tire lifted up and I almost went over the bars before I coul unclip. I rode around the waterfront and ate at a restaurant called nonna rose's. The host spoke italian, french, spanish and english trying to entice people to come into the restaurant. I almost got t-boned by a bus while making a left turn. I got off the ferry, which was an hour, and tried to make it to the campsite for the night. I got a little turned around when I couldn't read a street sign for some reason. It was getting late and I was still over 12 miles away. I stopped in the town of fairfield at an iced craem cream shop and asked about any campgrounds. A man with his family suggested a day park about 5 miles away. I followed his directions which was the way I was heading anyways and found the park by a lake. It was pretty big and I just hung out under a picnic awning until everyone left and I had a couple of energy bars for dinner. I used my bike as a wind shield with my cover over it. Set up my pad and sleeping bag on top of a picnic table because I saw 2 snakes in the road today and was worried about them however irrational that is.

day14 79km 3:37 lagunitas

Did my clothes at a laundromat and met a a couple of people who traveled around the country in their r.v. He was a vietnam vet and his wife told me about a hot springs called mystic run by the guy who made the gratefull dead 'dancing bear' stickers. Its out by reno somewhere. Saw a couple of cyclists and rode on a nice bike path to samuel p taylor state park. I rode up to the store to grab dinner and ran into the cyclists I saw earlier. They were from vancouver and were on vacation. He was riding a pinarello! Met a larger rider who was starting from san francisco to seattle. I don't envy him with those headwinds. He came over and talked a bit, he is going pretty minimal. He doesn't have rain gear or front panniers. Finished the school humor book. achilles feels the same.

day13 54km 2:38 bodega bay

I took it easy today because I want to meet up with miles in sacramento on thursday. Thanks for the offer chris, but I just checked my blog today and already had accommodations set up. I appreciate it though. Bought some food organic oats, pop tarts, fruit and trail mix. Met a group of roadies hanging out at a cafe and chatted with them for a while. They were all older and wished me luck. One of them was nice enough to buy me a chai tea and candy ice cream bar. I love candy ice cream bars. nothing tastes better than cold, chocolatey, ice cream, caramel goodness. Just past the turnoff to 1 was an accident and I had to wait about 5 minutes before I could go. The officer waved me up ahead of the cars. He also told me to watch out for debris. 1 car got ahead of me when I started, but both sides started to go at once. The cars came to a standstill and I threaded my way through and continued up the road. Score one for the cyclists! Made some phone calls since I made camp so early and washed my clothes in the sink and strung up a bad clothesline because it was so windy. Didn't really dry them out as much as I though it would. My achilles feels the same and my ears are still sunburnt and driving me crazy.

day12 115km 5:24 fort ross

Ate an orange for breakfast and stopped in albion for food. Met up with a guy named mike who was an officer in the navy for 12 years and had done a lot of touring with his wife. This was his first solo tour and he was taking his time. He spent 2 days in brandon and only rode 8 miles one day! I rode with him for a bit and had a lunch of hummus and tomato on bread. Hit a new top speed sometime today 77k/hr or 47m.p.h! Had a strong tailwind today and was feeling good and rode over 80km in 4rhs. Went into a ditch on an uphill, lost momentum trying to wave a car past and rode into a ditch. I had a little a moment after that and was like' screw it, i'm not waving any more cars through.' Later in the day I was riding up a hill and my rear wheel locked up. I pulled over and my left upper bolt and rear rigth bolt on my rear rack were missing. This had caused my load to lift back and rub on my rear tire. I replaced the bolts and checked that the rest of my bolts were tight. I hadn't eaten since lunch and was getting pretty low on energy and booked it to the campsite. I found a campsite dumped my stuff off and raced to a store up the road. I was almost shaking when I paid for my food can of coke, twix and cookies. I don't know why I didn't eat for 3 1/2 hours after lunch, but you know how it goes. Rode back to camp and finished up dinner, couscouswith veggies and a tylenol, when rob and chris rolled in. The campground host was awesome. He made us all ham and cheese sandwiches, a big bag of chips, chocolate and some firewood. One of the guys built a fire and we sat around for a bit talking. I finished airframe and my achilles hasn't gotten any worse or better. The heel lift seems to have helped and there is no new pains, so I don't think its affecting the mechanics of my pedalstroke.

