The Final Day!!!

The last day of my cycling journey... Wow what a weird feeling. Thinking of where I was a short 36 days ago seemed crazy at this point. Time had flown and I was sad to see it come to an end. However, I was fondly looking forward to taking a week to sit around and do nothing. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was likely to get a late start and sure enough I didn't set out until 10 or 11. This was a little troubling because there was supposed to be some rain coming in later on but there was nothing I could do about it at that point. 

The first leg of my journey was a great one. Being so close to the end of my journey it made it that much easier for me to sit back and enjoy the ride. Making my way through Downtown Sacramento and across the river and on my way through Woodland. It was all great riding with some great views to take in. No more major climbs, mild temperatures, and only that one day to get through, I had it made! 

Shortly after I had made it into Woodland, however, the weather started turning south. I also had to adjust directions which put me directly into a strong headwind. The next couple hours were a bit of a blur. I just remember battling the wind and putting everything I had into the pedals to get me as close to Fairfield as I could get before the rain came. Finally I felt it, a sprinkle here, a sprinkle there, when eventually the sprinkling was a constant. 

When I came to the realization that there were no longer going to be any breaks in the rain, I decided I should stop for one last meal. Also, stopping to eat would give me a chance to update my family who were constantly wanting updates so they could know when to expect me. Once again people were giving me weird looks for riding out in the rain when I pulled up. As I ate that last meal, I stopped to take in the situation. I was about a two hour ride from my house. This break would be my last major break before finally reaching home. Getting a boost of energy not only from the food but the excitement of these realizations, I scarfed down the last of my food and set out. 

As I came into the heart of Vacaville, the city neighboring Fairfield, I almost made a couple mistakes. First of all, I almost made the wrong turn. If I wouldn't have taken the time to double check the directions I would have been going the wrong direction for who knows how long. Which is bad enough on a normal day but on a rainy one, it's a whole lot worse. Also, there were two potential routes that I had to choose from. The first was a route that was guaranteed but a little long and the second was not guaranteed but it was a whole lot shorter. I was fairly sure there was a bike path that cut through the hills but I had never ridden it previously so I couldn't be certain. 

Being the adventurous type, I decided to go with the more risky route and it turned out to be the perfect choice. It was a great little bike path with a little park to check out, as well as the fact that it cut almost an hour off of the ride. By that time pretty much everything I was wearing was soaked so I wasn't really up for stopping to enjoy the park thoroughly but I hope to see it again some day in the future. 

Even though I was completely drenched, at that point I had made peace with it and was enjoying it. It felt really good and since I knew I didn't have to worry about hopping back on the bike the next day, I didn't have to worry about working out the logistics of drying everything out. I was also joking in my head that the rain was just God's way of washing some of the stink and sweat away before getting home and interacting with people that actually knew me. Haha

The final stretch... 

I reached Fairfield!!! I was now riding on roads that I knew very well. Soon, I was rounding the bend and I could almost make out the turn into the court where I grew up. By that time it was pretty dark and raining heavily. As I approached, I thought I spotted something on the corner. Sure enough, there was a large grouping of umbrellas with all my family and friends under them cheering me on. I was HOME!!!

As I pulled in, I was welcomed with big hugs and kisses from my parents followed by a ceremonial ribbon breaking (they held up a streamer that I broke through on my bike). 

I was amongst family, friends, and familiarity. I could not have been happier. 

More to come...

Day 35

First, I would like to apologize to all my followers for taking this long to get to the final two days of my journey. The final day (Day 36) and my afterthoughts will be posted over the course of this next week.

As you might have suspected, the excitement of the final two days and all the things to follow had me quite distracted and unfortunately my blog fell by the wayside. There were other reasons more psychological in nature that also kept me from finishing my story which I will discuss later. Now back to the story...

Since you may have forgotten where I am in my story due to the fact that the last post I made was well over six months ago, here is a quick recap: Yesterday was my journey over the final summit in the Sierras. It was a terribly cold journey as I made my way down the mountains stopping for the night in Pollock Pines. 

