Day 26 – Ride Day Nineteen: Fort Bragg to Gualala

A rather crappy sleep last night. The tent was cramped, and I tossed and turned all night-long. Anyways, I made the smart move this morning and ate/made lunch before packing up the gear.

More parfait this morning, and a ham sandwich with a roast beef sandwich for desert.

We hit the road at about 8:45 for what would turn out to be a long “rolling” hill filled day. Today was honestly one of the most beautiful days I have seen yet, but thanks to its challenges I was in no mood to do anything really but enjoy the sights, and keep powering through the struggles.

The struggles were many, the beauty was amazing, and I have little to show of it.

At one of our early stops Warren caught up to us, which none of us were expecting. Warren apparently took a day off with some other cyclists yesterday and was on the same trek today as we were.

He took off before we left, and we caught up with him later as he was having his lunch in Manchester, California where we stopped for some snacks and supplies. Makes me think of the Chili Peppers: “Road tripping with my two greatest allies. Fully loaded we’ve got snacks and supplies”, what a great song for this trip!

Anyways the day lacks a lot of detail for me otherwise as it was filled with so many more of the hairpins from the day before, and similar uphills. But when we finally got to Gualala we headed for the community centre to meet our amazing contact Linda who had located places for us to stay tonight.

We are in this wonderful development called Sea Ranch and 6 of us are staying at this gorgeous house with Paddy and Paul Batchelor and 2 are just down the road. I feel like I am in paradise! We had access to the community pool, including showers and Saunas, local trails, and all of the awesomeness in the house.

We were brought a most delicious (and healthy) dinner and have been lounging since. What a wonderful surprise and experience. I can’t believe that people will open up their homes and lives to us, especially on such short notice. But it is immensely appreciated!

Todays Ride: 57.11 Miles/91.37KM
Max: 40.2 MPH/64.32KMh
ODO: 841.1/1345.76KM

Goodnight everyone!