Back on the road after 3 days off!

Today was so short! Hank was ready to ride 100 miles after being cooped up for three days in a motel. I was too! It was only 31 miles to camp. If we would have gotten an earlier start I think we would have gone all the way to Santa Cruz today. Oh well. After taking days off I get this sense of urgency like I need to make up for lost time. I'm still working on chilling out and slowing down. Below are some pictures of this camp. I like the tree that's giving me shelter. I don't think Hank likes being used as a clothes drying rack. Haha! I'm going to start sharing my route map the day after each ride from now on. Posting exactly where I am on a public FB page isn't a good idea. I did want to share my maps of the three days in San Francisco. As you can see I probably didn't rest as much as I was planning. I was all over that city! So fun! 

This one that says today was actually yesterday. 

Poor Hank the clothes drying rack! LoL

Canada to Mexico ride day 23 overall day 29

I made it to San Francisco! I'm ready for a few rest days. The Golden Gate Bridge was fogged in, but still amazing. It's just so unreal every time I see it in real life. Hopefully there's a day with no fog while I'm here so I can see the whole thing. If so, I will share pictures. Going to rest tonight. Tomorrow I'll be out and about in the city, so I will share some of my favorite things about the city. Take care!

Canada to Mexico ride day 20 overall day 26

Slow start this morning, but excellent afternoon! Hank and I didn't leave the motel until 9. We stopped and had breakfast and finally got rolling around 10. But then 9 miles down the road was Mendocino, which is one of my favorite little towns on this ride. So we spent almost two hours there drinking coffee, eating carbs in all shapes and sizes, and talking to locals and tourists. It was really cool. One of the guys I talked to showed me his Sprinter van that he and his wife travel in. It was awesome. Everything in there anyone would need. I'd love to have something like that. After Mendocino we rolled down the road for a few hours with a really great tailwind. Whenever we get conditions like that we like to take advantage of it, so after 38 miles we got to what was supposed to be camp for the night. Hank wouldn't let me stop for the day! That's what I get for keeping him cooped up in a motel room for a day. He's like a wild stallion just waiting to unleash his energy in the only way he can! So we decided, actually he decided for us, that we would go another 30 miles to another campground. It would have been close to 70 miles, but we stopped short in a tiny town called Gualala. So we did 61miles. Here's where things get interesting. I pulled into town and though "I really don't feel like setting up camp and cooking. I wonder if I can find a room for the night." So I pulled into the parking lot of this really cool little motel and got on my phone to see what the options were in town. All of a sudden i hear a woman's voice say "are you Jeremy?"  I replied with "Uh yeah, but how could you possibly know that?" She said "I'm waiting for you to check in." In my head I was thinking "how is this possible? Nobody even knows I'm here. I wasn't even supposed to stop here." Then she said "you are Jeremy (some other last name)" Then we realized there was another Jeremy with reservations which she was waiting for. What are the odds? So strange! We had a laugh and then she gave me a really good deal on a really great room. So here I am in a cute little coastal town for the night and I get a comfy bed! Oh and guess what I'm about to do...EAT! That's right! Eat, sleep, ride, repeat. I hope you all had a great day!

Canada to Mexico day off!

Well I found them! The best Mexican restaurant, the best Deli, and the best cookie all in one town! Seriously if you are ever in #fortbragg #california check out La Palapa for Mexican food and right next door Colombi Market and Deli. So good! Ths best cookie can be found at the Mendocino Cookie Company. I suggest the Backpackers Cookie. Yes folks I'm eating all day! Hahaha!

