Day 16

June 7, 2011

Day 16 I left Humbug Mountain and went to the Oregon/California border. I had the strongest tailwind I'd experienced on the whole ride, so the 66 miles passed by really quickly.There were a few climbs throughout the day, but none were horrible. One peaked out at about 800ft, so coming down was awesome. The tailwind on that descent pushed me to my fastest speed I've ever experienced on a bike—43mph! I got to the border and was a bit afraid. I had heard that they don't want you bringing foreign fruit into California and I had two bananas. Crossing the border was easy and consisted in simply passing these two signs.

I thought I was free after passing these and that I wouldn't be forced to throw away my bananas. But then about a half mile later I saw a checking station. Uh oh. I timidly approached the gate where cars are supposed to pull through. The mean looking lady seemed to be glaring at me with a snicker on her face looking forward to ruining my day by throwing my fruit away. I slowed down and started to unclip my pedals. “You have a nice day now!” She said as she waved me through. Whew.

(This picture is actually mine. The one on the top of the blog, I stole. Same place though.)

My knees had been bothering me for a good part of my ride and knee pain while riding a bike is almost always due to your position on the bike and your pedal stroke. I had already lifted my seat some and I started making a conscious effort to pull and push on my pedals, so that the force I put on my knees is lower. This helped some, but didn't solve it all. At the beginning of this day I raised my seat another half inch and I think I finally found my sweet spot. (I'm here 4 days later with no knee pain any more. Pretty sure I solve that issue).

I arrived at the RV park I planned to stay at. It was right on the beach with calm waters and lots of privacy since tent campers don't like RV parks usually. The Rvs at the park were just crammed into as small a space as possible, but the tent spots were secluded on the beach and were wonderful. That evening I made some dinner, constructed a fire, and attempted to carve wood. Nathan Valentin, you have my props for being able to do that so well. After 30 minutes I successfully made no progress whatsoever on the piece of driftwood I was working on.

Anyways, 2 states down, 1 really really big one to go.