July 10th, 2009

It's all about the bike! Supposedly on our way to Iverness.

We head into town and I drop Ev off at the Laundermat. I go to the bike shop. Yes it's there, but opens at 10AM. Mat shows up about 10:20 (Hey the Tour of France is on!) He quickly fixes the brake and works on our drive train. He adjusts and tightens and it seems fine. He is a really nice guy. I head out to get Ev and our clean laundry. About 2 miles out of town a click appears. After another mile we decide to head back. We see Mat driving away and we flag him down. Back up on the rack (this time with all of the gear!) It takes a while and I tell him what has been done to the bike. We conclude that a previous mechanic installed a spacer on the bottom bracket to help adjust the front derailiuer. This is most likely the cause of many of our problems. He does what he can and we are off. Please stop by his shop (Bodega Bay Cycles) if you need help or parts. The bike rides great at first but the scraping sound is back. We plan to get a new bottom bracket when we get home. We stop for lunch and have the best fried calamari. There is a mojor accident on the highway, but the CHP waves us through. Another late start but another B&B awaits us (hey it's our last night!)

We head inland for a long while. Mat tells us to take a different route to avoid some traffic. "Oh there's one steep hill." We walk this 10%-plus steep hill but the ride is otherwise nice. We ride for 10 miles along Tomales Bay knowing that our B&B is right across the bay. We get into Point Reyes Station and call the B&B. I want to know if there are resturaunts around, Ev wants to know if there are any more hills to climb. Yes on food, no hills.

Sea Lions lounging in the sun.

When we arrive somewhere we are usually the only ones arriving by bike. The first question is "where did you start?" When we say Eugene, OR there are two basic reactions. First is utter disbelief with a look that says we must be better than them. I know we are crazy and we do not expect everybody to do this! The other is what the couple we had dinner with says, "Hey that's really cool" Turns out that Steve bikes 12 miles to work and follows the Tour. We ate at a Hungarian place with Steve and his wife. Whip out the debt card to pay and the owner says we do not accept plastic, only checks or cash. We do not have enough cash. She tells us to send her a check when we get back!