Flat Tires Day 2

March, 17 2015

Rode 41 miles

Rode approx. 5.25 hr

I had an uneventful ride until the end of the day. There was a huge climb today, also had a significant climb on day one.  The most exciting thing up to that point in the day was I came across a cattle guard in the road. Not being an avid cyclist up to this point, I panicked. Come to think of it, this trip is the first time that I have been on a cycle that was not a mountain bike. Anyway, panicking, I slammed on the brakes because I was imagining doing a endo when I hit the cattle guard and hopped/stumbled off, damn clipless pedals and walked it across. Needless to say, I risked the cattle guard next time and pedaled over it and it was way smoother than the previous attempt.

At the end of the day I was searching for the campsite marked on the map and two other cyclist, Pete and Deb who I had met and camped with the night before, caught up to me while I was trying to find the site.  According to the map, I was at the site. We discussed this and agreed. We decided to go a little farther in search of the campsite. Right before a big downhill, I decided I was going to call and see where the campsite was so I didn’t have to ride back up the hill if it wasn’t below me. No one answered, so I searched around on Google Maps seeing if I could find it for a while and nothing. I did not see Pete and Deb climbing back up the hill so I went for it, huge mistake! I found them a few miles down the road, obviously the campsite wasn’t there. They decided to push on off route and connect back to the route and stay farther away at a hotel.

I opted to bike back up the hill and find the camp site. Didn’t happen, I turned off the road on a dirt road and then pushed through some bushes to a clearing and saw a bunch of water bottles. Since I was near the border, this probably wasn’t a good sign but it was getting dark and I was tired so I bush wacked about 20 more yards and bivied in the bushes. During the night, I heard coyotes howling fairly close. The yips and howling sounded lonely, almost mournful like they were trying to find each other. This is a sound I looked forward to and enjoyed at night.   The other coyotes must have passed by 20 yard away because the water bottles were gone in the morning.

Ended along the side of the road near Boulder Oaks, CA.