It is crazy to thank but after over two in a half months of being on our trip, we came to our final day. We had a gigantic pump up for our final day. The highlight of our stay was saying good bye through massive cheers in the morning on Friday. We made a lot of the people out there laugh as we did our morning pump up for the final time. Remember to just GO MAD COW GO GO MAD COW!!!!!
Jake did a great job in leading us out of San Jose over the Santa Cruz Mountains. Coming out of San Jose we went through the Los Gatos community and got on a bike trail. This bike trail followed a main road that we were not allowed to bike on due to its traffic. Let me tell you though about our path, it was straight up at times on gravel the whole time. I think everyone except Matt got off their bike to get up the hill. Of course Kelsey had to show off by running up the hill first with her bike to show off at the end.
When coming off the path, we found ourselves at a beautiful reservoir that we biked along 5 miles up and won its shoreline. After the reservoir, we headed straight up to get through the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was a great final climb together as a group as it offered some great up hill battles. Another reminder of how nice it is to bike through the coast area in California. Coming down was just as fun as getting into San Jose the day before, as we hit high speeds always wondering when we could start to see the ocean.
We all waited just 4 miles from the beach at the bottom of the hill, so we could come into Santa Cruz as a group. While at a great tacqueria people bought lunch meals to enjoy while they waited for the rest of the group to get there. Adam’s nachos looked the best and they had some fine tacos. For the last time as a group, we did our Highs and Lows of the week before we headed out towards the Pacific. It was a sad moment to know that it was our last time, but we understand that we will always remember our great memories.
It was difficult to get through Santa Cruz as a group of 31 with many different traffic lights and turns. But we managed to survive the challenge without any accidents, only a couple cars beeped at his for getting in their way. We were all very patient and got really excited as we headed closer to the beach. When we arrived into the beach, nothing could describe the feeling that came to all of us. It was weird to know that we had made it from one coast to the next as a group without anybody killing each other. We were a very tight knit group who truly appreciated what everyone brought to our group.
As we jumped into Pacific, we of course sang out song of Country roads as we sang with excitement. I don’t think that the parents could understand us butut we enjoyed it. We each shared big hugs with each other and family/friends who had made the trip to share this moment with us. Pictures followed as we shared the moment, and we headed to our church right after.
The end of the trip party was an absolutely blast as we had great food from all of the friends and family who joined us. Some specialties were the kegs donated by Laura’s family and crawfish etoufe brought by Christ’s family. Everything there was truly amazing with all of the support given by our family.
As we all said our goodbyes this weekend, it was sad moment knowing we had to go our separate ways. We all knew this day would be coming eventually but just were not sure how to take it in. From our start to Charleston to our final day in Santa Cruz, we were challenged by obstacles and this just brought us together. We sang, we laughed, we were frustrated (by the wind), were bored together (by the wind too) and we know have to say good bye after this long journey.
There will be great stories to tell as our summer comes to a close, and there will be no way to explain to others just how this experience will shape our lives.
Once again thank you for all the support we have received through letters, homemade cookies, nutella, and donations given to us and cheerful support when needed. This is SC 2 SC saying good bye as a group for the final time!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Brentwood to San JOse
Leaving Brentwood, we said our goodbyes to the nice group of volunteers who helped set up dinner and breakfast for our group. Kudos to Scott who came in with fresh bagels at 7 am to feed us. The ride ahead of us was short but had some great beautiful passes between valleys of towns.
We could not believe how much wind was coming in our faces as we headed up the first ascent of 6 miles. Basically in order to get out of a town, you have to go through hills/mountains since all towns are based in the valley. So as we headed up this ascent that was certainly unexpected, we started to see wind turbines along the road. They were certainly doing their job as we saw pumping out a bunch of electricity due to the constant winds. One part that was kind of ironic was that I waited too long to switch into my smallest ring known as the granny gear to get up the big hill. Basically, it was too difficult on my gears to change since I was going so slowly. I learned my lesson as I was plenty tired once we finished these hills.