I woke up in the morning rested, warm and overwhelmed with excitement to be so close to home. It was finally hitting me that this journey was coming to an end. It was a very weird feeling. On one hand, I was excited to be so close to accomplishing what I had set out to do. On the other, I was soon going to have to get back to the real world and a whole new set of challenges. Not to mention all the other things going through my head. Fears of something going wrong in the final days that might keep me from finishing. Fears that my motivation might give out and I might have somebody pick me up now that I was within a reasonable driving range. I had also grown very fond of all the attention, emotional support, and the feelings of accomplishment. How would I handle it when all of that was gone? Needless to say, I had a lot to think about on that day's ride.

When I left my room to head to the free continental breakfast, I was astonished to find a nearly three inch layer of snow on the ground. To think that I was and would continue to bike through weather like this had me questioning my sanity. Regardless, I fueled up and set out. First thing was first, I stopped at a gas station to try to find some better gloves for the cold weather. Sure enough I found a pair that ended up working great.

After hopping back on the highway, I hadn't made it far into that day's journey at all when I came across a sign saying that bicycles were not allowed on that particular highway. Which I found infuriating at the time but hilarious in hindsight. There were no such signs when there was no shoulder, falling rocks, and blind turns but now that there was a huge shoulder, no blind turns, and no threat of falling rocks whatsoever, I was not allowed to cycle. However, the detour it forced me into taking was quite a beautiful one.

Tonight I would be stopping in Sacramento because I had a pair of friends that I would be staying with that night, Karlin and Megan. As I was making my final approach into Sacramento I now realized pretty quickly that I was back in California. Drivers here do not have much or any respect for cyclists. From the Midwest to here, I saw a steady decline in people's tolerance for cyclists. Out in the Midwest, most people would follow behind me if they could not safely pass with a great deal of distance between them and me. As I moved more and more west, people started passing closer and closer and at higher rates of speed. Now that I was back in California, I hardly felt safe on the road at all. I just got the feeling that people no longer viewed me as a living, breathing human being that could die if they accidentally hit me. Now I was just something in the way that might make their commute home a whole 10 seconds longer if they chose to pass me safely. Needless to say, I hope that anyone reading this will take the time to pass a cyclist safely next time they come across one on the road.

As I neared my friends' home, I realized that I should grab something from the store to thank them for graciously offering their place to stay. I texted them to see what I could bring. In the end I was looking quite classy with an 18 pack of Bud Light strapped to the back of my bike. Haha!

It had been so long since I had seen Karlin and Megan but the way they welcomed me was like it had been just yesterday. They were so awesome, as were their five amazing dogs or "the stampede" which they were dubbed at some point in the night. It was also so amazing to finally see some familiar faces. We shared some great conversation and they even treated me to dinner. Karlin and Megan, if you're reading this, thank you so much for everything that night, it meant so much to me!

That day I had told my dad that I was going to be heading out the next morning (my final morning) by 8am. Having so much fun with my friends though, I soon lost track of time. Next thing I know, there's no way I was going to be taking off by 8am... but who cares. It was my last couple days on my journey so I was going to take my time to enjoy them.

Next post to come... THE FINAL DAY!!!

Day 34

On Day 34 I was headed over the next summit to Pollock Pines. I took my time in the morning because I wanted to make sure that I passed the summit during midday so it wouldn't be too cold. On my way out of town I had to stop to fuel up at Heidi's, one of my favorite breakfast places in Tahoe. As I proceeded to demolish two regular size breakfasts, the lady waiting on me expressed her astonishment. As usual, that lead to a long talk about the journey I was on and my reasons for doing so. Jane couldn't believe it and wanted to know every detail. She was one of the most fascinated with my story of all the people that I had talked to along the way. In fact, she pledged to make a donation to St. Jude that month! And to top it all off, she even came out of the restaurant to see me off when I left.

And I was off to tackle another mountain pass! Now, there really weren't many ways to get through the Sierras from Tahoe so I ended up sticking with Highway 50 even though I knew it wasn't the safest. For those of you who do not know this route, there are numerous stretches of road with no shoulder to speak of, blind turns, and falling rocks from the cliffs above. Needless to say, I put in a few prayers before setting out.