Canada to Mexico July 13

Today was a great ride, and super fast! If you didn't see my live check-in I climbed the highest point of the trip in only 53 minutes. Five years ago it took over two hours. Training has paid off for sure. The downhill side of that climb was 14 miles of letting gravity take me from 2,000 feet back to nearly sea level. It was awesome! I got to Fort Bragg way earlier than I expected. My motel room wasn't ready, so I went and had lunch and looked around town. Now in my room I get to relax. I am taking tomorrow off from riding. The first thing I do when I get to a motel is start charging my battery packs. I have two of them and it takes both of them to keep my phone charged and my headlight and tail light for Hank for the times that I'm camping. Well tonight my largest of the two batteries stopped charging. I've had it for 5 years so I guess I got my money's worth. The problem now is that I'm in tiny little coastal towns that don't sell anything like this. I would have to order a new one. That's no problem but I will only be here for a day and there's no time to deliver it before I leave. I'll have to figure out how to keep things charged until I get to San Francisco in a week. It'll all work out. This is part of the adventure. Time for some rest.

Update! I have since figured out the battery situation. it was a cable, not the battery. All is good now!

My first look at the ocean in three days! So nice to be back on the beach. 

Taco Tuesday!

I haven't been very good at posting on here!

Not to be Debbie Downer, but I told myself I would always be honest when sharing about this journey. Today was my least favorite day so far. The main reason was the heat. I knew it was going to be really hot here today, so I got up at 6 and was on the road by 7. It was chilly for the first couple hours and felt really great. Once I got out of the Redwoods and the sun came out it got hot quick. My last 15 miles it was 95 degrees. That might not sound too bad until you consider what I'm doing, and look at my elevation map for the day. I was pretty much going up hill all day. I love hills but not when it's that hot. Since I left camp so early I got to my next camp really early too. When I arrived it was 95, I set up camp, and took a cold shower. It really helped to cool me down, but only a few minutes later I was sweating again. Just sitting there sweating. It was no fun at all. Now that the sun is going down its cooling off a little. I really look forward to getting back to the beach tomorrow where it is generally cooler. Tomorrow will be much better, after climbing the highest point on the entire route at 2,000 feet. I look forward to that actually because after the peak I get 14 miles of gradual downhill to the ocean! Awesome!

July 12

Hank looks so tiny next to this redwood stump!

Under 200 miles to San Francisco! I'm taking a couple days off there. 

Hiker biker site in the Redwoods 

Canada to Mexico Day off!

On a much needed day off I crunched some numbers. It is really relaxing and motivating to me actually. It gives me a sense of accomplishment to see what I have done so far. I'm old school and did it all on paper first, but then I plugged it into a Google spreadsheet. Geek alert! Here it is:

Washington: 7 days of riding

Days off: 4 due to heat wave

Total miles: 309

Total elevation gain: 13,104 feet

Total riding time: 23 hours 50 minutes 

Total time from point A to Point B: 40 hours 56 minutes 

Average miles per day: 44.14

Oregon: 7 days of riding

Days off: 0

Total miles: 375.1

Total elevation gain: 17,796 feet 

Total riding time: 27 hours 25 minutes 

Total time from point A to point B: 47 hours 3 minutes 

Average miles per day: 53.59

Totals overall so far, whole trip:

Miles: 684.1

Elevation gain: 30,900 feet

Riding time: 51 hours 15 minutes 

Time from point A to point B: 87 hours 59 minutes

Average miles per day: 49.37

On my days off I get groceries, do laundry, rest, eat way too much, look at ride date, plan hotels for the upcoming days off, and go over my calendar and my mapping app that I use to plan my days. Today I spent a couple hours fixing my calendar and route maps since doubling up a two day ride into one and skipping a day off in Oregon. I found that doing those two things fixed the three extra days I wasn't expecting to take off due to the heat wave. I had only planned to take one day off in Montesano, but it turned into four due to the heat. Well, now my expected arrival at the Mexican Border is back to August 7th. Only a month more to go! Haha! Almost there! I also figured out today where the halfway point will be. I may have spent too much time on this, but at exit 645 on highway 101 I will be halfway! That will be this Monday in the Redwoods. That reminds me...going through the redwoods I probably won't have much of a cell signal at all. So if I don't post it's not because Sasquatch got me...or maybe it is. LOL. 

The Oregon California border!

Yesterday's ride

The beach near my hotel

Hank the Tank hanging out in the room. 

Over the next few days after today I will be in the first part of the Redwood National Forest,  so I might not have a good enough signal to post. I will try though. 