After coming down from the hill through curvy turns and small shoulders, we were just happy that there were respectful drivers on the road. They were much nicer than what we encountered in Northern California before Chico. As we went through towns in the valley we came to our second ascent. I just have to thank Kelsey for finding this route through the mountains to San Jose. While we were sleeping and eating at our lunch break, locals told us that this road was used as a Tour de California stage.
I could understand why as the road became small enough only for one car at a time as we worked up gradually. It offered great hairpin turns in the shade to protect us from the sun. Along with that, there was a great view to enjoy as we were just above a reservoir that feeds San Francisco. It really helped remind us why we enjoy cycling and seeing so many different parts of the country. The descent down into San Jose was a fun technical ride of balancing between low and high speeds in straight-aways.
San Jose overall is a big city as it has one million people but is very sprawled out. We are in the downtown part of the city, and it does not feel anything like a city that has this many people. The First Christian Church is hosting us and their staff here is very welcoming to our group. They offer breakfast and dinner four days a week to the homeless, as they are very involved in the community.
We got to spend a Build Day in San Jose as we worked with the local Rebuilding Together. We had to split the group up as 10 of us went to work on specialized projects at their main office. The people there built stairs, did carpeting and built cabinets with a group of older males that come weekly to volunteer. The group enjoyed meeting the local folk in the San Jose Area as they took on projects cooperatively.
The second group stayed at the church to clean up the back area. This involved laying down a layer of carpeting and nice red rocks to make it a bit more chipper. We also painted all of the door frames, a big wall that needed another coat, cleaned up some trees and put down awning. It was nice to help the church out since they took us for in two days, and offered some great memories.
We have to make s shout out to Coco who runs the meal programs at the church. We apologize for keeping you up the first night; we basically had too much fun at the Night Club dancing after watching Monty Python downtown. We hope you enjoyed the laughs that we brought to you. Thank you again to the church for inviting us to your fundraiser on the second night for dinner, as we got to meet many faces in San Jose area.
We could not believe how much wind was coming in our faces as we headed up the first ascent of 6 miles. Basically in order to get out of a town, you have to go through hills/mountains since all towns are based in the valley. So as we headed up this ascent that was certainly unexpected, we started to see wind turbines along the road. They were certainly doing their job as we saw pumping out a bunch of electricity due to the constant winds. One part that was kind of ironic was that I waited too long to switch into my smallest ring known as the granny gear to get up the big hill. Basically, it was too difficult on my gears to change since I was going so slowly. I learned my lesson as I was plenty tired once we finished these hills.
After coming down from the hill through curvy turns and small shoulders, we were just happy that there were respectful drivers on the road. They were much nicer than what we encountered in Northern California before Chico. As we went through towns in the valley we came to our second ascent. I just have to thank Kelsey for finding this route through the mountains to San Jose. While we were sleeping and eating at our lunch break, locals told us that this road was used as a Tour de California stage.
I could understand why as the road became small enough only for one car at a time as we worked up gradually. It offered great hairpin turns in the shade to protect us from the sun. Along with that, there was a great view to enjoy as we were just above a reservoir that feeds San Francisco. It really helped remind us why we enjoy cycling and seeing so many different parts of the country. The descent down into San Jose was a fun technical ride of balancing between low and high speeds in straight-aways.
San Jose overall is a big city as it has one million people but is very sprawled out. We are in the downtown part of the city, and it does not feel anything like a city that has this many people. The First Christian Church is hosting us and their staff here is very welcoming to our group. They offer breakfast and dinner four days a week to the homeless, as they are very involved in the community.
We got to spend a Build Day in San Jose as we worked with the local Rebuilding Together. We had to split the group up as 10 of us went to work on specialized projects at their main office. The people there built stairs, did carpeting and built cabinets with a group of older males that come weekly to volunteer. The group enjoyed meeting the local folk in the San Jose Area as they took on projects cooperatively.
