Day 17. Gradients.

For two days running now I've had excellent cycling weather. Although this morning was the coldest morning yet (a mere 7 degrees celcius) the sun was out and as I left the dirty town of Garberville I was looking forward to getting this day out of the way. This day had been playing on my mind for a few days now. The longer ride yesterday was in order to set up a shorter ride today, as I knew that today was going to be the biggest hill of the whole route. it's been very hilly all the way since Washington, but today was Leggett day, and the hill just beyond Leggett sits 2000 ft above sea level.



I left Garberville with the intention of getting over the hill and down to coast. That was all I needed to do. I was told by a nice chap in the bike shop in Eureka that Leggett was not as bad as the hill I had climbed just outside Crescent City, so I thought maybe it won't be as bad as it sounds. And to be fair he was right. I got to Leggett, which I knew was where it all started, in good time. The morning ride had been all uphill and so the actual elevation you start to climb at is around 1000 ft. As I turned off the 101 onto route 1 I was psyched. As the hill twisted and turned I thought any minute now it's going to get steep. I was wrong. The gradient was not as steep as I had expected. Much less than the Crescent City hill, and less than the one I climbed in Oregon somewhere, that was only 800 ft but nearly wiped me out! As I reached the peak I was confused. Surely it goes higher, and harder. It didn't.

However, what I had failed to notice on my map was the next hill. After getting over the peak of Leggett hill and freewheeling for quite some time I came to the hill just outside Westport, my chosen destination. Now this one only rose 500 ft, but my god it was much harder. Possibly due to tiredness, but mostly due to the gradient. When you are carrying as much stuff as I am going uphill is a significant task. Even more significant when the gradient is steep. I struggled. Really struggled. I had exhausted my water and powerade supplies and knew that I still had 10 miles to go before I got to my intended destination.

The legs were burning and I thought that maybe I wouldn't make it. The road continued to wind and twist and go up and up and up. But then it happened. It levelled out. Then it started to go down, all the way to the sea and it was when I saw the pacific again I felt I could breath easy. As I looked along the coast I could see Westport in the distance, and I slowly cycled the last few miles into town.

Although slightly exhuasted, and thirsty, I got to Westport and went past the first couple of motels, as I have learnt on this trip that the first motel you see is very often the worst choice. 2 minutes later I was turning around and heading back to the first motel as there were only 2 in town, and the 2nd was exceedingly expensive! I've a feeling this might have been where the idea for the League of Gentleman was formulated as well. Another odd town on Wezo's Pacific Coast Odd Town Ride. Still, tomorrow is Thanksgiving in these parts, and I am just going to head down to Fort Bragg, about 15 miles down the coast, as a half rest day before a couple of long slogs into San Francisco.

Fort Bragg looks like it has a bit more about it, although I won't get my hopes up. No pics or vids of the ride today either.. I was far to sweaty and knackered to be messing about with that kind of thing. 52.30 miles on the speedo though, and considering the size of the hills that's pretty good going.