Take care!

Canada to Mexico ride day 12 overall day 16

Another great day! Tonight I am staying at a hotel. Last night I realized I am out of food, out of power in my devices and batteries, and out of fuel for my stove to cook the food I don't have. Haha! I also need a few other things and I don't like to leave Hank outside alone where someone can mess with him or steal him, so I lock him up in a hotel and go get what I need. He usually doesn't mind. Anyway, I have chores to do! Take care friends!

Canada to Mexico ride day 11 overall day 15

Last night I didn't have an cell service or wifi so I couldn't post anything. Tonight I have some cell service, but not much. I wrote a really long post summarizing my day and in the upload process from my tent it canceled and got deleted. So rather than try that whole thing again I am just going to say that today was a very good ride of almost 60 miles and I am looking forward to getting some rest tonight. I will share more when I have better cell signal or better Wi-Fi from a hotel on a much-needed day off. I hope you are all enjoying your fourth of July and staying safe.

Take care.

Oops! Yesterday was day 13 overall and day 9 riding.

Holy cow what a day! I had an interview with KOIN6 news! How does an introvert like me end up on the news?!?! Well actually it's because I have Mazey Copeland as my most valuable volunteer! She is so amazing. Not only is she shooting and editing the trailers and the documentary,  but she is also organizing things like news interviews to help me promote my charity. I couldn't do this without her. I had a great ride today. It was much shorter than yesterday but it had the second highest hill of the whole trip. Hank and I crushed it of course! I didn't get any pictures today because I was riding as fast as I could to get to where my cell signal would be strongest enough for a Zoom interview. I do have a picture of the kind of weird stuff people eat on a long distance bike tour. It's almost embarrassing, but I used a turkey pepperoni stick to spread almond butter on a tortilla! That's right folks! Sodium and calories are a must when cycling all day.

Canada to Mexico days 12 and 13

Well that was a productive day! Fun too! Two nights ago the campground had awful cell signal, so I couldn't post much. Last night I was just too tired. It rained all night in camp two nights ago. I stayed nice and dry and cozy in my tent. When I woke up yesterday morning I really didn't want to get out of bed. It stopped raining for a few minutes and I thought that might be my chance to have breakfast and pack up camp without getting soaked. As soon as I stepped out of my tent I was swarmed by mosquitoes. They were relentless! I didn't even want to cook breakfast and make coffee, so I packed up camp in record time and hit the road. It rained for the first two hours. I stopped at a little cafe and had an incredibly high calorie meal. It was so good! It's almost disgusting how much I'm eating already on this trip. As I type this I'm eating almond butter on a tortilla AND Skinny Pop popcorn. Haha! My ride for yesterday was only supposed to be 38 miles, but I had that done before noon. I don't like sitting around camp, so I kept going. In a car it's easy to just change plans and be in the next town in a few minutes. On a bike it's a little more trouble. Since I skipped the campground I had planned for the night I ended up at a hotel in Tillamook for the night. Hotel prices are going to kill me on this trip. $180 for something I paid less than $100 just a couple years ago. I was planning on taking a day off in Newport over the weekend but it's 4th of july weekend, so all the rooms are over $300! Insane. I think I'll be taking way less days off. Anyway, after 64 miles I ended up in Tillamook for the night. Skipping that campground screwed up the next three nights, so I spent nearly an hour reworking my schedule and destinations. It's worth it to just keep pedaling. I love to just keep going. Much like Forest Gump. Lol. Today's longer ride and another upcoming one actually shave off a whole day. So the three day delay due to the heat wave is now down to two. Saw some gorgeous coastline today. Rode through a tunnel. That was interesting. Hank and I ran into the side of the tunnel a couple times. There was barely any shoulder. I hope you all had a great day!

Yummy! On to the next campground today! More to come!

Canada to Mexico day 10

Well kiddos I finally got back on the road today after 4 days off due to the heat wave. It was a relatively short day. 

