We woke up to sunny skies and better spirits. The day is a short one – 45 miles, but over the Coastal Range to Mendocino. Robin sags for the morning.I forgot to get a photo of the group at the start of the day. Here’re the group rolling out of Ukiah.
The terrain turned hilly immediately. By 10 am it was already in the 80s, as well. We started out in the high, dry rolling hills, the high desert. The landscape was very dry, one stupid small fire would burn for miles and miles.
After some miles of the high dry country the terrain turned into more coniferous forest with huuuuge redwood trees. We passed through Montgomery Woods State Park. And this was the back country. The people living in this area definitely lived off the grid as they were engaged in, er, alternative farming. We were warned to stay on the road and not venture into fields or woods. Hmm.
The roads turned narrow and winding and steep and in somewhat poor shape, but definitely ridable – sort of like the Pyrenees. After lunch I took over sagging for the remainder of the day.
The auto and truck drivers gave us sufficient room to ride, but unfortunately, one redneck gave Dave and Dick a hard time. Dave stopped and ended up bickering with the gentleman, I happened by a few minutes after the fireworks started. The comments I heard:
“These are my roads, stay off them.”
“I pay taxes here, you don’t.”
“If I meet a vehicle and I’m passing a cyclist, I’ll run the cyclist off the road.”
Those guys really bother me. I finally convinced Dave to continue on and leave the redneck to his own devices.
The last 10 miles into Mendocino was just gorgeous. The roads were great the scenery was incredible. The weather turned a bit cooler, but there was no fog. We could see fog far off the coast, but it stayed away from the shore.
Since we arrive in Mendocino with some time to spare, we walk down to the beach and watch the surfers for a bit and then around the shoreline around sunset. Mendocino seems to be populated with a couple of different cultures. First are the grizzly old-timers who seem to want to be left alone. The other culture consists of those in the tourist trade and then, of course, tourists. It is interesting to see the intersection of these cultures in various public settings (bars, restaurants, etc.).
At dinner we had some wine (duh), including a bottle from the winery owned by the gentleman who gave us a lift the previous day! It turns out he was the owner of the winery. Cool.
We stayed in a B&B. We had a small house mostly to ourselves. It was complete with a common room, fireplace, complimentary bottles of wine, and stocked with firewood. Of course we had to build a fire and drink the wine. And then we stayed up far tooo late.
Day totals:
- Start: Ukiah
- End: Mendocino
- Distance: 45 miles
- Climbs: Coastal Range via Orr Springs Rd and Comptche-Ukiah Rd.
- Total gain: 3890 ft.
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