Sunday, August 30, 2009

SF Critical Mass

When you have just ridden 1600 miles from Seattle to San Francisco and learn that one of the country's largest critical mass rides is happening that night, you just kinda have to ride it.










The ride started at rush hour on a Friday evening in the heart of downtown and twisted around the city, circling Union Square and doing a full U-turn in front of Giant's Stadium... on a game night! Too much fun!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Highway 1

As difficult as it was to tear ourselves away from the hospitality of our friends in Eureka we were happy to get back on the bikes and explore the Northern California coastline. We attempted an alternate route near the Lost Coast but the unrelenting 6 mile climb had me throwing in the towel. The regular route was not a bad runner up since it followed the Avenue of the Giants through California's iconic redwood trees. The Mendocino Coast is spectacular and rugged. Ft Bragg awarded us with brewery #16 in our tour. We were excited to have a couple campsites away from the state parks. We stayed in a beautiful spot in the Point Reyes National Seashore accessible only by foot/bikes and another just across from San Francisco in the Golden Gate Recreation Area. We are enjoying the city and staying with our friend Justin (PCT 08).

Friday, August 28, 2009

Pre-San Fran









Wise Words

"Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough." -Charles Dudley Warner

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

We're fine

Almost to San Fran. Check out the map.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Abundance!

We are euphoric in Eureka! Words may fail to explain why we are reluctant to leave. Once you've looked at the photos you will understand. From the moment we arrived at Alice's coffee shop in Trinidad it has been glorious abundance. (If you ever find yourselves in Trinidad, make sure and visit the Beachcomber Cafe. Bring your own cup, they don't do "to go" but a better choice is to hangout and soak it up). Every night of our stay we have had an outrageous home cooked meal from bounty of the peak of the produce season here. I went to two Farmers Markets including the Arcata Farmer's Market which really needs to be seen to be believed. We visited our friend Amy from our PCT hike in 1996. Her and her husband and daughter have a beautiful farm in Willow Creek. We got a tour and a fantastic lunch. They specialize in heirloom tomatoes and peaches which were right at their peak season here. They also served homemade wine and lots of other goodies from their land. It was all my romantic images of farming layed out before us. Afterwards we swam in the Trinity River, a short walk behind their farm. Of course no visit is complete without the requisite brewery visits. Griz was happy to be our tour guide on visits to Mad River, Lost Coast and Humbrews. In the spirit of the local movement here in Humboldt County, Christian and Griz took an afternoon to brew their own beer (a SUPER hoppy Brutal B). On Sunday, eight of us spent the afternoon floating the Trinity River. It was the perfect afternoon. Coming home sun saturated and exhausted we enjoyed a fish taco night with halibut (that Griz caught), homemade tortillas and salsa made from gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. We are tearing ourselves away finally although I did enquire about a quote for the monthly rent at Griz and Alice's wonderful home. There are not sufficient words to thanks our hosts, we hope they know (as you do now) what a fantastic time we had!

Not riding bikes




Brewing the Brutal B!







A Taste of Humboldt










Thursday, August 13, 2009

California

We made it to our friend's Griz and Alice house in Eureka! You may remember that we traveled to their wedding in New Zealand a couple of years ago. We are so excited to be here at their warm and welcoming home. We were excited to cross the California border and are hoping to enjoy some redwoods. It has been a little difficult because we concentrate more on survival cycling then taking in the views. We are challenged daily by motorists who get too close to us. I had to jump out of the way of a charging logging truck the other day. It is loud and scary out here so we were really excited to happen across a mountain bike trail that got us off the road and allowed us to camp in the backcountry. It was so quiet I nearly cried. We have both missed the silence that our backpacking adventures bring us. We are also excited to be in the land of many organic farms. I was lamenting to our friend Sara that we were finding limited organic produce and she suggested that if we spent half the energy we have invested in seeking out local breweries and applied it to finding farmers markets I might have better luck. I went to a beautiful farmers market today with Alice. A friend we know from the Pacific Crest Trail in 1996 is a farmer in the area and we will be going to her farm tomorrow. She set us up with gorgeous heirloom tomatoes and sweet melons to hold us over until our farm tour and lunch tomorrow which I'm sure will warrant a blog post of it's very own. Tonight we will make dinner at home and enjoy a "taste of Humbolt" yummy!

California baby!



1000 miles!








Alice's restaurant.

Oxymoronic RV names (emphasis on MORON)

As we pedal, we get a very up-close and personal view of the many recreational vehicles barrelling down the road. To pass the time (and to take our minds off the near-misses), we collect oxymoronic RV names (as a reminder, "Jumbo Shrimp" "Pretty Ugly" and "Deafening Silence" are all oxymorons). Here are some of our favorite names for these 40-foot long, gas-guzzling, diesel-belching, generator-blaring, Hummer-towing behemoths. These are all real names:

  • Wilderness
  • Adventurer
  • Sprinter
  • Brave (we were the ones who had to be brave)
  • Outback
  • Trailblazer
  • Pioneer
  • Patriot
  • American Dream
Non-Oxymoronic RV names:
  • Intuder
  • Big Foot
  • Big Horn
  • Cyclone
  • Titan
  • Everest
  • Travel EZ
  • Warrior
  • Rage'n
  • Conquest

Honorable mention: RockWood by ForestRiver

New route info


View BikeTour2009 in a larger map

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Photos





Rogue Nation

We are proud to announce our new citizenship to the Rogue Nation! As mentioned earlier we made a visit to the Rogue Public Ale house in Newport. The next day we crossed over a beautiful bridge from where we could see Rogue World Headquarters.... obviously we would need to stop here. It is in this location on the Yaquina Bay where Rogue brews, bottles, kegs and distributes all of their beers. We had to have a closer look. While we were wandering around looking for the tap room a woman came in and asked if everyone was ready for the brewery tour. Sure! What an amazing operation. Of course after the tour was over we were really thirsty. Between the public ale house and the brewery location we sampled 10 different beers, not a bad one in the bunch! Every year Rogue petitions the United Nations to become a bona fide nation - We can't imagine a hoppier citizenry.

http://www.rogue.com/nation/nation.php

Rogue