Tonight in camp a raccoon walked right up to me! He was only about 6 feet away. That means at night raccoons will be roaming around the campground looking for food. Those of you who know my past experiences with raccoons know that they aren't my favorite animals. 5 years ago in Monterrey a raccoon tore into my tent in the middle of the night and stole my food. It was scary! So this time I hung my food bag in a tree. That should help. 

It is 45 degrees cooler than it was yesterday, so that is really nice. Tomorrow I have my last day of riding in Washington. 48 miles to my first campground in Oregon. I love the Oregon state parks. They are so clean and nice. 

More to come tomorrow!

Canada to Mexico Day 9

Hello friends!

Hitting the road tomorrow morning!!! One thing about the 4 day heat wave delay is that I had time to fine tune my set up. I went through every single item I carry on my bike and if it wasn't absolutely necessary I got rid of it. For example, do I really need to take a Rubik's Cube?

I mean really. I know how to solve it, so what's the point. (Actually there is a point. I do it to help me relax. Solving a cube takes my mind off of other things that maybe I need to stop thinking about. I have other ways of doing that though, so I think I'll leave the cube behind.) I did end up saving myself quite a bit of weight by leaving a few other things behind. My rolling weight is now 310 pounds. That may sound like a lot, but that includes everything. I weight 215, Hank weighs 40, and all of my gear/food for 5 days and a day of water weighs 55 pounds altogether. That's how I got to 310. Thinking about nearly 100,000 vertical feet over the entire route shaving off even a few pounds is significant. 310 pounds is actually 40 pounds lighter than 5 years ago when I rode 1,372 miles with a rolling weight of around 350 pounds. I was a few pounds heavier then. My gear was way heavier. Since then I have bought an entire ultralight backpacking set up, which I can use most of on bike tours. Titanium cooking utensils and cups. A sleep system that only totals 3 pounds for the bag, pad, and pillow. Honestly the heaviest thing I wish I could eliminate is food. If I didn't have to eat I could save so much weight! Haha! I could actually save quite a bit of weight if I was willing to eat out more, which I'll probably do more of as I go. More taco trucks and espresso stands! Yay

I hash-tagged one of my riding shirts today to help bring awareness to my charity.

I am really looking forward to getting back on the road tomorrow!

Take care everyone!

Canada to Mexico Day 8

 Hello kiddos!

I was planning on getting back on the ride tomorrow morning, but now it's looking like the heat wave won't be over until Tuesday morning. It is 113 here today and supposed to be 114 tomorrow.

Continuing to try to look at the bright side of this delay in my ride. A friend mentioned yesterday that the timing was good because I am at my parent's house rather than being pretty much anywhere else. That's a really great point! If this happened while riding through California, or anywhere else, I would have spent $1,000 or more on hotel nights and food so far. There is always a silver lining. It is just harder to find sometimes. While I have these days off I have been thinking a lot. Those of you who know me know that sometimes I think too much. Sometimes that is true. I am working on being better at just going with the flow and not stressing out too much. I am looking at this time off as a lesson for me to learn from.

I don't have much more to update today other than a picture of Hank the Tank with his new flags! Safety first!

Ooops! Where was day 6? Here's 7

Hello kiddos!

I took yesterday off from riding as planned, but I also have to take today and tomorrow off due to this crazy heat wave. It was 105 degrees here in Montesano today. Tomorrow it is supposed to be 110 and Monday it is supposed to be over 100 degrees too. I can't ride in heat like that. It is very dangerous. So I have been resting and repacking to get rid of some of the things I packed that I don't really need. Like cold weather clothes and rain gear...obviously! HAHA! The less weight I carry the faster I can go and the easier the hills will be. Below are the stats from the first five days of my ride. I'm really happy with what I have done so far. I am especially happy that I'm not sore at all. The training I did really helped! 

Yesterday I had some business cards made with all of my contact information. That way it is easier for me to communicate with people about the charity i am riding for and easier for them to find me on social media so they can follow me and donate if they choose to. I have already handed out close to 30 cards. I had 250 of them made. I bet I give out all of them before I even get to the border in mid-August. It has been really rewarding so far. The heat wave has really slowed me down, but I will get back on the road soon and get back into a groove. 

