Day 30: Fatigued (Manchester KOA to Bodega Bay Dunes State Park)

Can you spot the seal?

Day 30: Fatigued (Manchester KOA to Bodega Bay Dunes State Park)

Can you spot the seal?

Can you spot the seal?

My body finally felt fatigued as I pedaled out of camp in the morning with Sang Hyun. We had tailwind but that was not very helpful as we rolled through the 68 miles to our next camp ground. A good break got us going as we battled the Sonoma Coast climbs and came up to a glorious view of the California coast.

Aching Body

Hey! No hitch-hikers.

Hey! No hitch-hikers.

Portlan and Roberto left camp an hour early around 7AM. Sang Hyun and I caught up to them when we reached Flumeville where they were both enjoying a hot breakfast when we rolled pass through. The ride had consistent tailwind as we wandered up and down through towns like Point Arena and Anchor Bay where we stopped to see if there was any breakfast at the local coffee shop. They deferred us to another restaurant 4 miles south in the town of Gualala. This gave Roberto and Portlan the opportunity to catch up to us and past us as we stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant.

Rejuvenated by the View

Beautiful Sonoma Coast

Beautiful Sonoma Coast

We rode another few miles and entered Sonoma County which was only 58 miles. All was well but I felt worse and worse until we reach Fort Ross where we grabbed an ice cream bar and rested for a bit before we continued on. And then, the road just started to pint straight up for 700 feet of climbing which yielded to probably the most incredible views of the California coast that we had ever seen on our trip. We were riding near the edge of the road as we enjoyed the breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean and navigated through winding roads down until we got into the town of Jenner. That was probably the most thrilling stretch of riding as we kept pace with cars down some incredible hair-pin turns and steep downhills.

We stopped as much as possible to take some great pictures before I retired the camera and put our heads down and pedaled into camp passing several beach towns with many people enjoying the warm weather. We finally make it into the camp site and found that we were the first in our group to arrive. Portlan later showed up 45 minutes later and Roberto and Dave followed 15 minutes later. We enjoyed the first free shower in a California State Park before we all decided to ride into Bodega Bay to grab some groceries for the night and morning. It was fine getting there with the generous tailwind but the headwinds back was tough. Good thing we were unloaded with the exception of one pannier full of food.

Last Night of Camp

Before riding into Jenner

This would be the last night of camping for us as we said good byes to everyone before turning into bed. The next day we are headed into a warm showers opportunity with my friend, Darcy’s place. It’s going to be bittersweet as we are ending this trip and we’re finally abandoning our little community in favor of getting back to our “normal” life. Well, let’s take it one step at a time as we need to at least get to San Francisco!

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