Brad is originally from Boston, and as a teenager sold drugs, until he was caught. On the day he was released from the jail that he’d spent the last 10 years in, he had a couple of options. Do something that would land him back inside – like punching someone, or choose a different path away from the place he’d now become comfortable. He chose to literally walk away. He’s been walking for the last 13 years.
“After 10 years, I had 60 dollars and one piece of paper. They dropped me off, right downtown Boston. Thousands of people, I didn’t understand what, who. I was taken care of for 10 years. I didn’t know how to live. I was scared and nervous, because I didn’t know how to react around these people. So, I seen a crossing guard, across the street. And I said, well, if I go and hit this guy, I can go right back home. But inside, my emotions in side me said no, just give it some time.”
Here’s a short film made in collaboration with Brad. Hope you take something away from it and share it with anyone who may be interested.
Motivation for the riding part of the trip has been lacking for a couple of weeks now – probably a mix of lack-of-sleep, visa deadlines, hilly cycling, headwinds, and diet. A fortnight’s nothing in the grand scheme of the trip, and down periods were, and are, part of the trip appeal. The mental game is a challenge that can be retrospectively fun to contend with and adds to the overall story, but it’s easy to forget that sometimes. It seems like months ago (it was months ago) since triple-figure days in the saddle. At the time, those big days in places like Texas could actually be a little dull – most of the day was spent cycling, constantly moving – but right now I’d bloody love to just have a stretch of relatively flat road to just remember what a big day is like. No deal on the pacific coast!
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Day 156: Bodega Bay to Sereno Del Mar (6 miles)
The strongest wind so far, to the point of getting blown off the road into the ditch several times. Quite exhilarating for about an hour! Making such slow progress is just a bit demoralising after a while so I ended up calling it a really-early day and camping on the side of the coastal road, using a bush for wind shelter and chowing down on ramen.
Day 157: Sereno Del Mar to Gualala (45 miles)
Still gusty but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. Ultra-steep downhills (and up’s) through huge trees, and coastal landscapes. Initially went past Fort Ross, but then made a quick U-turn to get some water. Ended up running into Lindsey, and shooting a film piece. She’s an interpreter, which basically means she lives as the Russian settlers lived back in the early 1800’s (thanks Wikipedia), with the aim of teaching kids about history. Always fascinating talking to people about the choices they made that landed them in such seemingly unusual situations.
Back on the road, and despite the hills, which are good at halting any momentum you build up, it was the first time getting into the swing of things for absolutely ages. Pedalling is no longer a chore, time flies by and you end up being really focused. Seems like the last time that happened was sometime in the Southern states, so it was very much welcome.
Day 158: Gualala to Fort Bragg (59 miles)
Bit of a bizarre run in with an elderly chap who thinks the FBI are following him every where he goes, and have been doing so for the last 55 years. Wouldn’t they have said something after all these years? Wind pretty much non-existant for the first time in a few days. Such a simple thing makes all the difference. Cruising. Not much to say other than it was mainly a saddle day in typical stunning Northern California landscapes. A day where nothing went wrong, and some progress was made.
Day 159: Fort Bragg
One of those days that make you a year older. Did some work and got some nachos. Had a run in with a tough-looking tattoos-on-his-head dude, who demanded an answer to a question. “Have you seen the aliens?”.
Day 160: Fort Bragg to Leggett (44 miles)
A day battling with more lack-of-energy from the start. There’s an easy short-term body hack though and that is to sink a load of sugary soda to give you a quick high. The hope is once you get into a rhythm, you forget about lack of energy. Seems to work quite well sometimes. It was uphill most of the day, but led to the most incredible full-speed-ahead downhill which lasted for ages. Signs like this are complete mental-wins:
Ended up in Leggett. Hunted around for a while to find a place to bivvy on the down-low, but ended up going for the obvious. A patch of grass in the middle of town. At the moment there’s hardly any activity, most places are closed down (which is a shame because it’s an amazing area), so there didn’t seem to be much of a need to be discreet.