It was another somewhat easy climb with some beautiful views. When I reached the pass I was ecstatic. Not only had I finished my final major climb but the temperature wasn't going to get any worse... Well, the temperature didn't get any worse but after I reached the pass, I was no longer going 6-8 miles per hour while putting forth a great deal of effort. No, I was traveling at about 30mph and putting forth little effort at all. It was what I imagine being in a blast chiller would be like. Just over halfway down, I forced myself to stop at a hotel where they had a fireplace in the lobby in order to thaw out. To give you an idea of how cold I had gotten, I was there for over a half hour and I was still shivering when I left.

As I made my way to Pollock Pines I knew I was going to be cutting it close with the weather. Sure enough, when I was about 3 or 4 miles out it started to sprinkle. Fortunately, it remained a light drizzle until I rolled into town. I was about a mile away from the hotel when I realized how hungry I was. I also realized that once I got to the hotel I was not going to want to venture back out for food so I stopped to eat. By the time I got out of the restaurant, the weather had turned into a full fledged downpour. Therefore, I had to ride a mile in thirty degree temperatures while I got soaked by rain that was just shy of being turned to snow. By the time I got to the hotel I was drenched and could barely fill out the paperwork for my stay because I was shaking so uncontrollably. I am very glad that I am mostly out of the mountains. When I got to my room, I immediately turned on the heater and spent nearly an hour with my best friend of that night... the hair dryer. Haha

Looking forward to warmer temperatures tomorrow!

Day 33

On Day 33 I woke up plenty early in the Walmart parking lot even though I didn't arrive there until about 4am. It's pretty hard to continue to sleep when the sun is blaring in your face. Even though I didn't plan on getting an early start it was good for me to wake up a little early because I had a few things to take care of before setting out. First of all, I needed to find a local bike shop to buy some extra brake pads because I wasn't sure if the downhill portions of the Sierras were going to eat up my brakes or not. Also, I needed to allow time for me to reassemble my bike since it was in pieces in the trunk of the rental car.

I'm so glad that I opted to find brake pads because I was on the fence as to which route to take to get to South Lake Tahoe. Fortunately, the people working at the shop told me that the alternate route to Highway 50 may not be the best because there were points that the shoulder disappeared and at the time there was some construction going on which didn't make it any safer. Therefore, I opted to follow Highway 50 to get to Tahoe.

I also asked them about good diners in the area but there was nothing convenient. However, I remember seeing an In-n-Out in the same shopping complex and it was late enough in the day that it would be open. It was the first In-n-Out Burger that I had seen on the trip so eating there that morning was a must.

Once I was fueled up and everything was taken care of I was on my way. I was very excited for this next stretch since it was my first challenge of getting through a mountain range and it was likely to be a very beautiful ride. Don't get me wrong it was a pretty tough climb, especially with the altitude, but I had built it up so big in my mind that when I reached the pass I couldn't believe I had already made it. Let me tell you, the next 5 miles were incredible! I was flying! It was the longest downhill glide that I had come across yet and it made every bit of the climb worth it. Not to mention the fact that when I got toward the bottom I was greeted with some amazing views of Lake Tahoe.

It was a pretty weird experience staying in Lake Tahoe that night because it was the first familiar place that I had stayed in since the start of this trip. I knew which hotels were the cheap ones, I already knew where the good food was, and I knew my way around. It got me very excited because it kept reminding me of how close I was to home. I tried my luck on a slot machine and won enough to pay for my room for the night, dinner, and had just over ten bucks left over. What did I do with the extra money? I definitely bought a chocolate milk and went to the arcade! I just had an urge to get in touch with the child inside me. Haha.

I had a great time in Tahoe but I was definitely looking forward to the concluding days of my journey.

Delicate Arch and Trail

Utah

Mesa Verde National Park

Picture 1 is of some of the ladders you have to climb during the tour.