Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 18:50:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: Eric Zander

RoadKill Report 3June98

Hey there everyone! Welcome to all you newcomers and thanks to all the support from everyone along the way. Right now I'm in Elk, CA. visiting with Laura and Parker Mills. Today's a rest day and they have a computer so I figured I'd get this out to you. In my ever expanding efforts at quality control and organization I'll even proof this report before sending it out! Like, wow! New idea!!!

Extra special thanks to Lanette and Bob in Monterey for all their hospitality!! Although I was nothing more than a couch potato for a week, it was fun!! Also, thanks to Anne for letting me stay at your place for a night! I appreciate it (and Diane for telling me where Anne was) and, finally, thanks Matt for the AWESOME lunch!!!!

So, here's what's happened to Jezebel and me over the last few days...

26May98 (Tuesday)

Miles: 58.59 today, 809 total
Ride Time: 5:25
Max Speed: 33.4mph
Avg. Speed: 13.97mph

Route: From Monterey went N. on the coastal bike path all the way to Watsonville. This paralleled Route 1 or was on Route 1 all the way. At Watsonville I turned around and returned to Monterey.

After half a week of lounging at Lanette's, I decided it was time to get moving again. I'd planned to get going on Monday but woke up too late....
Riding north to Watsonville was quite uneventful. When I got to a Chinese restaurant (need that rice!) for lunch and started to untie my bike lock I immediately noticed that my sleeping bag had fallen off!
Totally disgusted with myself, I retied the tent and ground cover. A waitress from the restaurant asked me where I was riding from, I briefly told my story (if anyone out there believes I can be brief!) of how I'd lost my sleeping bag and was returning to Monterey in hopes of finding it. She wished me luck and I was off. I rode slowly at first hoping I'd see it. It would be hard to miss because it is a bright royal blue. As time went on and I got further away I increased my speed back up to normal, keeping an eye peeled for it.
No such luck. When I got within 8 miles of Monterey (the last point that I KNOW I had the sleeping bag) I decided to return to Lanette's and try to buy a new sleeping bag.

Not long after I returned, Lanette returned home from work, surprised to see me. I told my sordid tale and she offered to help as much as possible. I found two places in Monterey which sold sleeping bags. We visited one that night and I went to the other the following morning. I ended up getting a pretty good deal on an almost exact replacement for the one I lost - same manufacturer, essentially the same bag and, I suspect, cheaper than what I paid for the first one. So, at least I got a good deal...
By the time I got the replacement bag, it was too late to leave so I stayed for another day. Lanette and Bob (Lanette and Jon's roommate) were really great about all this.
The following morning, the 28th (Thursday), I checked the weather on TV and, it was supposed to pour all day but it would clear up on Friday morning. So, I unpacked for the third time and settled in for another night.

29May98 (Friday)

Miles: 74.90 today, 884 total
Ride Time: 7:25
Max Speed: 34.4mph
Avg. Speed: 14.14mph

Route: From Monterey went N. on the coastal bike path all the way to Watsonville. In Watsonville lost the bike path but found it again later. Followed Main Street to Buena Vista Street to San Andreas Road which brought me back to it. Followed the bike path all the way up to Santa Cruz where I went N. on Ocean Road to Highway 9. Followed 9 to 236 west/north which took me to Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

Much like my second day of riding, I spent the day chasing the rain. The roads were wet most of the way and people asked me about it but I never saw any. Good luck, neh?
I didn't leave Lanette's til nearly noon but, I knew the route so well I knew I'd make good time.
I flew up to Watsonville in good time - just under two hours for 32 miles. Pretty good with Jezebel weighed down as much as she is. Stopped in the same Chinese restaurant for lunch that I'd been at on Tuesday. Everyone in the restaurant knew my story! Kind of like Thailand where perfect strangers in my village could tell me my life's story...
One very good thing about spending the week at Lanette's - my Achilles tendons and knees were now essentially pain free!
Watsonville to Santa Cruz was pretty uneventful. It got hilly (from Monterey to Watsonville there were very few hills) and I saw more and more surfers. The water must be like Michelle Plante, frigid.
I saw tons of HUGE eucalyptus along the way and - way cool - saw a flock of pelicans in flight! They were so neat!!
Once in Santa Cruz I saw billions of surfers! I think everyone there surfs... Hey Ida, Here's where you and Karl should live!
It was interesting seeing the sudden change in vegetation once I went inland on 9. I wasn't more than three miles from the ocean and I was in thick redwood forest with HUGE trees. The hills got steeper and taller but I still wouldn't call them mountains.
In passing through the bustling metropolis of Boulder Creek (I think it has a population of a few hundred) I stopped for lunch II and tried to call Anne, sister of my friend Diane but had no luck.
Once on 236 there was very little traffic. I saw a few deer (alive, not roadkill) and even saw a tiny fawn!

One of my goals of this trip was to see big trees. Big Basin has exactly what I was looking for. There's one tree, which is pretty normal for the park, which is about 4 meters in diameter! It is friggin huge! There was also a section of a tree with markers in it indicating how old it was when chopped down: about 3,000 years! Many of the trees there are well over a thousand years old. Makes you realize how insignificant we all are.
So, I camped amongst giants for the evening.

