The End of the Road

The misty weather continues with us as we ride south. For those continuing beyond Crescent City and farther down the California coast the next campground is more than sixty miles distant. We worry about the chance of rain until it answers us with a steady light drizzle. Crossing into California, with the requisite pictures being taken at the state "Welcome!" sign, it feels very muggy, a precursor of the heat that awaits our fellow cyclists as they continue on their way south. The biggest surprise of this trip is how cold the coast of Oregon is especially with a strong wind chill and a cool damp mist thrown in for good measure. None of us, save for Chinook with his deep fur coat, was prepared for the cold and the next time I ride this area I'm making sure to bring the long johns and balaclava. So much for summer at the beach!

The riding today is perhaps the easiest of the whole trip with a whopping 200 feet of elevation gain by halfway down the route and then flats and slight downhills into Crescent City on the back roads. The recommended route along the coast predominantly has us riding on actual Highway 101, but whenever there is a secondary backroad the route veers off the busy highway. That's all well and good, especially because there is far less traffic on these old roads, but we have learned that the old road builders didn't try to mold the topography to their wishes, instead they just followed the contours of the landscape. To cyclists on these alternate routes this means you do a lot more climbing than on the newer version of 101 where the road engineers made good use of dynamite and bulldozers to flatten out the ups and downs to accommodate the faster highway speeds of today. While you see some six, seven, and occasionally eight percent grades on the newer road it's not unusual on the back roads to come flying down one hill and to see you now have to re-climb all the elevation you just lost at a ten to fifteen percent grade. By week two these abrupt 'rolling' rises and descents are starting to play havoc with overstressed and not so young legs and joints.

Knowing that it is the last day helps, and the closer we get to Crescent City the more it's like leading the horse to the barn - not much encouragement needed. The end of a ride like this is always bittersweet - the allure of sleeping in a bed, not being out in the cold all day, and allowing too-tired and sore body parts to recuperate is offset by knowing that tomorrow we won't be heading down the roadway, seeing what's just up ahead, right around the corner, just waiting to be discovered by three intrepid traveling companions - Chinook, Sophie, and me.