Day 1 Crescent City to Trindad - The ride started out after about a five hour truck ride up from Fort Bragg. We did not get started until after 2pm. There was a slight problem with a missing washer on my rear derailleur, resulting in a completely slack chain, but we solved this problem with a lockwasher from an Auto parts store. After my bike was shifting OK, and Rob had tied all of his stuff down on his rear rack, we were off. The first part of the ride was about file miles straight up into the Redwoods. This was not a very kind way to start the tour. After the first climb, and some very decent downhills, the ride wasn't too bad. We completed about 60 miles the first day.

Day 2 Trinidad to Garberville - This next day was ridden through a variety of terrains. There were giant redwood trees, some farmland and some riding along the Eel River. There was even a section of the ride along a cow path. One road, called Blue Slide Road, was closed. We had to walk through the construction zone, where they were rebuilding a viaduct under a road. There were not too many hills, and the few we did hit were relatively short, or if they were on Rout 101, graded pretty well. We completed over 110 miles this day.

Day 3 Garberville to Fort Bragg - Since the map were were using from Adventure Cycling, and several bike shop personnel along the way, had warned us about the large hills along the 28 miles between Leggett and Westport, we wanted to give ourself plenty of time to navigate this section of the ride. After a large breakfast in the mysterious town of Garberville (we couldn't exactly figure out what everyone does there), we did a warm-up of about 25 miles to Leggett, a small town at the foot of Route 1 leading out to the coast. Although there were two very good sized hills along the way to Westport, they were not as nearly as bad as expected, but certainly formidable. You know you are biking up a good sized hill when you smell burning brake shoes of trucks as they pass you on their way down. Going down the hills made them worth the effort to go up. We ended the day at Fort Bragg after 75 miles.

Day 4 Fort Bragg to Bodega Bay - This was a nice ride along the coast down to the town of Bodega Bay, a big sport fishing town next to Bodega Bay. It was mostly rolling hills through farmland and coastal areas. There were a lots of hills going into and out of gullies down to the ocean. Aside from these, there was no other way to get down to the Pacific aside from climbing down or by boat. There were some spectacular views in the few miles above Bodega Bay near Jenner. The cliffs went down about 700-800 feet, maybe more, straight down to the Ocean. There were sections that were wiped out and only one lane was available. It was pretty amazing riding inches from a dropoff that steep with nothing to stop you. Rob got and fixed a flat, and I broke and repaired a spoke with the help of a passing bike tour van, but that did not stop us from putting in a 108 mile day.

Day 5 Bodege Bay to San Franciso - The last day of biking was for the most part still a remote ride with few cars. The ride was mostly through farmland, and only until we got down into Fairfax, about 25 or so miles from our destination, did we start to hit the "suburbs". One section rode along a bike path down by the water. There were quite a few little trendy towns replete with coffee shops, book stores, and bike shops. Sausalito was a neat town right along the water. The ride up to the Golden Gate Bridge was very hilly. The ride over the bridge was very high up. The wind was howling and the water below looked pretty fierce. We put in a good 80 miles on this last leg of the trip.

Trip Total: 434 miles