30May98 (Saturday)

Miles: 57.42 today, 942 total
Ride Time: 6:54
Max Speed: 38.3mph
Avg. Speed: 13.59mph

Route: 236 North to 9 north to 35 north to 84 west to 1 north to Half Moon Bay.

I slept among lots of giants last night. Giant redwoods, giant mosquitoes (but they aren't half as aggressive or bloodthirsty as those in Thailand) and (I have pictures to prove this) a giant yellow slug! ewwww! It was about 8 inches long!! I later learned they are called Banana Slugs. Anne's daughter told me their chickens love them!
Started the day slow 'cause I wanted to get lots of pictures of the redwoods. I also had to deal with a nervous bird who kept twittering by. I think I was in its territory.
236 North was spectacular. lots and lots of HUGE redwoods. I rode slow to try and take it all in.
The hills slowly got steeper but not very bad. Here (along route 9) the road runs the ridge of hills north towards San Francisco. At one point I came across an overlook where you could see Palo Alto and the southern tip of the bay! Many, many miles distant!!
I stopped to eat at an upscale biker bar at the junction of 35 and 84. If you ever go there, don't go to the biker bar. Go to Alice's Restaurant across the street. The service in the biker bar was slower than sap in the winter. The waiter was a blond and, as the people at the table next commented, he lives up to his reputation. A regular wind tunnel.
Now, I had planned to get to Half Moon Bay by going further up on route 9 then heading west on Tunitas Creek Road well, butthead forgot and headed west on route 84. I kept looking for Tunitas creek road the whole way down (it was a real nice ride down 84). When I saw the ocean right in front of me I suspected something was wrong.... Took out the trusty map and realized my mistake. No big deal, it just added 2 or three miles to the trip.
Once in Half Moon Bay I found Anne's place, met her and her and her two wonderful daughters, Jenifer and Sarah. Sarah had just had her 7th birthday party so she was pretty happy.
Their house is really nice - cool tile, great design, etc.
Even though I only spent a night there, I feel like I was there for several days. Thanks Anne!!! I really appreciate your hospitality!

31May98 (Sunday)

Miles: 75.81 today, 1018 total
Ride Time: 9:31
Max Speed: 40.4mph
Avg. Speed: 13.04mph

Route: From Half Moon Bay rode 1 north (or the bike path) to San Francisco. Rode through the park and ended up in the Presido which took me to the Golden Gate Bridge. From there I followed the bike route through Sausalito and eventually got onto route 1 again.
Followed this to Olema and turned NE. onto Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. About 5 miles down the road was where I stopped for the night, Samuel P. Taylor State Park.

Last night at about 3am a raccoon got into Anne's chickens - what a commotion! It was fun for me but I think Anne wasn't too happy chasing raccoons away from the chickens... It made quite a commotion - the neighbors beagle barked incessantly.
Anyway, I didn't get going until close to noon again. Today I paid for my tardiness. But, it was hard to leave - Anne's daughters are so cute!
Pretty uneventful next two hours riding along the coast. I've seen tons of other bicyclists since Big Bend. This morning as I was leaving Half Moon Bay I saw some of the cyclists riding in an AIDS ride - San Fran to LA in five days. Nice!
Somewhere around Pacifica I met Matt, another cyclist. We were admiring some people parasailing (is that right Matt?) when I asked him if the road we were on would lead me to San Fran. He said, no but if I wanted to ride with him he was going back to San Fran. Sure, why not! I don't get much company along this ride.... maybe I should change my deodorant?
Well, Matt was really friendly and was pretty cool. We got onto some road which leads north into San Fran. when he saw two friends of his riding the other way. He said he'd catch up to me later (I doubted that) and we said goodbye.
Well, lo-and-behold, later Matt DID catch up to me. He must have been moving! He caught up to me just at the intersection where, if I'd kept going we'd have missed each other - though with my orange flag (the high tech minivan avoidance system), he'd have found me easily!
Matt invited me to his house for lunch which I gladly accepted. I was a little worried about the time but figured I had plenty of it yet. He doesn't live far from the big park in San Francisco (sorry, don't know the name of it). We got to his place, he apologized for how messy his roommates are... and proceeded to cook the most fabulous lunch I've had in a long time! I'm not quite sure what he put in the eggs (it was a cheesy omelet mixture with lots of spices) but coupled with whole wheat tortillas and a ton of rice and we were styling! Maybe Matt could email me with some suggestions on what spices he put in his eggs???
We talked for a while (read: Eric babbled too much for a while) then I had to get going and Matt had to get back to tearing down his motorcycle.
The Golden Gate wasn't too far away and was easy to find (Big Orange Bridge). Got some great pictures, hope they turn out! While admiring the bridge, a Chinese-American girl was admiring me (such a rare event in my life!). She was quite forward - came right up to me and asked where I was coming from and where I was going. When I told her she said "That's a long way" two times, turned on her heels and just as quickly as she came up to me, she walked away. Just goes to show, I have no rap!
Once over the bridge and in Sausalito, I started getting worried about how much daylight I had left. Figuring there was nothing I could do about it, I just kept plugging.
I had a seriously steep hill out of Sausalito but then a loonnngg downhill towards the Pacific. Getting more and more worried I picked up the pace as much as I could.
Stopped in Stinson Beach to get stuff for dinner but put it in my bags - no time to eat!
At this point it was about 7:30. The sun sets around 8:30 and I had about 20 miles to go. Riding at my average of 15mph (on level ground) I knew I was sunk. Oh Well, do what you can, neh?
I got very lucky - I had a tailwind and it was mostly level or downhill all the way to Olema. At Olema the day was in its dying gasp (nice literary touch, neh?). I had 6 miles to go.
I kept riding as fast as possible but about two miles down the road it was DARK. I was now riding slowly and almost in the middle of the road b/c I couldn't see the shoulder. After about 20 minutes of this, I got to the entrance of the park, registered and carefully found an empty campsite. Good thing I've had lots of practice setting up my tent - I did it in the dark this time! I have a flashlight but didn't want to tie up one hand using it...