The second group stayed at the church to clean up the back area. This involved laying down a layer of carpeting and nice red rocks to make it a bit more chipper. We also painted all of the door frames, a big wall that needed another coat, cleaned up some trees and put down awning. It was nice to help the church out since they took us for in two days, and offered some great memories.
We have to make s shout out to Coco who runs the meal programs at the church. We apologize for keeping you up the first night; we basically had too much fun at the Night Club dancing after watching Monty Python downtown. We hope you enjoyed the laughs that we brought to you. Thank you again to the church for inviting us to your fundraiser on the second night for dinner, as we got to meet many faces in San Jose area.
Colusa to Davis
We left the small town of Colusa understanding that we had 61 more miles of flat to ride through. We were all excited for another guaranteed day where the terrain would stay flat with little cars or wind to worry about. The day was special fore we were going to the hometown of our rider Laura. Along with that, we were also meeting up with another Bike and Build route: Providence to San Fran.
The morning was pretty uneventful with fast pace lines through the farm land until we saw chalk on the road. Our host in Colusa had a member in their congregation who owned a rice silo that we could climb up. It was more than 100 feet to top of this silo but it was safe as long as you stayed within the stairs. We never actually found the farmer for permission but we figured it was worth asking for forgiveness. It was awesome at the top as we saw all the farmland surrounding us with canals, fields and silos. We could watch a pilot fertilizing the land through his small plane.
After the silo, we quickly biked to lunch just ahead of the last riders in our group. It was a quick meal for me as I ate my bagged lunch provided by our host in Colusa. I left with Adam as we chauffeured the bride for our mock wedding in Davis from the lunch spot.
We asked the other route to join us for a mock wedding where one of our riders married one of theirs. Everyone had a role in the wedding including Bride’s Maids, Singers, and Speakers etc. The wedding occurred during the evening while we had a relay race in the late afternoon. Both were a great time and an interesting site as two totally different groups came together. The dynamics of both routes definitely threw me off, as inside jokes controlled the day.
We enjoyed Davis though as a city for what it had to offer. It all surrounds the university with the downtown area being many bars and restaurants. There were bikes everywhere and we took advantage of the bike lanes provided. The church offered a great meal and I could foresee our group coming back to build in the future.
The morning was pretty uneventful with fast pace lines through the farm land until we saw chalk on the road. Our host in Colusa had a member in their congregation who owned a rice silo that we could climb up. It was more than 100 feet to top of this silo but it was safe as long as you stayed within the stairs. We never actually found the farmer for permission but we figured it was worth asking for forgiveness. It was awesome at the top as we saw all the farmland surrounding us with canals, fields and silos. We could watch a pilot fertilizing the land through his small plane.
After the silo, we quickly biked to lunch just ahead of the last riders in our group. It was a quick meal for me as I ate my bagged lunch provided by our host in Colusa. I left with Adam as we chauffeured the bride for our mock wedding in Davis from the lunch spot.
We asked the other route to join us for a mock wedding where one of our riders married one of theirs. Everyone had a role in the wedding including Bride’s Maids, Singers, and Speakers etc. The wedding occurred during the evening while we had a relay race in the late afternoon. Both were a great time and an interesting site as two totally different groups came together. The dynamics of both routes definitely threw me off, as inside jokes controlled the day.
We enjoyed Davis though as a city for what it had to offer. It all surrounds the university with the downtown area being many bars and restaurants. There were bikes everywhere and we took advantage of the bike lanes provided. The church offered a great meal and I could foresee our group coming back to build in the future.
Chico to Colusa
We got booted out of town early on Sunday morning to make space for the service at 8:30. We did not really mind, we were just still happy that we had found a place to stay for our night in Chico. At our cue sheet meeting, we found out that we only 43 miles of flat road between us and our host for the night in Colusa. Basically it was a choose between spending the morning in Chico or spending a long afternoon in Colusa. So we chose Chico and went to find a great place to swim.
After biking through Bidwell Park and talking to many locals we found our water hole to swim in. When I say found I mean, we were told how to get there but still were not sure how long it would take. So it took us an hour from start to finish until we found Bear Hole in the upper section of Bidwell Park in the foothills. Man was it worth the wait!