Day 161: Leggett to Garberville (23 miles)
Leggett is the home to the ‘World Famous Drive Thru Tree’. You can’t learn about a tree that you can drive through and not check it out. Hilarious to see a van that was clearly never going to get through, attempt the challenge. A few high revs and some reversing later, it was free. Other than the tree, the rest of the day was a bit of unmotivated and unenergised cycling-through-awesome-landscapes, break, repeat, break, repeat. Ended up in Garberville, which wouldn’t look out of place in the Swiss Alps.
Day 162: Garberville to Fortuna (51 miles)
This stretch involved cycling through the ‘Avenue of the Giants’ which was just insane. It’s an appropriate name – basically it’s a 31 mile highway through Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It’s epic. The biggest trees imaginable, and the just as impressive Eel River which is a swimmers dream river. It was one of those moments where any struggles with words like ‘progress’ and ‘mileage’ and ‘schedule’ just aren’t an issue at all. You’re in the most epic place imaginable and could happily stay for ages.
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Day 163: Fortuna to Eureka (after this blog goes live)
Fortuna’s within cruising distance of Eureka, which is where some decisions will be made to do with the next couple of weeks. After an un-expectedly long time in California (which I wouldn’t change at all – it’s been awesome) unfortunately there’s no way that by cycling I’ll get into Canada within the visa deadline. So there’ll be some non-cycle transport that comes into play to win back some time. But hey, the project name indicates the looseness of the route!
One of the most fun and rewarding things about this project is just the range of people who are stoked to tell their story and the lessons they’ve picked up along the way. People from all walks of life. This time it’s the turn of Martha Higareda, an actress from Tabasco, Mexico – who tells a story about how persistence can pay off in unusual ways.
“That burning desire is what you need to keep having. If that’s your passion, and you’re sure about it, keep doing it. You can be working at something else. Fine. That’ll give you your food, and pay the bills. But if you are passionate, just keep doing it.”
The last fortnight has been a section of the journey where a lot of things have been happening off the bike. It’s been great and it’s been hectic in all the right ways. Hence the delay in posting! There’s also been loads of time spent filming with a whole bunch of different people, and many of those are being shaped to put online. Oh, and a bit of cycling too!
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Day 142: Monterey to Capitola (45 miles)
At this point, the bike isn’t in a great way. It’s basically restricted to the smallest ring at the front, which means all pedalling is slow, and there’s still a spoke missing since Big Sur. Ignoring this it was a simple ride really. Nothing too strenuous or any hills of note – such a relief since Big Sur. Pulled in to Capitola, where some friends from the UK, Karen and Jonathan, are now living. They very kindly offered their outhouse as accommodation and an amazing home-cooked meal. It was awesome to hear some homely accents after so much time on the road and the meal goes right to the top of the list. Thanks!
Day 143 – 144: Capitola to Santa Cruz (3 miles)
It was only a very quick ride to get to the next stop. A good pal Shannon lives in Santa Cruz, right by ’38th’ – one of the surfing hotspots. Her apartment is literally a stones throw away (if you have a really long throw) and her other half Ryan is big into his wave riding – so it was a couple of days of yet more amazing home-cooked food, hanging out, getting worked by some Pacific swell and catching up after a couple of years. Time flies when you play guitar!
Day 145 – 146: San Francisco
Had some filming to do and meetings to go to over in San Francisco, and coincidentally Karen was driving her daughter and friend to San Francisco Zoo, so kindly offered a lift. Back in a car again – whoah what is this? We’re going more than 10mph! SF was ace. Always enjoyable being immersed in city life after time away – there’s nothing quite like getting lost on the public transport and slowly plodding up the crazily steep streets.
Day 147: Santa Cruz
See 144 except add the part about getting the 3am bus to Santa Cruz from San Francisco – wondering round San Francisco at 2am on a Saturday is a bit intimidating. There’s definitely a lot of interesting characters out and about!