day11 95km 4:39 little river

Left before chris and rob today. Bought some groceries in legget. Started a climb after a chilly little downhill. Climbed for a bit, about 700 ft, and then flew down a descent leaning hard into the corners with my front brake squealing the whole time. Ate lunch after the rockport climb and had a tailwind on some rollers by the coast. There were 2 back to back 15 mph corners that were really fun. Stopped at a walgreen's and bought an insole for my left shoe. Ate dinner at the little river inn because I forgot to grab breakfast when I had the chance to buy groceries. I'm probably going to just eat an orange for breakfast anyway, so I don't know why I ate out.

day10 110km 5:28 legget

Slept under a gazebo last night at an rv park and didn't even set up my tent. Slept on top of this cot with a piece of plywood over the springs. Should have gotten a picture of it. I suck at remembering to take pictures of stuff. haven't been able to upload any because the library computers don't allow it. couldn't decide what to wear today because of the weather, overcast, and decided on 3/4 tights (knickers) and ls jersey with a base layer and short-fingered gloves. Rode through the 'avenue of the giants' and they were huge redwoods all over the place. I decided not to do the 'lost coast route' because in the description it said over 60 miles with over 6500 feet of climbing. Ouch! My achilles started acting up again and if I took my foot out of my shoe and pedaled with it on top it didn't hurt. I have been doing that on the flats and climbs and putting it back in for the added security of descending. Decided not to push it to legget ( there is a climb right after it). I went down to the river and tried to ice my foot in the water, but it wasn't very cold. I also massaged my achilles a little and tried to stretch my calf a little. At the hiker/biker site I met a couple of guys from N.Y who are riding prom portland to san fransisco. We decided to go up the road about a mile and split a pizza. You are always hungry and able to eat because your burning like 5-6000 calories a day. An oversize load truck came through and he honked right as he was passing me and chris. We were already almost in the ditch and I though 'we are gonna get sliced in half/run over by some wide thing on the back of this truck.' luckily nothing happened. The truck passed us and later we concluded that he was probably honking at a car in the oncoming lane to get over. We finished with the pizza as it was getting twilight and they stopped at a store, but I decided to go down to camp because I didn't bring any bike lights. I had my headlamp with me and with my helmet on it was somewhere between my eyes and my nose. Descending was scary, because the cars had their lights on and it would illuminate the road ahead of you and you didn't know if they saw you or not. Probably one of the top three dumbest things I've done on my bike. Made it back to camp safely though. I was sitting in my tent writing in my journal when i heard singing with a guitar. They played a couple
of songs I knew and then I thought 'I wish they would play some death cab'. The very next song played was I will follow you into the dark. I got out of bed and wandered over to their campsite and it was a girl (mariasa) singing and a guy (kieth) playing a guitar. They played about five or six more and then called it a night. It was really cool.

day9 88km 4:24 stafford

Left the earliest I have all trip 8:40. My watch stopped working last ight as I was trying to reset the day. Got a little lost in eureka and the library didn't open until noon, so I found a mall and got a new phone with my same old phone number. Not everyone's number transferred over, so if you aren't one of the lucky 9, then I don't have your number. Ate to much at a hometown buffet and was burping up stuff for a couple of miles after that. My left achilles tendon started to ache just about an hour before I found a campsite. I think that I might have had my shoes cranked down to tight yesterday, or overuse, orleg length discrepancies, or..... The tops of my ears also are itchy/hurt. I don't know if its a sunburn or the helmet straps/sunglasses rubbing or what. I am getting an awesome cyclist tan. I will try to baby my achilles tomorrow as much as I can, but what can you do?