I hope you are all enjoying your summer vacation!

I will be sure to post more soon. Once I'm back on the roads I will try to post everyday again.

Take care!

 

Canada to Mexico Day 5

Hello kiddos!

WOW! That was a fast ride! I got up at 5 AM to try to beat the heat. I sure did beat the heat. I got to Montesano before the fog even burned off. It was so nice to not have to put on sunscreen today. I had a run-in with a staple, pictured below. It was really strange though because it didn't give me a flat. I pulled it out and headed down the road. As I was riding along closer to Montesano I ran into a life-long friend of mine. It was so nice to see him.

Look closely and you can see a staple sticking out of Hank's tire! I got lucky though. When I pulled it out no air came out, so I didn't have to change a flat. Lucky!

I was riding along and my friend who I have known most of my life pulls up in his Jeep! It was so cool. We ended up having lunch together later in the day.

Tomorrow a crazy heat wave is moving in, so I will be taking a day or two off from riding. I am trying to work out a new plan to get through the heat and to the beach as soon as possible. I will keep you all updated. 

More to come in the coming days!

Canada to Mexico day 4

I had another great day of riding! Today started out nice and cool in the morning. It was even a little cloudy, which I don't mind at all. In the afternoon it warmed up to around 80. There is a super hot heat way coming for Friday through at least Sunday, so I am hurrying to get to my parent's house before it gets too hot. I will get there tomorrow. I may have to adjust my plans for this weekend since riding in temperatures over 100 can be dangerous. I'll figure it out and keep you updated. Today's 37 mile ride went much quicker since I didn't have any flat tires. One of the things I'm going to do while at my parent's house is some work on Hank. Even though I just bought new tires for him I might get another set that might be better for this ride. I'll keep you updated on that too! 

You can see my moving time is just over 3 hours but the duration of the whole ride from point A to point B is nearly 5 hours. That's what happens when I eat as much as I have been and stop for water and coffee as much as I have been. 😂

Speaking of food! Hank and I stopped at a taco truck today. It was so good!

We saw an actual drive-in this morning. Not many of those still exist. 

See you again soon!

Canada to Mexico day 3

I want to give a quick update, but I don't know how to sum up my day quickly. 😆 It was very eventful. I started my day nice and early. I was up at 6 and on the road by 8:00. I will get quicker in camp once I get used to the new routine. The first 30 miles of my day was really great. After crossing the Hood Canal Bridge I realized I had almost ridden my entire 36 mile route for the day before noon, so I decided to change my plans and go another 20 miles or so. I decided to head toward Bremerton. As I was going through Poulsbo I got a flat tire. In 2015 I went over 1,000 miles before getting a flat tire. Oh well. Getting a flat on a loaded touring bike is a little more involved than a regular bike. First off I have 40 pounds of gear on my bike, so it makes for a dangerous flat. Luckily I was going up hill slowly. I had to unload everything off of Hank and get the tire fixed. I got it all off but couldn't for the life of me find what caused the flat. That can be a problem. Without knowing what caused the flat I could repair it only to get another flat down the road. Luckily I didn't. About 10 miles down the road after fixing it I was thinking how nice it would be to come across a bike shop. Well, as luck would have it I stumbled across the Silverdale REI! I couldn't believe my eyes. I pulled right in there and rolled Hank right into the bike shop in REI. I met some really cool people and learned a lot about tubes, tires, and bike maintenance. I told them all about my ride and I did a little shopping too. It turned out to be a great day after all! Since I changed my route I ended up getting a hotel tonight. Today really drained me. I was on my bike, repairing, or in REI for over 9 hours today. The last thing I wanted to do was set up camp and cook dinner. One of the reasons I pushed myself for an extra 20 miles today is because I am trying to beat a crazy heat wave that is coming. I have it all figured out now. I will update everyone tomorrow. I need rest!

Long day, but fun!

Hood Canal Bridge. It was a fun and beautiful ride. 

Hank with a flat tire. 

Hank in REI