Santa Cruz surfing is really fun. Below is a group shot courtesy of Shannon. From L-R: Ryan ‘The Shredder’, a Brit who’s crap at surfing, and Nick ‘The Barrel’. They don’t actually have those nicknames but probably should.
Day 148: Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay (53 miles)
Windy. Super windy but keen to get a move on so music on and keep pedalling. There was a woman in the distance who had parked in a lay-by. She got out and was waving from the distance. It had all the signs of a breakdown (car, not mental). But no, it was a local called Amelia who was a touring cyclist and had just driven past. She had a lot of great stories about her various trips – and was in the process of planning a new trip. Super fun chatting with people who have been on rad bicycle-powered adventures. Back to the ride and a good few miles ticked off. But of course things never go that smoothly for very long. Ping. Another snapped spoke. Good-o.
Day 149: Half Moon Bay to San Francisco (27 miles)
Took the bike to get fixed at a shop in HMB, and got a few spare spokes (the ones in the toolkit were the wrong size after the breakage in Alabama), so now wheel problems shouldn’t be as much of an issue. Hilly but problem-free ride into the city. There was a huge climb, which sucked, but the reward was a crazy-fast drop into the city at sunset. Not a bad way to end the day.
Day 150 – 152: SF / Silicon Valley
Another section of time concentrating on other stuff. Had a great time once again though and getting deeper than the tourist layer in San Francisco and surrounding areas totally brings out the best in the Bay. Checked in with the folks from Magellan to catch up, and then went to Redwood City, home of the ever-rad Evernote (new catchphrase?) to do some filming, nosey around HQ, and deliver a keynote.
Day 153: San Francisco – Stinson Beach (30 miles)
Nothing but good memories from SF. Back on the road and with one goal in mind – make up some ground. I’m on a bit of a deadline now when it comes to crossing into Canada, so basically most days now need to be movement days. And the bike is working again so there’s no longer a single gear restriction – get in. What a day. Awesome is the most overused word on this blog – but it was awesome. Cycling through downtown San Francisco involved the standard bus and car dodging which is always exhilarating. Leaving the city was topped off by crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. Holy smokes that’s one of the highlights of the riding so far. Absolutely epic. And then the scenery gets just ridiculous. It’s absolutely amazing. Dense green forest and jaw-dropping coastline. Unfortunately it gets really hilly too, but it’s all worth it really. Ended up stealth camping at Stinson Beach.
Day 154: Stinson Beach to Nr Tomales (32 miles)
Today may, or may not, have begun with a friendly conversation with a ranger. Ultra early start it is, then. But sometimes things fall into place and this was one of those mornings. I met Brad, who may or may not have had a similar friendly conversation with said ranger. Brad is from Boston, and wound up being arrested as a teenager. He got 2 years, and then for various reasons his sentence was increased to 10 years. He decided to change his life upon release, and started walking. He’s been walking for 13 years, all across the country. We spent the morning working on a short film which will be on the blog at some point. He has an incredible story, one of the most unique I’ve ever heard, and it was a really great experience working with someone who was so open about a potentially sensitive topic. More on this soon.
So back to the ride. It was the first day of the trip so far, that the wind has been so strong it’s affected riding. To the point of leaning into the wind to keep balance. But of course there’s a downside to that. When the wind stops you swerve into the road. It was super sketchy on a couple of occasions so I called it a day – only to hear from a local that “this is the windiest it’s been for years!”. Stealth camped by a water tank in an attempt to reduce getting pounded by the wind. Didn’t work. As seen in the video below.
Day 155: Nr Tamales to Bodega Bay (17 miles)
Urghh. The wind didn’t stop. Another horrendously slow day. Also very aware that it’s been ages since an update, and the landscape from here becomes very sparse. So it was a morning of wind-avoidance and then working up to embracing the wind for a couple of hours. Found a spot with wifi at Bodega Bay – that’ll do. Apparently the gusty nature is due to get weaker in the coming days – fingers crossed. Here’s a video showing the gusts:
“The truth is that none of us have really done this before. And when you accept that, and just do your best, or try your hardest and learn as much as you can, I feel like when you rise to those challenges, it’s very satisfying because you’re constantly at the edge of your competence…”
Quick post from San Francisco; a new Vague Direction People video. Chatting with Matt Mullenweg.
