Rode the 100k of the Tour of the Unknown Coast and I am worn down a bit. Left here noon on Friday and went first to Fortuna for some carbo loading and then to Ferndale. Fortuna is an odd place, seems that I see something strange every time I am there and this trip was no exception. As I headed down main street to find someplace to eat I happened upon a knife fight in a gas station. Two morons going at it with the typical white trash woman yells and sirens wail in the background. When I moved to this area we checked out Friendly Fortuna and picked up on a very odd vibe so we went further north even though the rents were major cheap down there. Guess that’s the reason why, rednecks abound.
After the freak show I ended up at a KFC buffet to pack on some starch. It was the first place I came to that wasn’t filthy and as the wind was rising I did the “devil chicken.” I try to avoid fast food but I am not into dirty restaurants and I was starving.
Full I rode back to the Humboldt County Fairgrounds in Ferndale and pitched my camp. The vids will be up on You Tube for your viewing pleasure including a ride through a section of the Avenue of the Giants. The wind kicked up to 15 to 25 MPH so it took about 45 minutes to ride the three miles Fernbridge to Ferndale all with a pungent manure smell permeating the breeze.
The weather was perfect for the actual ride with clear skies and almost no wind but the minute I finished the worm turned. I crashed in the tent when I finished the ride before showering and heading to dinner, killer burritos, and after a short nap I emerged to fog and drizzle. Rained all Saturday night with wind and a bit of lightning. I stayed dry but slept poorly and packing up and riding home sucked the big one. At least the rain stopped mid morning.
Once I had set up camp and did the registration thing I took a little ride to shoot some of the Victorians but I was under whelmed. Did see a killer mountain ash in full bloom so it wasn’t a total waste but the houses I shot in town here impressed me more.
The tour ride was awesome for its scenery and for the challenge it presented. The amount of total climb was thousands of feet. Up down up down hit a top speed of 32 mph. The hairpin at the end of that was thrilling and I was glad that I had good disc breaks. Only one person ate it there as far as I know.
I enjoyed the experience but I don’t think I will be doing a lot of that type of thing as it was a lot of yuppie types that wanted to dress up and talk about high tech gadgets and compete with each other and that is not my thing. I enjoy sitting around the campfire with the homeless guys at clam beach more, they have a lot more interesting stories.
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