Thursday, July 2, 2009

Vuelta Pacifica: Stage 7

Today was a rough day! We said our good-byes to the Redwoods and we were off to a lot of difficult hills! There was a lot of construction today and it made some of the roads a little sketchy, but we made it off the 101 for the rest of the trip. We stopped for lunch in Leggett at a combined elementary/junior/high school for some yummy hot dogs! They were delicious. I think the population of Legget doubled while we were there. After that, I pooped out and the rest of the crew went up the infamous Leggett's Hill, which is basically 10 miles of pure pain. When looking at the elevation profile of the ride on our map, Legget's hill looks like Mt. Everest. We had been worrying about it for days. We all mentally prepared at lunch...except for Chris. For all you bikers out there, here is a tip: do not eat more than 4 hot dogs before the most difficult ride of your life, or you may not keep your lunch! If you have any further questions, feel free to contact Chris.
Here are some pictures of the crew's triumphant arrivals at the top of Leggett's!

Chris was a little warm when he reached the top of the hill, so he decided to proceed without his jersey. Bibs are beautiful, aren't they? Following the long ascent, the riders were rewarded with a long, curvy down-hill. Because of the slower traffic they had to slow down and wait for the cars ahead of them. They were flying!
Since today was such a tough one, we planned on a few less miles than other days. We set up camp at Russian Gulch State Park and went for a FANTASTIC dinner at a restaurant! It was nice to not have to make anything! It was called the Pizza Factory, but isn't like ours. It was so good! I don't think that I have ever eaten that much pizza. Our resident vegan, Jesse (along with Chris), passed the time while our pizza was being made by playing a "Deer Hunter U.S.A." arcade game. Does anyone else find it ironic that he doesn't eat meat but has mad skills hunting Bambi in a video game? Appearently he was pretty good. If you ever stop by the Fort Bragg California Pizza Factory, look for his name in the high scores. We got off to bed early, which was wonderful. A hard day but a good one!

2 comments:

Addi said...

You don't like the Pizza Factory in Provo? Even the twisty breadsticks? Really?

Good job on Mt Everest.

Andy and Bri said...

Oh we love the breadtwists, but there's something about a 60+ mile ride that makes pizza taste that much better!