It was all lave rocks that had been smoothed down from human contact that declined into the river. It was a great space with deep and shallow parts that allowed for amazing adventures. We tested the limits with jumping off rocks into the water, chilled out in the sun and waded through the currents. The best part came when we found the old dam that filled the aqueduct (which is now the trail). The dam had broken and it was now random concrete 12 feet above the river. It was a perfect location for jumping into the water from with an area in the water the diameter of 15 feet that was safe to jump into.
So after this fun we picked up a relaxing lunch and were on the road by 2 PM. It was kind of funny to think about how the majority of the group was already relaxing at our host while we’re still eating our lunch. The rumors were true that we just had flat road ahead of us for 43 miles through farm country in the valley. I stopped once for a minute or two just to jump into a sprinkler but other than that I just booked it into Colusa.
I had no idea that the town was approaching before I went over the bridge into it. There really was no civilization at all other than random farm houses. Locals in Colusa told me than many Civil War Sympathizers moved our into this region, and it made sense after seeing all the ‘plantations.’ I was not too sure of what exactly was along the farmlands we went through, but it reminded me of the flat parts of Mississippi.
We had a grand dinner and community event waiting for us as we arrived. It was one of the best meals of our journey cooked by great people who really cared about their area. I hope that we can come back next year to help them out with 20% unemployment rate in their county. A great small town and after this we had back into big towns until the prize of Santa Cruz.
After biking through Bidwell Park and talking to many locals we found our water hole to swim in. When I say found I mean, we were told how to get there but still were not sure how long it would take. So it took us an hour from start to finish until we found Bear Hole in the upper section of Bidwell Park in the foothills. Man was it worth the wait!
It was all lave rocks that had been smoothed down from human contact that declined into the river. It was a great space with deep and shallow parts that allowed for amazing adventures. We tested the limits with jumping off rocks into the water, chilled out in the sun and waded through the currents. The best part came when we found the old dam that filled the aqueduct (which is now the trail). The dam had broken and it was now random concrete 12 feet above the river. It was a perfect location for jumping into the water from with an area in the water the diameter of 15 feet that was safe to jump into.
So after this fun we picked up a relaxing lunch and were on the road by 2 PM. It was kind of funny to think about how the majority of the group was already relaxing at our host while we’re still eating our lunch. The rumors were true that we just had flat road ahead of us for 43 miles through farm country in the valley. I stopped once for a minute or two just to jump into a sprinkler but other than that I just booked it into Colusa.
I had no idea that the town was approaching before I went over the bridge into it. There really was no civilization at all other than random farm houses. Locals in Colusa told me than many Civil War Sympathizers moved our into this region, and it made sense after seeing all the ‘plantations.’ I was not too sure of what exactly was along the farmlands we went through, but it reminded me of the flat parts of Mississippi.
We had a grand dinner and community event waiting for us as we arrived. It was one of the best meals of our journey cooked by great people who really cared about their area. I hope that we can come back next year to help them out with 20% unemployment rate in their county. A great small town and after this we had back into big towns until the prize of Santa Cruz.
Chester to Chico
Starting the day, we realized that we would be going down more than 5000 feet in elevation. So that sounds like a nice decent for all of the day as we only had 60 miles to hit up for the day. We were very pleasantly surprised as we made it through a state road that was along a river and a state forest.
We would go from windy downhill to windy uphill without ever knowing what to expect as we went through a bend. I personally really loved the surprisingly challenge but it was clear that some were a little moody about the surprise with some curse words. I mean it is never fun mentally to find out that an expected easy day would consist of some serious climbs. We all though shared great stories of biking and talking with locals who were curious about our group.
After lunch, we battled some hills for awhile until we hit the final descent into Chico. Man was it beautiful to look down into the valley while we were up so high, but it was really hot. We finally got that California heat that we were expecting for the last three days. The last 20 miles were a coast as we enjoyed the descent with little wind.
