DAY 23: Little River to Salt Point

today was a rough day for many reasons. the ride was actually pretty cool. lots of great scenery, lots of places to stop and get snacks and water. however, this leg of the route is full of giant rollers. it is really rare that there is a flat section, we are constantly going up and down and it is pretty exhausting. but that isn't even what the bummer of the day was.

about 15 miles in to the ride we were climbing a pretty steep hill and Joel popped a spoke. the next bike shop wasn't for 80 miles and we weren't really close to any towns. since we still had many miles to conquer, we left pat Joel and jan behind to fix Joel's spoke while the rest of us pressed on because 3 people travel quicker than 5.

so the 5 of us took off and stopped in elk not too far down the road to to snack up and potty. we then pressed on to Manchester where we sat down for lunch. about half an hour in to our lunch break pat, jan, and Joel came rolling up triumphantly. we had an extended lunch to give them some rest then we took off again.

a few miles later pat broke 2 spokes... this basically crippled poor pat. his wheel was wobbling in to his frame and he had no means to make this wheel rideable. he managed to hitch a ride to the next small town where we met up with him to figure out what to do. fortunately, pats girlfriend and some other friends of our were camping an hour and a half away and they said they would pick him up and take him home. so basically, pat is off the ride. such a bummer.

we took off now down to 7 people. we went pretty hard for the next 21 miles to gualala to stock up for food for the night. we ended up riding a bit on this stretch with some maniac on a fixed gear running a 50/16 gear ratio fully loaded. shit is absurd. dude was crushing it. we rolled up to a grocery store with him and he immediately rolled and smoked a cigarette. dude was an anomaly.

anyway, we had 16 miles left for the day. but that actually turned in to 19 because the camp site we were looking for didn't really exist. on the bright side, 2 miles from camp pat and crew rolled up in their car. they met us at a mystery camp spot, that I still have no idea what it is even called, we got to say one last goodbye to pat before they rolled out.

so yeah, it is a real bummer pat is gone. he has been with us since the beginning and he was a huge help when I was planning this thing. he has been an integral part to the whole trip and 2.5 days out of San Fran he is out. such a bummer. he might ride up to meet us on his road bike tomorrow to finish out the ride.

tomorrow we are hoping to do 70 miles to Samuel p taylor right outside of San Francisco. 2 more days of riding. 1 more night of camping. so close!