The PBJ Epihpany - Day 35 - 44 miles

I was woken by a frisbee hitting my tent. Unfortunately we'd been sharing the campground with a large group of kids on some kind of school excursion. They'd messed up the toilets and showers like animals the previous night and were now having a game of frisbee between our tents at 7.30am. The mind boggles at what kind of adult supervisor would allow the kids out with frisbees at that time in the morning. I heard Kate get out of her tent and give the kids a good telling off. Where's a hungry bear when you need one?

Having had to put up with the children I left the campsite feeling in no way guilty about not paying the $3 fee. We stopped for our second breakfast in the town of Fort Bragg. It was an unusually pleasant town with only a handful of weirdos. After breakfast we stocked up on supplies at the Safeway. It was quite exciting to shop in a supermarket after so many days of poorly-stocked remote grocery stores.

It was only another hour of riding before it was time to stop for lunch. Kate and I stopped at a small beach and sat on a driftwood tree to eat. Almost every day so far I've struggled to find something satisfying and vegetarian for lunch. Today, having seen everybody else making peanut butter and jam sandwiches (PBJs for short) all the time I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I'd bought a loaf of bread and the PB and J earlier at Safeway. I couldn't believe I was just discovering the goodness of PBJs. They were delicious and great cycling fuel. This will be my lunch of choice from now on. As we were leaving we got chatting to quite a few curious locals. A couple of mountain bikers thought our trips sounded 'rad'. Another guy, similarly impressed gave us each an apple to help us along the way.

The next 20 miles were winding and hilly as the road hugged the headlands. This was excellent riding, exactly what I'd signed up for. The edge of the road disappeared directly into the sea without any barrier much of the time. Take your eyes off the road for a minute here and you would fall several hundred feet into the sea.

In places the sea in the shallows was an incredible clear emerald colour. Quite inviting for a swim but almost certainly ice-cold.

We came to a winding hill, far steeper than anything I've so far encountered. As the hill switched back there were times I wasn't sure if it was even cycleable. I made it to the top and felt quite proud of myself.

The ride flattened out and turned to large swathes of dry farmland. On my right the land disappeared to the ocean and to the left the mountains. Vultures circled overhead, perhaps picking off cyclists who didn't make it to the top of the last hill.

The day ended at Manchester Beach State Park. A very basic campground with pit toilets and no showers. I usually insist on a shower at the end of the day but I've been gaining a bit of a reputation among my fellow cyclists as a bit of a princess so I was keen to demonstrate how tough I can be. Beth gave me some talcum powder to put down my shorts. Apparently this was supposed to be an acceptable substitute for a shower. I wasn't sure about the talcum powder but I figured if I was to prove to everyone that I'm a tough mountain man then I'd give it a try. It wasn't too bad in the end not having a shower or proper toilets. I guess in Mexico I may need to get a little more used to roughing it. I'm not even sure they have talcum powder down there.