July 10, 2010
Miles Today: 53. We’re deep into the Redwoods today/tonight. It’s pretty nice being completely surrounded by redwoods for miles in every direction. Good news today… we caught up to Old Man New Zealand! He was checking into the campground as we rode in (Burlington Campground in Humboldt County). We had planned on staying at the Marine Garden Grove hiker/biker site, but it was closed down when we got there. It had a sign posted telling us to come to this campsite 1.6 miles south. Luckily, we got here pretty quickly today, so it wasn’t a big deal.
There are two new cyclists here tonight (by new I mean that we haven’t met them before). One of the guys is by himself with a cool hammock setup, but didn’t seem like he wanted to chat. The other is here camping in the same area as us, his name is Moses. He has the exact same trailer, camelbak backpack, and sleeping bag as me; go figure. Apparently he had heard of us from some of the other cyclists. He said that they told him about two guys that are cycling down the coast fueling themselves with McDonalds and sandwiches. I would have them know that we ate some Mexican tacos today, the variety is great.
It’s nice running into different cyclists. Moses was telling me that there are two real young guys from Guadalajara, Mexico that are cycling down the coast as well. They started in Alaska and are doing about 90 miles per day. They sound pretty hardcore. Apparently he witnessed them riding downhill at about 40 mph with their hands up in the air off their bikes and also saw one of them juggling their helmet and some apples while riding as well. I can’t even imagine that. The bicycle feels unstable enough for me going 30 mph down a hill with my trailer.
That’s pretty much it for today. Nice ride all around without too many steep hills.
-Chris