May 13, 2023 – MacKerricher State Park to Manchester Beach
Quick story before I start the main update. Isaac woke up this morning and told me that in the middle of the night he woke up with something poking him from under this sleeping pad. He was asleep, so after checking it out he figured that maybe it was part of a dream. A bit later, he wakes up again with something poking him from under his sleeping pad, so he starts punching down into the ground and all around the tent. This morning, he packs up his tent and sees that a groundhog had a hole there and was trying to get out in the middle of the night. I laughed about this all day.
On to the day’s events. We woke up around 6am, packed up, and headed to a Denny’s we had seen on the way in yesterday to plan our day. After a good meal we headed out to do today’s 42 mile trip. I was a little nervous because of the accident from years ago and from Neil telling me that in his opinion it was the hardest day of the trip (see 3 posts ago if you need a reference point, but we made it! When I passed the town of Elk where I was first driven to after the accident I took some pictures and we got some rest there. After that we started what my Bicyling the Pacific Coast book referred to as the steepest hill on the trip. Unfortunately since I haven’t been cycling hills for the past 13 years I ended up having to walk my bike after a bit (wasn’t going to make it anyways, but started cramping too). Isaac looked like he was going to make it, but on the steepest part of the incline his bicycle chain broke apart. Luckily he brought some equipment that he was able to fix it with, but he’ll probably need to buy a new chain the next chance he gets. After the fix, he walked the rest with me to avoid breaking it again. The rest of the day was still hilly, but doable; even though I had to stop 2 more times because of cramps. I tried to ride through them, but they wouldn’t go away until I stopped and stretched out my legs.
Luckily we were only about 12 miles from the campsite when the cramps started, so we still made it in decent time to a nearby KOA campground. The state park around here didn’t have any showers and this one had endless hot showers… so it was an easy choice. At this point we have some food in us and our tents are setup for the night. I’m going to go to bed early to get some rest and hopefully the cramping doesn’t mess me up tomorrow. We have a 65 mile day through a lot of the same terrain. I’m sure my body will get used to it, but it’ll just take a few days.
-Chris
