OTIS AND THE BIKE RIDE

The Struggle Is Noble

Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - Day 20

Distance traveled - 68 miles

Today was all about getting out of San Francisco. I got a late start, much later than I wanted to, as I knew it was going to be a long day. Before even getting out of the city, I had to go halfway around it, beginning in the southeastern corner and going around the perimiter to avoid some nasty hills back to the Prisidio to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. Going across the bridge was nice. It is really long, if you don't know, but the views are great. It was a pretty clear day, so the views of the city and the islands were fantastic. Once across the bridge, unfortunately there is no easy way back onto highway 1. The road on the other side is freeway and becomes the 101 - not meant for bikes. So you have to flank around to the east and go through a little town and then make your way over some small mountains back to the coast.

It was a long ride and not an easy one. I stopped at a bike shop in town to find out the best easiest way to get back to the 1. A guy there told me to just follow this path that runs right past the shop. He said that would take me all the way. So off I went down the bike path. After going underneath the 101, it came to a stop light. There were two other guys there, looked like they were on rented bikes, as were most of the people I passed since just before the bridge. Then this other guy pulls up next to me. He is on a road bike, obviously his own. I'm not looking at him, but I can feel that he is staring at me. He obviously wants to say something to me, and I stand there for a moment, wondering why he doesn't just say it. Obviously he is waiting for me to turn my head and look at him. So I do. He looks kind of German with these tiny little glasses. He's not. So he asks me where I'm going and where I started. I tell him and ask him about the route back to highway 1. He tells me that this is not the best way to go. He knows a better way and I can just follow him because his house is on the way. So he takes me down a different direction than we were headed, which is confusing, because it looked as if he was originally going the same way as myself, but yet now to get home, which is where he was going, he was going a completely different route. Maybe he just really wanted to talk to me. So I followed him. He was friendly and asked me a lot of questions about my trip. I was glad for the conversation, but it was hard to keep up with him on some of the uphills, since he was on a geared road bike with no extra weight. I kept up and we came up to his turn off. He offered me a place to stay the night, but I told him that I really wanted to make it to Bodega Bay today, get some good distance between me and the city. He told me the rest of the way to go to get back to the coast, and I was on my way.

It was a really nice day and some really nice scenery once I got out of the small towns in the beginning. It wasn't easy, though. There were lots of hills, mostly rolling ones, but some big ones in there as well. Once I left the small towns shortly after parting with the nice guy, there wasn't much in the way of civilaztion for a while. Mostly farmland or private property where it wasn't really clear what was going on there. Probably about three or four hours into my ride, I began getting a pain in my right knee. It was pretty sharp. I tried adjusting my pedaling to get rid of it. I found that there were a few movements that caused the pain to worsen, but it wasn't really consistent. I stopped and stretched a bit a few times, but that seemed to make it worse once I started riding again. Out in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't exactly anywhere to stop, somewhere to call it a day, and I hadn't even made it to highway 1 yet. I needed to at least make it to the 1. There was at least one campground along the way on the one before Bodega Bay. As I pushed on, still trying to make adjustments to ease or eliminate the pain, I realized something about myself. I've had a lot of time to think on this trip so far. That's really all I can do while I'm riding, except for those times when I am able to just space out completely. I thought today about my motivation and my perseverence. I've found that I almost require a struggle to really try hard and to really keep pushing on. When things become too easy, I become lazy or complacent, but when there is a big struggle, I love to step up to the challenge and work my way through it. So when something like this comes along, I'm not going to just stop and give up. I'm going to fight it as long as I can, try to solve the problem, or just keep going despite it.

I think this is one of the reasons why this journey had to be done on a single-speed bicycle. Having all those gears would make it too easy. That, and I like the simplicity of the single-speed, and I had that on my bike before I left and didn't have the resources or the desire to change it into a geared bike. But really, everyone things I'm crazy for doing this trip northbound on a single-speed. I feel like it's what I have to do. I have to prove to myself that I can do it. I really do enjoy the hard work. That's one of the reasons why I loved Big Sur so much. I had to work so hard to get up there, and, of course, I get a sweet reward after each struggle. It is these times of difficulty and strife that remind me that I have the strength and courage to push through some really tough times.

I pushed on, made it to highway 1 finally. From there I still had a ways to go to get to Bodega Bay. I figured I wasn't going to get there until dark, but I decided that was where I was going to end up tonight. I asked people that I saw along the way how far it was. They always told me conflicing numbers which were usually further than I suspected. Eventually, probably sometime around 7, I stopped to switch my bag to the other shoulder. It had been on one shoulder for most of the day, and that shoulder was getting quite fatigued. As I was stopped there on the side of the road, a pickup truck pulled over in front of me. He just sat there for a minute, didn't get out or anything. I decided to walk up and let him know that I was alright, that I didn't need anything. From the looks of the contents of the back of the truck, this guy seemed like a kind of hick. I opened the passenger door and he asked if I was alright and where I was going. I told him Bodega Bay and that I was fine. He asked if I wanted a ride and told me it was at least 20 miles to Bodega. Well, I knew it wasn't 20 miles, but I really wasn't sure how far it was exactly. I thought about it for a minute. I was tired, this guy seemed friendly enough, and if it really is 20 miles, I'll get there pretty late. So I decided to take the ride. As I got my bike and put it in the back of the truck, I noticed he had a bunch of bumper stickers about peace and no war and some real hippie stuff. I figured, either this guy is really cool, or killed and robbed someone who was. Either way, I went for a ride. We stopped at a shop along the way so that he could play the lotto. I'll admit there was a really steep hill that we went up. I would have been walking up it, as I had already walked up two hills before that today. The guy was friendly. We talked about biking and motorcycles and the work he does. He also talked about some bikers he had given rides to before. He was genuinely nice.

He dropped me off at the entrance to the campground. Funny, as I was getting out of the truck and getting my bike out, he said to me exactly what I had been thinking about him. He sure looks like a redneck, but deep down he's a hippie. Nice guy. His name was Ted. It definitely wasn't 20 miles to the campground from where I was, but I was grateful to have gotten into camp with some daylight left. I was pretty tired anyway, and the hills that were left would have kicked my ass. So all in all it was a good choice to take that ride. Now I just have to deal with a really loud family next to me. I took up a regular camping space, as I couldn't find a hiker/biker section. The place isn't full anyway. I don't think anyone will mind.

the only shot i got of a san francisco sign

i'm sure we'll meet again san fran, hopefully on better terms

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