Season 3 Episode 11 (10/14) Just Don’t Drink Too Much

Season 3 Episode 11 (10/14) Just Don’t Drink Too Much – 

10/14 Fort Ross to Inverness, CA. 61 miles 4977’ climb.

We were thrilled to have our friend Zach M. guest ride with us today. We met Zach in February as a fellow participant on an epic bike trip from Sydney to Hobart, Australia. On that trip, we rode 19 days with an average of about 5,000’ daily elevation. That ride was operated by a company, so thankfully we did not ride with panniers and our gear on our bikes - it was fully supported.

We are very grateful for the sheer effort on Zach’s part to join us. He drove over 3 hours from his home near Sacramento to meet us early morning in Fort Ross, biked with us all day to Inverness, stayed at the same hotel as us, cycled back north on Sunday by himself to his car while we rode south, and then he had a 3 hour drive home. Now that’s special! (Note his light pack off his bike seat)

Zach is a much faster and stronger rider than we are. And that is without us loaded. So with our heavy loads (he only carried what he’d need for a night), I was concerned that the speed difference would be even greater and our pace would bore him. He was a champ and adapted his ride to ours, shuttling between us to talk with both of us, and shooting ahead to surprise us with his camera ready as we came around a bend or over a climb. His energy and humor were such a great lift for us.

The riding itself was more gorgeous coastline with at times less than 2’ of shoulder and no guardrail to a 300’ drop to the ocean. Not the place to fall to your right!

This is my favorite pic Zach took. At first glance it’s just of the ocean. But in actuality, he stayed at the top of a mountain before a huge descent that would have us ride switchbacks covering the 3 strands of road in the photo. And then upon closer inspection (zoom), there’s Heather riding down that first road on the right.

The fickle weather improved and we saw blue sky.

This was another day of hard climbs that start immediately out of a descent when you exit a hairpin turn (180 degrees) and head into a climb. This pic is actually one of those hairpin turns, but this turn continues a descent. You can imagine the last such turn of coming down and then heading right back up.

We enjoyed lunch in Bodega Bay - famous as the sight where Hitchcock filmed “The Birds”. We did not actually eat at this cafe.

At our hotel there was a photo of JFK creating the local Point Reyes National Seashore. Quite striking to see the homogeneity of everybody surrounding him in 1962.

We rode through the very small town of Point Reyes Station (PRS), just over 5 miles before getting to our hotel. Despite its tiny area, it had a Saturday afternoon buzz of activity of visitors filling its Main Street. We had wanted to stay here, but everything had a 2-night minimum and was quite pricey - it is only about an hour by car from San Francisco.

As we got to our hotel in Inverness, we learned their restaurant was closed, as were the two restaurants a mile away. One just lost their chef two weeks ago. The closest restaurant was over 3 miles away. After almost 5000’ of climb today, we did not want to walk an hour+ each way nor bike at night in the dark with no shoulder - but we did need to eat dinner.

Although our close proximity to San Francisco, there was no Uber available, nor taxi to drive us the 5 miles to PRS where we really wanted to go. So Heather took it upon herself to ask Ciaran, the nice man at the hotel, if he could drive us (for pay) or if there was anybody else who could drive us to PRS and pick us up after? Ciaran offered to drive us when his shift ended at 7PM, but we were hungry and ready to go at 5:30.

Well, next thing you know, Heather comes across the hotel lot to where Zach and I were waiting, driving an SUV. Ciaran had said to Heather “take my car, here is the key”. Heather asked if we could bring him back dinner, pay him, or fill the tank. He replied “you can pay me by just having a good time” and he added “ just don’t drink too much!”. It is exactly that kind of kindness and trust from strangers that we experience habitually on these cross country rides that leaves such a huge impression on us.

Oh - we had a great dinner, had only one beer and did put gas in his car.

Saying goodbye after brunch the next morning.

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