Day 26 – Little River to Gualala – Safe Return Doubtful

55 miles (89 km) – Total so far: 1,478 miles (2,378 km)

Distance 55 miles (89 km) Time riding 4 hours 37 minutes Max speed 41.1 mph Average speed 11.7 mph Left at 8:15 am Arrived at 2:15 pm

Patterson’s pub was busy but a good place to be. The food was good and there were about 30 local brews on. Lagunitas is popular and was responsible for about 4 of those, and the good news being that I will ride past their brewery in a couple of days.

A question faced me. What distance is acceptable to ride back to the pub from camp? Last night actually it was 3 miles, and a couple of hills, and a wind heading there. On the brink I guess. At Humbug it was also 3 miles, but with much more challenging hills, especially after 3 strong beers. At Yakima it was almost 5 miles, flat, but into a strong headwind when going there. Unfortunately that had died down when I returned. I think the answer is it depends on the mood, the pub and what’s happened earlier that day. On our Silver Award expedition assessment for D of E at 16 or 17 we were camped at the lake just below the summit of the Old Man of Coniston. Our assessor visited and saw us cooking in the early evening, asked questions, and was off, quite happy. So were we. Down to the Sun Inn in Coniston Village, 60 minutes down, and a fuelled 90 back up. Well worth it though.

Last nights camp was busy with Pacific Coast cyclists. The Chilean girl, a French Canadian girl we have been riding with on and off for about 8 days, and the fast American girls who is always ahead of them. Also a guy from Houston who has ridden up the Great Divide MB route and is returning on to LA on the coast. They think I’m crazy to ride back so far to the pub.

Today’s ride is known for its ups and downs from the 80 meters above sea level that the road is usually at to each little bay, always steeply. I don’t think there’s very much of the road at all which is flat. It is noticeably quieter from traffic after the route 128 leaves just before the village of Elk. Many times though when the shoulder is small or not present at all.

I headed to Little River convenience store, only about 300 meters from the camp, for coffee. The riders camping with me passed me, but I passed them all over the next hour or so, including the Texas guy, who was slow considering where he had been and that he was in his 20s only.

It’s only 2 miles back to Gualala town later, so not such a big deal, and as always, well worth it.