Friday, September 25

Today's ride was from Guerneville to Olema, approximately 50.2 miles. We left camp in a fog as we rode 7 miles to the coast and Highway 1. Today's ride was primarily coastal as we headed south through Bodega Bay in Tomales Bay. The rugged coast along Highway 1 is spectacular with magnificent views around each corner. However, Highway 1 has no guard rails so it was a bit scary to ride with a scenic yet precipitous chasm next to the road. So foggy we almost rode by our scheduled rest stop (but not quite). Pine and at time Eucalyptus filled the air making it an aromatic ride too. We headed inland north of Tomales Bay which was unclear at the time, but then we turned west again on Dillon Beach Road and proceeded to ride back to the coast on pretty and mostly hilly road with one tough climb through forest before arriving in the town of Tomales for lunch. Tomales Bay has oysters, seals, and white sharks and is teeming with sea life.

After lunch we rode south along the edge of Tomales Bay to Point Reyes Station, another quaint little town. We stopped at the local organic market and found two t-shirts that we really liked. One says: "cycle, cycle, recycle," the other says: "Keep Life Simple - eat, sleep, bike."

We finished today's ride by 1 p.m. and had already checked into the Point Reyes Seashore Lodge. So on the recommendation of Ian, the Adventure Cycling route marker (his only job on this trip), we biked into Point Reyes National Seashore and road the 9 miles to Limontaur Beach. Of course, a significant range of hills stood between us and the beach. The first few miles to the summit were moderate difficulty and about 5-7 percent grade with a few short, harder spots but as we began the descent on the other side, we saw the warning sign: "17% grade". Yikes! Did we want to bike up this on the way back or did we just want to turn around at the top? We decided to continue and proceeded down to the beach for some spectacular views of the ocean and shoreline of sand and cliffs. On the return, we were dancing on the pedals rocking from side to side up the 17% grade. It was tough but we did it! The 5 mile climb back up was worth it as we got to coast downhill the remaining 4 miles at 35-40 mph. I'm glad we took this extra bit in as the park is definitely worth visiting.

Dinner was BBQ salmon, fresh corn on the cob and chocolate mousse -- very nice once again.

The coastline was a nice change from the wine valleys. Cooler air after several days in the high 90's is a relief.