Day 6: Leaving Lake McSwain we immediately noticed a change in grade. Nothing too steep but definitely not the flat we’d had the last few days. We ran into our bike racer friend again, twice today, on his way out & back from another training ride. We stopped to chat both times. He was so nice. Swinging through Hornitos,CA we snuck water from someone’s hose & asked a local for the best route to our destination (Mariposa). Good thing we asked because the road Garmin wanted to take us on had been washed out (bridge & all) so we had to take a longer route through Catheys Valley,CA. We stopped there for lunch at Oasis (a 3-for-1 kind of place: post office, convenience store, restaurant). Food was tasty. We napped on a picnic table out back, picked up cherries from a roadside stand for dessert & hit the road. Here’s where everything changed. Now we were climbing a mountain. 7-8 miles of constant steep uphill (6-9% grade), narrow-to-no shoulder, a little scary with traffic. We definitely took our sweet time & lots of breaks. Ben was feeling a bit overwhelmed & that he was letting me down but I didn’t care how long it took or how slow we were. I was just happy to be doing it, knowing we could make it. Training for & running marathons definitely prepared me for this mentally. It’s like Dori & The Brave Little Toaster (?) said: just keep swimming & I think I can, I think I can. He just needed some encouragement that he wasn’t letting me down & if we just focused on the next break point we could slowly make our way up & up we went! After the 8 mile climb up we had 2 miles downhill to our resting point for the day. Holy guacamole, those 2 miles were bliss. No pedalling, a nice breeze & we covered that distance in no time! Wahoo! I did fall at the top of the hill before the descent (my mistake with clip pedals that left a baseball-sized bruise on my thigh where my bike pinned my leg to the road) but knowing all that was left was a sweet downhill made it not hurt so much (at least not until later). Luckily it was on the side of the road & no traffic was coming. After that challenging day we decided to splurge & get a cheap motel room at The Mother Lode. Nothing fancy but when you’re living on the road anything seems fancy. Shower, bed, fridge, pool – yes please! After dumping our gear we jumped in the pool. Chilly but refreshing. We cooked a rice dinner on our camp stove & hung laundry on the balcony. Ahhh, what a day. Ups & downs (literally & emotionally) but we made it. Just 1 day at a time, we can do this.
Reflections for that day:
1. Every state has red-necks. Who knew?
2. Big contrast between busy Bay area & small town, country, middle of nowhere. Happened so quickly.
Not two-tired today but Wi-Fi spot about to close so gotta go, until next time!
Whitney