The town of Chico had a lot to offer for the afternoon as we had to stay away from the church in order to give them space for an afternoon wedding. The first place to hit up was the Sierra Nevada Brewery with its beer & taproom. I was not as impressed due to there being no free beer at all, come on!
After hitting up some lunch and thrift shop, I made it to Bidwell Park to go swimming. The park had a free swimming hole that was dammed and fed by a river coming down the canyon from the mountains. It was a little cold but I felt like it was the good old days with this rhettro swimming days. It was the first time I felt like I was actually in California as we saw true racial diversity hearing many languages.
At night after dinner, we hit up town by going to the local Root Beer Bar. It was fun to talk with owner of the ice cream shop/root beer bar as she shared stories of Chico. We found out about all of the many stories that came from California hippies and being in an university town. We stayed until way past closed as we checked out their collection of root beers from all over the country.
It was a good night in Chico and I hope that they make it back here next year hopefully.
We would go from windy downhill to windy uphill without ever knowing what to expect as we went through a bend. I personally really loved the surprisingly challenge but it was clear that some were a little moody about the surprise with some curse words. I mean it is never fun mentally to find out that an expected easy day would consist of some serious climbs. We all though shared great stories of biking and talking with locals who were curious about our group.
After lunch, we battled some hills for awhile until we hit the final descent into Chico. Man was it beautiful to look down into the valley while we were up so high, but it was really hot. We finally got that California heat that we were expecting for the last three days. The last 20 miles were a coast as we enjoyed the descent with little wind.
The town of Chico had a lot to offer for the afternoon as we had to stay away from the church in order to give them space for an afternoon wedding. The first place to hit up was the Sierra Nevada Brewery with its beer & taproom. I was not as impressed due to there being no free beer at all, come on!
After hitting up some lunch and thrift shop, I made it to Bidwell Park to go swimming. The park had a free swimming hole that was dammed and fed by a river coming down the canyon from the mountains. It was a little cold but I felt like it was the good old days with this rhettro swimming days. It was the first time I felt like I was actually in California as we saw true racial diversity hearing many languages.
At night after dinner, we hit up town by going to the local Root Beer Bar. It was fun to talk with owner of the ice cream shop/root beer bar as she shared stories of Chico. We found out about all of the many stories that came from California hippies and being in an university town. We stayed until way past closed as we checked out their collection of root beers from all over the country.
It was a good night in Chico and I hope that they make it back here next year hopefully.
Susanville to Butt Lake/Chester
So from Susanville we went straight up for 20 miles until we got in flat high country that brought us to Lake Almanor. I was driving the support van for the day, and my job was to find a campsite for our group. Unfortunately the campsite we had planned to stay at was completely full so we got some local advice to find another great site on Butt Lake nearby. Even though the name was odd, it ended up being a beautiful site with less people and more space to have fun.
The only con was that it took forever for people to arrive due to their relaxing attitude of the day. When it started raining and only half of the tents were up that was when we fell into some problems. It all worked out though in the end as the significant rain held off until we were fully prepared.
We were excited though to be on a lake that was great for camping. We just chilled out in the afternoon and evening with fine beverages/great conversation. For our weekly town hall meeting, it was the most entertaining of the trip(we’ll just keep it at that). After a night of camping we found a church to take us for the second night of our day off. So we packed it up casually and headed to the local town of Chester with people having the option to bike or get a shuttle from the van.
Our mission of the afternoon after settling into the church was to find our mail in Old Station near the Lassen Park. As we drove down a state road that was just recently opened with first being controlled, we saw many burnt trees with a bunch of smoke in the air. When we got to the turn off for our mail, so road was just being opened after five days of fighting fires. There was no electricity in any of the houses or stores along the road unless they had generator power. As we drove into Old Station, we almost missed the post office due to its small size. The post office was opened but the mail lady was gone with a note stating her routine would be at 3 PM (which was in an hour). So we killed off time by visiting an open general store and playing in the creek.
When the mail lady returned, she was just excited that she could finally get rid of so much mail. There were many packages also there for through hikes on the Pacfic Crest Trail, so we did not completely whipe her out dry though.