day8 ~135km in ~7:30 arcata

I always seem to ride better when I'm angry. I was angry today. Angry at myself, angry at california and angry I got a hotel room. Got out the door at 9 am and started a climb right away. Today was the longest day and most climbing i've done all trip, probably 3-4,000 feet. Met up with matt at a state park and he is going to stay with friends in mckinnleyville. Newton b. drury parkway was cool. A bunch of exotic cars passed me going the opposite way. I saw a maserati, bentley, ferrari's ect. Just after trinidad was a surf spot and the road was very bad and dirt/gravel in places. I had to pay very close attention to the path I was taking because of huge potholes, but managed to get through it o.k. Coming into arcata started on a bike path and then a bunch of flat windy farm roads. I remember taking a hard left hand turn on bad pavement and imagining I was in the tour of flanders. Stopped at an rv park, but they wanted $18 with no showers, so i continued on to a koa just past arcata. Did my laundry and got a hot shower. The town of arcata was pretty cool. I was on bike paths the whole time and there were tons of people riding. i wanted to hang out in town, but it was getting late and I hadn't set up accommodations for the night.Matt gave me his house number and said his roommates would be happy to put me up, but no one answered and I didn't feel like waiting around when it was getting late.

day7 122km 6:21 crescent city

A truck pulled in and out of the park last night. I woke up to it and waited for doors to open but there was nothing. There was a climb right after gold beach and I stoppeed in gold beach and bought some used books 'airframe' by crighton, 'eat to win' about sports nutrition from 1982 and some random classroom/education humor book. Now I won't lay in my sleeping bag for hours trying to fall asleep. Had another tailwind today and met a nice lady named barbara before smith river. She said she has a niece/granddaughter who wants to do this after she graduates college. Barbara was nice enough to offer me a glass of juice and some mixed nuts at her house which I gladly accepted. Her husband was shining some new brass fixtures they had gotten and it reminded me of my old job. Another georgeous day today and think that I burnt the outside of my elbows. After smish river I crossed into cali at 4pm and got a picture of the sign. I rode with an older black man for about 5 miles and he was riding an old hybrid. We talked about all kinds of cycling things, crashes, places to ride, cars, ect until he turned off on his street. I didn't see any signs for camping like in Oregon and it was getting late. Two cyclists, ron and his friend, talked to me and tried to give me directions to a campsite. I missed it the first time and only found rv parks, but found it on the way back. They wanted 18.75 and no showers,  so I gave ron a call and he checked around for me but he couldn't get in touch with anybody. I was pretty angry at this point and just decided screw it and got ahotel room, because I hadn't showered since 2 days ago and didn't want to camp out so close to a town. It was all right 47 bucks and I got a shower, washed my clothes in the sink and watched a stanley cup playoff game. I will just have to pay better attention next time.

day6 120km 5:51 neskowin bay

Woke up to foggy low clouds and no dew on the groung which is a first for this trip. Rolled out at 9:30 wearing the same gear as yesterday and climbed up seven devils rode. I freakin love this rode!!! It was amazing. The landscape reminded me when your at 'top of the world' at the stottlemeyer trails. Very few cars with some rollers and good pavement and then painted on the road before an awesome descent is ' here comes the fun part'. oh, yes. it was fun. leaning into corners going 45kph and taking the whole lane. it was just amazing. If anyone gets the chance do this section its unbelieveable. I took my phone out to call my lovely mom while I was riding and I fumbled it and dropped it. It landed on my front right pannier, so I slowed down and then it dropped down and my front tire ran right over it and it exploded into a bunch of pieces. I was mad for about 5 seconds and then just started laughing. I saved the sim card though. I caught up to matt and we met a guy named 'dog' at a little store and he told us a good place to eat. Matt and I cooked up some soup for dinner and are stealth camping at a state park. My legs felt good today, but I think it was because of a tailwind and very few hills. It was beautfull all day and I should be in california tomorrow.