1 June98 (Monday)

Miles: 79.83 today, 1097 total
Ride Time: 8:49
Max Speed: 35.2mph
Avg. Speed: 14.91mph

Route: (I'll shorten this for today - it's quite involved) I followed back roads from the park up to Petaluma. From there stayed on a road which parallels route 101 up to Stony Point Road which took me to Santa Rosa. From there basically paralleled 101 up to the Old Redwood Highway which took me to Healdsburg. From Healdsburg again paralleled 101 up to Canyon Road. Here headed west on Canyon Road to North on Dutcher Creek Road. This took me directly to the "Dutcher Creek RV Park & Campground"

Woke up quite early today - probably b/c I learned my lesson! A ranger came by and informed me that I was not in a hiker/biker campsite, I was in a regular campsite but, he was so magnanimous, he "let me go" - I have yet to stay in the designated hiker/biker site and I have yet to be in a campground that is even 1/2 full. What a butthead he was!

The ride to Petaluma was really pretty. Lots of cows and rolling grassy hills. Petaluma looks a lot like the older towns around Philadelphia - 50+ year old houses, big old trees along the streets, etc. Only difference is that you can't find a good hoagie west of the Appalachians.
A few miles north of Petaluma I had the first flat of my trip. I tried to fix it twice but both times the patch leaked. Never had that happen before so I put a new tube in. The old tube already had two patches on it from before starting this trip...
I noticed that North of Petaluma Old Redwood Highway doesn't have any redwoods.
Rode right through Santa Rosa, Fulton and Windsor. In Healdsburg I got some fried rice for dinner, to eat at the campground and then discovered another error on the triple-A maps. The roads out of Healdsburg towards Cloverdale aren't what the map says. Partly through following my gut feeling (it's never wrong but I don't always listen to it) and the help of a local cyclist, I got onto a road that's not even on the map "Geyserville Road" which leads to, you guessed it, geyserville!
Found Canyon Road and the map was correct from there to the campground.
I saw lots of vineyards all day today. Tasting rooms too. Wish I had
the time <hic> to stop <hic> and try a few!
The owners of the campground are Hare Krishnas! I thought that kind of funny! But, I decided I like Hare Krishnas when they charged me only $6 for the night!!

2June98 (Tuesday)

15th Day of riding, 22nd day on trip.
Miles: 59.17 today, 1157 total
Ride Time: 7:20
Max Speed: 37.9mph
Avg. Speed: 13.20mph

Route: Took Dutcher Creek Road into Cloverdale. From there followed route 128 northwest until just past the town of Philo. Turned west onto Philo-Greenwood Road. This brought me right here, Parker & Laura's place.

I was planning to go to a wat (Buddhist temple) up in Redwood Valley today but I found out the monk I wanted to see, Ajaan Pasanno wouldn't be there until Thursday so I figured I'd reverse my plan of going to the wat then Parker & Laura's. It'll mean more miles overall but less time. What's 30 miles when you're riding thousands??

128 was lots of rolling hills, nothing too severe. Just lots of country - grasslands, farms, vineyards, etc. Philo-Greenwood road was probably the nicest road I've ridden yet - almost totally forested!!
The first three miles was a 10% grade uphill. This was followed by about 12 miles of up and down - lots of switchbacks! Feel the burn!! the ended at the ocean (route 1) with a 2 mile 10% grade downhill.
Unfortunately, I overshot my target - I didn't know that Parker and Laura lived on this very road! I began the ride back up the 10% grade 2 mile hill when Parker passed me in his HUGE truck. I gratefully accepted the 4 mile ride to their house!!
Ends up that Laura passed me three times today! B/c they didn't know I was coming (I'd left a message on their answering machine) she just noticed me (and my high-tech minivan avoidance system) but didn't make the connection until she got home and heard my messages!

So, that's all for now folks! Today (3June98) is a rest day and tomorrow I'll set off for the wat then towards Oregon! California is one HUGE state, let me tell you!

Z-YA!

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