Riding Blind

Going to bed early isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Actually, in addition to that being a bizarre idiom, I rarely consider going to bed early a good thing. Last night did nothing to change that viewpoint.

With no lights, no phone, no motor cars, not a single luxury, I found myself calling it a night shortly after 9:00. By simple math, that left me with about nine hours of potential sleep time. Much more than I usually get. Perhaps the extra sleep would be good for me.

Surprisingly, I fell asleep remarkably quickly. Then again, yesterday’s ride was my longest since July 14th, so maybe going to bed early wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Sure enough, I woke up feeling great. I was stunned how great I felt. Maybe going to bed early has some merit after all, I mean … I even woke up before my alarm on my watch went off. Side note: I have no idea why I don’t turn that alarm off as it’s completely unnecessary. Then reality set in. Yes, it was true that I woke up before my alarm (set for 6:53 am, again … I don’t know why). It was 10:36 PM. I still had 8 hours until morning. And thus began a cycle which repeated every 60 – 90 minutes. Except each time I woke I felt less and less great. By morning, I was exhausted. Sigh.

On the upside, I had no external interruptions throughout the night. On the downside, I was now tired and ready to hit the road with no real maps, a dead phone, and a dead GPS. Riding blind, so to speak. Fortunately, my camera still had some juice left in it. That was important both for today’s photo opportunities and because I had taken some photos of a couple of basic maps back in Crescent City. They would be my only maps for much of today’s ride.

The first useful town (ie. with a Subway) on today’s route was Fortuna. This was a moderately successful stop at best. I was able to get food for the day which, in the grand scheme of things, was important. On the other hand, there was no internet and no power outlets to be found. And it wasn’t for lack of trying. It was about an hour and a half of trying. I later heard some report of a major online hack/attack that may have affected my WiFi search. Apparently credit card transactions weren’t functioning in California. Of course, I really have no idea how widespread it really was/is, since there’s no internet.

Having wasted far too much time in Fortuna trying to get connected and powered up, I put away my silly devices and got back on the road. Where I belong.

From Fortuna it was a relatively short ride to my next scenic route. I say it was a relatively short ride but it actually felt somewhat long as I still didn’t have any real maps and didn’t really know where I was going – other than the name of the route – Avenue of the Giants. After a while, I started to wonder if I had passed it – which I knew was ridiculous because I figured there would be some pretty obvious signage. Eventually, there was.

There wasn’t a grand official sign marking the entrance to the scenic route. It didn’t need one. It’s my understanding that the Avenue of the Giants is the old highway which runs parallel to the the new Route 101. And, as you leave the new highway, the road leads directly into a dense forest of Giants (aka. redwoods).

The advantage to staying on the new highway is it’s a very direct route with wide shoulders. If making good time is the goal, then that’s the route to take. If slowing things down and viewing some truly stunning views is the goal then the Avenue of the Giants doesn’t disappoint. At all.

When I look back on the ride, the only thing I wish I had done differently was stop on my way through the first town. Wild raspberries lined much of the roadway and I should’ve stopped to sample (or perhaps hoard) some of them. I didn’t. I’d never been a big fan of raspberries until I had tried some of the wild variety on my first cycling trip in B.C. in 2009. I’ve been a fan ever since.

While I didn’t stop for raspberries, I did stop on several occasions to take some photos of (and with) the trees. Some turned out better than others but just walking among them was incredible. And they’re so incredibly big that none of the photos truly do them justice. But I tried.

Not wanting a repeat of yesterday’s long ride with no destination, I opted to stop at the Burlington Campground along the Avenue of the Giants. There was certainly time to keep going but I just wanted to spend a night in the trees. This ended up being a great decision.

When I arrived at the campground, Tess and Jamie were already set up in one of the Hiker/Biker sites. I first met Tess and Jamie back at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park – they’re from the UK and also working their way down to San Diego. There was also Tyce, a solo cyclist – he was heading north. While I was setting up my tent, two more familiar faces appeared. Becky and John from Louisiana (who I’d met at Katie’s in Crescent City) had officially joined the party. As would fellow Canadians Jeanne and Mark – who had the incredibly unfortunately situation of having their gear stolen a day earlier.

We had a great evening chatting, eating crackers with cheese, tomatoes, and some sort of sauce that was really good but I can’t remember what type it was. And somehow the topic of Subway came up and everyone agreed that Subway should be sponsoring my ride – and I didn’t even prompt them to say so! I think I may have even convinced a couple of them to make a Subway stop along the way.

Surrounded by the trees, the evening turned dark and cool a bit prematurely. Jamie, Tess, Tyce and I braved the elements and ended up talking late into the night after everyone else had gone to bed. In reality, it was 9:00. It gets dark so early these days. We all went to our respective tents and called it a night. I managed to get this update typed up before my battery threatened to shutdown my laptop. Photo selection will have to be done later. No big deal since I can’t upload my posts anyway.

Seriously, who would’ve thought that WiFi would be more readily available along Quebec’s somewhat remote north shore of the St. Lawrence River than it is on the California coast? Not me. (In case that wasn’t an obviously rhetorical question).

That said, while some may not be happy about my less than regular updates, I’m happy that these are currently my biggest problems. I’m sure I’ll find WiFi someday. Somewhere.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 76.45 km
Ride time: 4:13:00
Average speed: 18,13 km/h
Maximum speed: 49.49 km/h