On the way back we took a longer scenic route through Lassen National Park since the raods were now open. It was worth the entrance fee as we got to see all of the many features. We had a snowball fight at the trailhead for Lassen Peak, saw the sulfur deposits that smelled amazing and just enjoyed sites. It was a pretty gorgeous that would have been a tough bike day through the park, and I think we caught a break with the forest fire. So next years group better be prepared for this pass was just as long/difficult as Independence Pass.
Our adventure was fun but the rest of the day was pretty simple.
The only con was that it took forever for people to arrive due to their relaxing attitude of the day. When it started raining and only half of the tents were up that was when we fell into some problems. It all worked out though in the end as the significant rain held off until we were fully prepared.
We were excited though to be on a lake that was great for camping. We just chilled out in the afternoon and evening with fine beverages/great conversation. For our weekly town hall meeting, it was the most entertaining of the trip(we’ll just keep it at that). After a night of camping we found a church to take us for the second night of our day off. So we packed it up casually and headed to the local town of Chester with people having the option to bike or get a shuttle from the van.
Our mission of the afternoon after settling into the church was to find our mail in Old Station near the Lassen Park. As we drove down a state road that was just recently opened with first being controlled, we saw many burnt trees with a bunch of smoke in the air. When we got to the turn off for our mail, so road was just being opened after five days of fighting fires. There was no electricity in any of the houses or stores along the road unless they had generator power. As we drove into Old Station, we almost missed the post office due to its small size. The post office was opened but the mail lady was gone with a note stating her routine would be at 3 PM (which was in an hour). So we killed off time by visiting an open general store and playing in the creek.
When the mail lady returned, she was just excited that she could finally get rid of so much mail. There were many packages also there for through hikes on the Pacfic Crest Trail, so we did not completely whipe her out dry though.
On the way back we took a longer scenic route through Lassen National Park since the raods were now open. It was worth the entrance fee as we got to see all of the many features. We had a snowball fight at the trailhead for Lassen Peak, saw the sulfur deposits that smelled amazing and just enjoyed sites. It was a pretty gorgeous that would have been a tough bike day through the park, and I think we caught a break with the forest fire. So next years group better be prepared for this pass was just as long/difficult as Independence Pass.
Our adventure was fun but the rest of the day was pretty simple.
Alturas to Susanville (California)
Alturas to Chester
So unfortunately due to the forest fires, we have had to re-route to the town of Susanville. Originally, we were supposed to bike to Cassel in order to make our way into Lassen National Park. The road connecting the park to Cassel is closed without any guarantees on when they will open. So Susanville was 105 miles from Alturas, and it consisted of being on the same road for 99.6 miles.
The first 40 miles were real good as we got out early to enjoy the mild winds and temperature. The highlight came with singing a fun camp song with Amelia all the way up our first mountain pass. We passed through many small towns with populations in the double digits that had the most a café & general store. I was getting pretty crazy & clumsy by the time our first lunch came around. The lunch stop was completely in the middle of nowhere at an old abandoned shop with the scariest looking bathrooms outside. I chose to use the rocks and trees instead and headed out from lunch.
The winds really started to pick up between first and second lunch as we attempted to protect ourselves! We were in a group of six with hitting us from the west that was blowing us from side to side. Chris did a great job of having us bike side by side in groups of three with the person to the right taking the majority of the wind. We chaged positions to share taking the brunt of the wind, and it helped us.
The highlight of this leg was after a long stretch of downhill where Skennelly had a couple of flats within two miles. So were biking alone laughing at the severity of the wind when a cop just randomly stopped us. So we had no idea what was going on but we realized this would be a rememberable moment with cops. His first question for us was if we had seen bikers going nude on the road. Lucky for me, this day I had not chosen the act and I was honest to the cop that it was not Sarah or I. The cop though did not understand what was going because we were the third group of riders he stopped to find out why we had been called in for naked bicyclists. So I educated the officer about the significance of what we call the “naked mile.” He was more intrigued than mad at us, and basically just asked me to spread the message to “keep our clothes on my county(Modoc).”