day5 89km 4:51 charleston

The three of us ate breakfast this morning and then we all kind of rolled out. I rode with knee and arm warmers today and got a late start 10:30. I almost passed matt and mitch who had ate at a burrito stand just down the road from where I had my lunch. I stopped and put on some sunscreen and chatted a bit. I ran into mitch again after I filled my bottles at a dune buggy rental place. I rode by a lot of sand dunes today right by the ocean. I had just passed through a town and a lady sitting in the pasenger side of a truck was nice enough to tell me 'there is a bike lane right there.' I had been riding just to the inside of the white line. Oh, really. I didn't notice the bike lane which was covered in gravel. glass and broken pavement. ugh. Sometimes I hate motorists. I stopped in charleston to ask for directions and some guy who reminded me of rob potts asked me a bunch of questions about my trip and was really excited for me. Anyway had some salami, a box of ritz crackers and cheese for dinner. I had to be carefull though because there were some crows scoping out my dinner when I went to fill up my bottles.Kind of miss talking to mitch and matt which is kind of wierd because I only knew them for a day and a half. I know its a ways off, but i'm excited and terrified about nevada.

day4 84km 4:12 florence

Woke up and it was cold. My oatmeal lid got knocked off and dumped inside one of my panniers. I stopped at waldorf and used their library to do my last update. It warmed up and got sunny after the library. Was able to see the ocean without any fog or cloud cover finally and it was beautiful. I met a touring rider matt today who was hitting up skateparks all along the coast. He started in victoria b.c. and got snowed on up in washington burr... Dinner was a can of mixed veggies, couscous, an orange, an avacado, string cheese and the remains of a pound of deli ham I bought for lunch. It was so much food that I ate it in two sittings. I got done showering and cleaning my pans and another touring rider had camped next to me. His name was mitch and he is riding a 10 speed! its an old bike. He is headed down to california. We sat around and talked until dark. They both aren't carrying very much compared to me, and matt doesn't even have a tent. We talked about life, our trips, my time in the navy and the responses you get from people after you tell them about your trip. 

response#1- wow, that is so cool. I want to do something like that some day.

response#2- why would you want to do that? be safe. good luck.

even if I explained to person #2 why I am doing it ( even though sometimes I myself don't know). Any answer I gave wouldn't satisfy them. 

day3 81km in 4:26 newport

Woke up and ate some oatmeal. It was very lightly sprinkling and I got drizzled on for a little over an hour, but it stopped just before lunch and it was cloudy for the rest of the day. Took a 1 lane road with a bike path that ran right along the coastline about 4-5 miles and it was awesome. Not a lot of cars and the sun would break through every once in a while and the tops of the waves would sparkle. The descent off it was nice and fun. Did some laundry at a laundromat and met my first eccentric guy who was walking a cross along the side of the highway with a wheel along the base of it.I talked to him for a couple of minutes, but he never answered why he was doing it. He didn't seem to be on anything or 'out there' at all. He wished me good luck and I did the same and I forgot to get his picture. how lame am I. I was debating wether to pick up some groceries or stop for dinner when I saw a little pizza joint and thought about it and ended up turning around and stopping in. I had a white spinach vegan pizza and it was great. One of the owners gave me a free beer off a new keg of rogue (rogue brewery is literally 5 miles away) he had brought in. The other owner told me if I stayed for a while he would give me a ride to south beach state park, so I stuck around to listen to a band that came in and played. A girl came over and asked about my bike and I told her about my trip and we talked for a while about all kinds of things. She also gave me acouple of her favorite book selections. Around 7-8ish I got a ride to the campground down the road and set up my tent in the dark and fell happily asleep.

day2 85km 4:35 pacific city

Not much went on today, I'm still rearranging stuff in my panniers. 2 climbs today and on the second one my mind wasn't doing very well. I ended up going a couple miles farther than I planned so that I could have a campsite with hot showers. There were 3 or 4 black bunnies running around and seagulls flying around the campsite. Had a couple of beers at the pelican bay pub and brewery. It started rainging a couple of minutes after AI got into my tent and I couldn't fall asleep. I don't know if it was from the beers, the sound of the rain on my tent or dreading packinf and eating breakfast in the rain tomorrow.

