cycling Travel, August 14, 2005 3:11 AM 8 comments
Cycling Trip: Routine
Generally Shawn and I wake up around 6:30-7:00am. If my little watch alarm doesn't do it, then the many calls of nature (ground hogs burrowing under the tent, racoons, bladder) do.
If we're efficient we'll have the tent collapsed and our gear packed in under an hour and be on the road by 8am. We switch carrying the tent every other day.
There's a mandatory coffee stop in the first half hour, then we'll usually put in a solid 50km before brunch, check out a sight if available on the route, and generally keep a good pace, sharing the pulls in the wind every ten minutes.
On the whole these kilometres are cold, foggy ones. Seriously: we've been in winter riding conditions for over two weeks now. There've been a few scorchers in the high 30s when the scenic routes venture inland, but it seems the entire west coast of the United States is under perpetual fog so thick you can--as Shawn put it--hear it on the tent flap in the morning.
So other than having to wear two jerseys, arm and leg warmers for over half the trip, and freezing around the campsite for dinner, it's been good. We generally finish our 80-150 km between 1 and 4 pm and immediatley set up the tent to dry out. And dry out our towels, and helmets, and clothes and everything else that's perpetually damp.
After the tent out top priority is always food. We only buy enough each afternoon at a grocery store to get us through the next 24 hours. It's mostly deli food like bagels, sliced beef, potatoe salads, yogurt, and a donut or similar. Multiplied by three times each.
Four to five hours of riding everyday, plus the cold and sometimes lack of sightseeing (see fog above) puts us to sleep by 8 or 9 pm every night.
But I must say, there's some damn good riding along this route. Some highlights:
- Ave. of the Giants, the Redwood forest in Northern California. Gentle curves and hills, thick foliage, few cars, giant trees.
- This one portion about 200km north of San Francisco: climb a hella windy narrow Highway 1 to 2000 feet (above the cursed fog!) with a picture-perfect decent right out of Europe
- So many tight ravines to pass through in Northern Cali, with sa-weet right-hand banking
- Fat Tire beer
- Cheep beer, cheep wine
All's well, no bike troubles but a few flats (and some new creaking in my fork). Brand new tires may only last the trip. Pack light if you do something like this, it makes such a difference.
8 comments on Cycling Trip: Routine
1. Kris | August 14, 2005 9:04 AM
Posting at 3:11 in the morning? I thought it was bed at 8:00! Trip sounds great. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of pictures! Out of curiousity, how are you washing your clothes . . . are you washing your clothes? What's Fat Tire beer?
2. Jeff Werner | August 14, 2005 10:12 AM
Ya, I kind of ate too much for dinner, and drank too much afterward, hence the middle-of-the-night purge and update.
We wash our clothes about every 5-6 days, i.e. after all our bike clothing has gone through two rotations. We stop at a laundrymat, change into our cleanest civilian clothes, and wash everything else. We usually sit around, or buy food, or do internet while the clothes wash and dry.
Fat Tire Beer is a beer brand sold along the coast. Their logo is like an old Schwinn-like cruiser bike. Surprisingly we see this logo and beer at quite a few bars we ride by.
4. Dan | August 15, 2005 11:27 AM
I'm a big fan of Fat Tire myself, probably my favourite of the more mainstream beers that I've had in the US. Sounds like you guys are making good time, keep it up, I'm stoked to hear the stories.
6. Jeff Werner | August 18, 2005 9:00 AM
Not a joke, a spelling error. Corrected.
7. tony eason | October 22, 2005 3:37 PM
Liked reading your post? Where are you now? And, keep drinking the Fat Tire Beer cause Fat Tire Beer rocks ...Wishing the best of all possible worlds, AIDS Life Cycle Cyclist, tony eason
8. Jeff Werner | October 22, 2005 3:45 PM
Thanks for the comments, Tony. My cycling trip ended by September and I'm now living in Vancouver, Canada. Fat Tire really was great. And good luck on your journey!
Easy reading is damned hard writing.—Nathaniel Hawthorne
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