Sure enough at second lunch, I was able to find the culprit of the doing as we shared some laughs. The cop was basically stopping every packs of riders to tell us to just keep not get naked without any punishments. We shared laughs at a quick second lunch and headed on our way back into the wind for the last 25 miles. As we headed down for the first strech of these miles, we headed down a hill with wind gusts blowing us back. It felt like we were going uphill, come on what the heck!
So we kept our spirits high through constant gossiping and laughing. The second highlight of the day was having a cattle truck pass us, and get hit by a water like substance. We had our ideas of how contaminated we might have just become but tried not to put too much thought into it.
As we made it into Susanville after a long day, we all celebrated knowing it was our last century of the whole trip. The church was pretty basic but I think I had the coldest hose shower of the trip in the back, and even I could not take it. We treated ourselves after the shower by buying a tub of ice cream for a big group to share. It was absolutely disgusting in hindsight but felt so good at the time. Funny fact about the city is that it holds one of the biggest state prisons which is the basis for its economy. A majority of its citizens either work at the prison, just got out of prison or have family members who are prisoners.
So unfortunately due to the forest fires, we have had to re-route to the town of Susanville. Originally, we were supposed to bike to Cassel in order to make our way into Lassen National Park. The road connecting the park to Cassel is closed without any guarantees on when they will open. So Susanville was 105 miles from Alturas, and it consisted of being on the same road for 99.6 miles.
The first 40 miles were real good as we got out early to enjoy the mild winds and temperature. The highlight came with singing a fun camp song with Amelia all the way up our first mountain pass. We passed through many small towns with populations in the double digits that had the most a café & general store. I was getting pretty crazy & clumsy by the time our first lunch came around. The lunch stop was completely in the middle of nowhere at an old abandoned shop with the scariest looking bathrooms outside. I chose to use the rocks and trees instead and headed out from lunch.
The winds really started to pick up between first and second lunch as we attempted to protect ourselves! We were in a group of six with hitting us from the west that was blowing us from side to side. Chris did a great job of having us bike side by side in groups of three with the person to the right taking the majority of the wind. We chaged positions to share taking the brunt of the wind, and it helped us.
The highlight of this leg was after a long stretch of downhill where Skennelly had a couple of flats within two miles. So were biking alone laughing at the severity of the wind when a cop just randomly stopped us. So we had no idea what was going on but we realized this would be a rememberable moment with cops. His first question for us was if we had seen bikers going nude on the road. Lucky for me, this day I had not chosen the act and I was honest to the cop that it was not Sarah or I. The cop though did not understand what was going because we were the third group of riders he stopped to find out why we had been called in for naked bicyclists. So I educated the officer about the significance of what we call the “naked mile.” He was more intrigued than mad at us, and basically just asked me to spread the message to “keep our clothes on my county(Modoc).”
Sure enough at second lunch, I was able to find the culprit of the doing as we shared some laughs. The cop was basically stopping every packs of riders to tell us to just keep not get naked without any punishments. We shared laughs at a quick second lunch and headed on our way back into the wind for the last 25 miles. As we headed down for the first strech of these miles, we headed down a hill with wind gusts blowing us back. It felt like we were going uphill, come on what the heck!
So we kept our spirits high through constant gossiping and laughing. The second highlight of the day was having a cattle truck pass us, and get hit by a water like substance. We had our ideas of how contaminated we might have just become but tried not to put too much thought into it.
As we made it into Susanville after a long day, we all celebrated knowing it was our last century of the whole trip. The church was pretty basic but I think I had the coldest hose shower of the trip in the back, and even I could not take it. We treated ourselves after the shower by buying a tub of ice cream for a big group to share. It was absolutely disgusting in hindsight but felt so good at the time. Funny fact about the city is that it holds one of the biggest state prisons which is the basis for its economy. A majority of its citizens either work at the prison, just got out of prison or have family members who are prisoners.
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