I made the most of the morning and hotel stay, by getting more supplies, working on bicycle adjustments and gear organizing. I hit the road just at the mandatory checkout time of 11am.
The wind was already blowing directly against my direction of travel (of course). But I’m relaxed, I should have plenty of time to go the 49 or so miles to my destination.
The ride started on some nice farm roads. Not too busy, and the roads weren’t too rough. old farms houses to see and mostly cattle ranches. Some of the fields had quite a few cows on them.
At this point I can already concluded that southbound is the way to go. Not that this is a big revelation, as this is a widely accepted. I don’t regret going Northbound. It’s the way that worked for travel and I was expecting headwind challenges.
It’s a lot different doing a local loop ride where maybe half the time, 1 hour for example, you are riding against the wind. Versus on tour, you may be riding 5 or more hours into the wind. This can be mentally and physically draining. A ride like today may be up to twice as hard as going with the wind in the other direction.
I’m not complaining and today there was no pressure as I had plenty of time to go slow and still get to my destination. Tomorrow I plan to do a long ride to make it into Oregon and the next camp location. If the winds is working against me, I could really be tested. I better get an early start.
I camped at Elk Prairie campground. Usually the name is just a name and you don’t expect much. In this case, it was exactly what it was. This whole area has Elk everywhere in the meadows. They are wild but also comfortable with people around.
Ride summary: 5/10 difficulty (harder due to wind), 43 miles with 2530 feet of climbing. Partly cloudy but nice. Medium headwinds the whole ride. Today’s ride detailed GPS. Tour totals: 1383 miles (48 / day). 79,846 climbing feet.
4 responses to “Day 29 – Bicycle Touring Arcata to Prairie Creek Redwoods (Elk Prairie). Coast, Humboldt Lagoons and Elk”
Gorgeous pictures! What camera/lenses are you using? Also, how lucky to only have one flat so far.
Actually, it’s an older canon sx710 point and shoot. I would have loved to have my DSLR, but no way I could (want) carry it.
Whenever we are on the Oregon Coast flying a kite or at Longbeach the wind seems to be blowing from South to North or directly off the Ocean. Do you think it is the opposite for California? Very Impressive Elk!
It might be, but at least California and Oregon tend to come from the North during this time of year