day 1 4/15 38 miles 4 hrs

Parents were nice enough to wake up super early and drop me off at fort clatsop state park. Its is just south of astoria, Or. I travelled along a nice road that had a decent climb for a little bit and then a nice twisty descent. I was almost into the town of seaside coming off the descent when I heard a rubbing and my back tire was rubbing against my seatstay. My rear quick-release lever had somehow came loose and my rear tire shifted in my dropouts! I had to take all the stuff off my rear rack and then remount the tire in the dropouts. First mechanical issue solved. I stopped in seaside and rolled my bike out to the surf and dipped the back tire in the pacific ocean being careful not to let the water touch my front tire. I have to wait for the atlantic ocean to do that. I took a couple of deep breaths, said a little prayer and walked it back to the bike path. There were about 3-4 little climbs of 200-600 feet and they all felt over 10% even though they were only 3-4%. Even with my rediculously low gearing its tiring to push it up hills. I passed through a tunnel and they had a button to push if you were a cyclist going through to let motorists know that there are bicycles in the tunnel. Any car that passed through sounded like a jet by the time it was right behind you with the acoustics of the tunnel. I also climbed up a road where they were filming a 'boxer films' movie. they had closed down the road to 1 lane and from what I saw of the trailers and whatnot it looked like some type of car chase scene. I spilled my dinner of couscous all over a book I was planning to read, so I ended up eating oatmeal with raisins. Had a free hot shower and only paid $4 for ahiker/biker site at nehalem bay state park.

my stuff

here is a gear list if anyone cares:

tent with rainfly and footprint, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, pocket rocket stove, msr cookset, lighter, spoon, fork, foldable bowl, 2 gas canisters, can opener, headlamp, leatherman, 1 pair city pants, rain pants, 1 pair thermals, t-shirt, 1 pair wicking underwear, 1 pair running shorts, sandels, toiletries kit, medical kit with road rash supplies, random bike stuff ( chain lube, zip ties, bolts, allen keys, spare tubes, ect). chamois cream( for my booty), embrocation ( warming gel), massage cream ( for my poor little leggies) sunglasses, helmet, mountain bike cycling shoes, wool hat, cycling cap, arm warmers, knee warmers, 2 short sleeve jerseys, 2 longsleeve jerseys, 2 longsleeve undershirts, 1 rainproof jacket, 1 rainjacket, 1 shortsleeve base layer, 2 pair cycling shorts, 1 pair cycling tights, 1 pair cycling knickers, 2 pair wool sock liners, 2 pairs wool socks, 3 pairs ankle socks, 1 pair wool gloves, 1 pair wind/waterproof gloves, 1 pair winter gloves, 1 pair short fingered cycling gloves, booties, pepper spray, knife, camera, maps, journal, pen. I'm sure there is more but I don't think it matters.

SHOUT OUT

I wanna say thanks to some people before I begin the journey.

thankyou to mom, dad, my sisters, sarah (for the inspiration), everyone at B.i.cycle tom clune, alex, the saturday morning group dan, dave, greg, greg, ty, chris, and everyone else. Everyone at Poulsbo Running chris, brooke, lynly and the sunday morning trailrunners, ben, allen and the gang, bay street ale house for the yummy beers. john, mickey, brent, morgan, nicky, diane and everyone at kitsap physical therapy. Stephanie who revived my legs all summer and listened to my ramblings. my navy shipmates kev, porno, miles, sam, jared, danny mac, zippo, micah, watanabe, so much ice they yell 'skate dave' williams, mike, chris, ste holly. grandma and grandpa and the whole micheal family, frank and caroline up in canada. sorry if I spelled some names wrong. tomorrow is the grand depart.

if you want to win something run 100 yards. if you want to experience something run a marathon!