Today was it… 40 miles to the ferry at Vallejo. I was surprised by all the country roads we were traveling on when we were so close to all the urban cities. I don’t recall the time exactly, but our ferry departed at 2pm on the dot, and we were set to sail into San Francisco within the next 1.5 hours! There are no words to explain the feeling that I felt when the Golden Gate Bridge came into view. 29 long days, 2000+ miles, and countless mountains and desert stretches made this one heck of an adventure.

Once we got off the ferry at Fisherman’s Wharf, we rode to the Golden Gate Bridge which took almost an hour. After getting a quick picture in, we headed onto the path on the bridge… a few short minutes later we were across it and the journey was complete. Thoughts, emotions, and everything else flash by when I think back to where we started on that roadside in Kansas with our peanut butter sandwiches, but we finally made it!!

I’ll make a more formal ending post when I get back home, but for now it’s time for relaxation and enjoyment of the wonderful city of San Francisco!

Total miles biked: 40 miles from Winters, CA to San Francisco, CA

“Life’s a journey, go travel it”

We got to sleep in today because the bike shop didn’t open until 9:30am. I headed out to Taco Bell breakfast around 8am and looked over our maps for the next two days. By the time the bike shop had fixed my wheel from yesterday’s crash, we were headed out of Placerville at 10:15am… not a fantastic start to the day.

We faced some nasty rolling hills between the cities until Davis where things started to flatten out more. I was blown away by all the cyclists in Davis and the awesome atmosphere! With our late start though we didn’t have time to hang around. Outside of Davis led us to a bike trail all the way to a backroad to Winters, CA. This backroad was littered with other cyclists training for competitions, but the cool thing about this road was all the orchards we went through. There were rows and rows of trees with blossoming fruit on them, but none of them were ripe yet.

Finally, we arrived in Winters which was a bit off our route but we needed water for the night. As we wandered around town aimlessly, a couple stopped and asked us if we needed anything. They were extremely friendly and told us where we could get some Gatorade in town, so we took off to that store. When we walked outside of the store (30 minutes later) we put our feet on our pedals and another couple waved us down. As unbelievable as it sounds, they were there to offer us a place to stay and shower tonight. We definitely accepted and met them at their home on the outskirts of Winters. Of course, some people may be appalled that we were staying in a random stranger’s home, but they were very nice and trustworthy. We spent the night chatting with them and they even fed us some food! Libby and Reid, if you ever read this, Seth and I both extend our thanks to you!

Tomorrow is the day… 40ish miles to Vallejo, CA where we’ll hop on a ferry to San Francisco. A very surreal feeling!

Total miles biked: 83.4 miles from Placerville, CA to Winters, CA

“I look on life as a joyous adventure.” – Ernie Harwell

This morning was a slow start after fighting the urge to stay in our warm sleeping bags, and finding out Seth had a flat tire. By the time we hit the road it was already 8:20am, but we knew it was only 9 miles to the highest point in California so we were thrilled for that. We finally reached Carson Pass (8300 ft elevation) and began our descent, except we were met with another long haul back up another hill. Our elevation profile on our map didn’t indicate anything that lasted more than a mile uphill after Carson Pass except one small mountain, but we shrugged it off and kept going.

After battling a few more long walks up some steep hills, we reached that other small mountain. Finally, we had some downhills to coast and enjoy the views around us. As we continued downhill I got a little further ahead of Seth so I kept one eye on my mirror to make sure he didn’t get too far behind. Luckily I glanced once and noticed something black in the road – it was one of our pannier bags that fell off Seth’s bike. I stopped and waited for him to get situated a little ways down the mountain. Once I saw he was coming again I began to slowly take off, keeping one eye in my mirror to make sure it was all good. Well… that’s when I hit a patch of loose gravel on the side of the road. At this point I knew I was going to fall hard, it was just a matter of when and how. My front wheel wobbled out of control as I held my brakes and I saw a patch of loose gravel about 20 feet ahead. It so happened to be next to a mile marker pole, and a big metal drain pipe. My only concern was to not tumble on the pavement though. I headed for the loose gravel and barrel-rolled into it, stopping just short of the drain pipe and somehow missing the mile marker pole.

Of course, all of these things happened within about 10 seconds, and I honestly didn’t consider any of the obstacles besides the drain pipe and landing on the road. I fortunately dodged the mile marker pole and didn’t land on any large rocks. The only damage done was some scrapes (and I’m sure some bruises) and my back tire is crooked again. Things could have been a lot worse.

The rest of the day was spent going up and down small mountains trying to reach Placeville, CA by 6pm before the bike shop closed. The backroads we had to take were definitely something else. Besides the hidden potholes everywhere, the 100ft+ tall trees standing right next to the road was something I had never witnessed before. I would probably rate this road as the ‘prettiest’ one we’ve went on this entire trip. There was no shoulder and sometimes the road turned into a “One Lane Road”, but the peacefulness and serenity while riding through it all was bliss.

Unfortunately though, we didn’t make it to Placerville in time which means we have to wait until 9:30 for the bike shop to open in the morning. Since we did 80 miles today, we should still be on track (if everything else goes well) to reach San Francisco in 1.5 days.

Total miles biked: 80 from Hope Valley Campground to Placerville, CA

“Adventure without risk is Disneyland.” – Douglas Coupland

100 miles ago we were in Fallon, NV… now we’re sitting on top of Carson Pass, California which happens to be our very last mountain to get over. Wow.

We departed from Fallon, NV this morning at 6:40am, and by noon we had already gotten to Carson City, NV which was 59 miles away. Our mindset was to get 100 miles today so we could join the ‘century club’, and we had a great first half of the day to get us there! After eating lunch at Little Caesar’s, we headed out to get to the California border (20 miles). Along the way there were some incredible houses in the grassy pastures around Genoa, NV. It would definitely be a great place to live with all the scenery surrounding you and a large city like Carson City only 14 miles away.

Then… we reached the border. Finally! We have successfully pedaled our way up and down mountains and through deserts from Nebraska to California, and we’re only 3 days from our final destination of San Francisco. Words cannot express how exciting it was to reach this milestone!

After the border it was all uphill from there, a total of 14 miles to get to the campground for the night which happened to put us at exactly 100 miles for the day. Our legs were starting to show signs of fatigue, but we had a mission and nothing was going to stop us from completing it. At 7:30pm we rolled our way into the campground where we met two other cyclists who helped us figure out where to pitch our tent and pay.

What a day! Two huge milestones which puts us 9 miles from the summit of Carson Pass. Once we get over that hump it’s all down hill from there to the ocean. 212 miles remaining…

Total miles biked: 100 miles from Fallon, NV to Carson Pass (Hope Valley Campground)

“Every man can transform the world from one of monotony and drabness to one of excitement and adventure.” – Irving Wallace

Being bummed out from not getting the hotel room last night, today we planned on just riding 47 miles to Fallon, NV and calling it a day to rest up for the remaining 5ish days of our trip. We rolled into town around 10:30am after pedaling by a massive sand-mountain, and meeting two other cyclists (Steve and Django). With this short day we may not hit the border tomorrow, but for sure the day after. According to our maps, we are 312 miles from our final destination in San Francisco which should only take us 4-6 days more. Things will start to get interesting soon, I promise!