Matt’s the co-founder of WordPress (more here), which is the online publishing platform that powers a huge amount of sites online, but rather than get into anything technical, we discussed the choices he’s made, work life balance, risk taking, and pursuing something you truly believe in.
“I think it’s important to keep things in perspective on the positive and the negative. It’s not the end of the world. Really what perspective is, when you think about the word itself, it is taking a step back.”
Hills. Up and down, up and down. Short and steep, long and still steep. Been following Highway 1 for a while, through places like Big Sur. Brutal on the legs and spectacular on the eyes.
Day 136: Santa Maria to Morro Bay (46 miles)
Nice ride on backroads adjacent to the highway, and through a bunch of vineyards. Not much to report on the actual ride, but going through San Luis Obispo (or SLO as the ‘regs call it) was pretty ace. It’s a college town, and was like a small version of Austin, TX. Super laid-back and colourful. Left SLO after a few hours and did a bit of sunset riding to get to Morro Bay. Let the mini-epic commence.
Did a bit of searching for a spot to camp, and wasn’t too successful, but ended up at Tidelands Park. It’s, well, a park. It was practically deserted, and getting late, so I settled for the tried and tested age-old concept of; put up tent late, leave early. It wasn’t a particularly discreet spot but was better than some of the really obvious ones.
So up goes the tent, on this really green, well-kept grass (the reason it’s so nice becomes quite obvious shortly). The park was next to the harbour, and there were benches at the waterside which were accompanied by BBQ stations, a perfect place for a stove. Pasta. That’s what was on the menu. With a tin of tuna in it – Nigella look out. There’s a seal playing in the harbour. It’s pretty idyllic at this point.
PSSSSST. That’s the sound of the sprinkler spraying me in the face, soaking everything in sight and drenching the food with cold water. No wonder the grass is so green. I’d rocked up into this nice park and there were sprinklers on a timer. They were set all over the park, dug into the ground in the most camouflaged way. So yeah, cold water pasta. And of course getting back to the tent there was a sprinkler blasting that too.
Day 137: Morro Bay to near Ragged Point (42 miles)
This section of coastline is amazing. It’s very easy to stop, sit down and look out at the ocean, and then find that an hour’s passed. The majority of the ride went well, hills and all. There was an Elephant Seal viewing area which was really incredible. Hundreds of them.
Rocked up late, and camped in a remote field just south of Ragged Point. Those seals are a right time-consumer.
Day 138: Nr Ragged Point to Big Sur (50 miles)
Pitching up in total darkness sometimes works out for the best, and it did today thankfully, although it would be hard not to on this section of coastline.
The problem with there not being anything else in the surrounding area is customer-service often goes out of the window and the local monopoly means things like food are priced at Hunger Games prices. Ragged Point is this beautiful spot, just 2 miles or so north of the makeshift camp, but unfortunately was marred by rude staff. Shame.
Thankfully my memory of Ragged Point won’t dwell on that, and instead on inspiration. Bob and Joe. A pizza shop owner and a campsite owner, and pals from Maine who were cycling from Oregon to San Diego. Bob had prostate cancer a couple of years ago which put him out of action for a while, and only a few months ago came off radiation therapy, and now he’s cycling 60+ miles per day. Props! And Joe recently had a double hip replacement and is shredding the tour (regrettably there’s no photo).
The riding was hard. Perhaps the most challenging of the trip so far (but it all kind of blurs so is hard to tell). So steep. But the rewards are so fun. 10 minutes of slow-going leads to about 45 seconds of pure adrenalin-filled joy. Made it to Big Sur Lodge at 9pm, legs a bit sore, and looked for a place to camp which was a tough hassle. Woke up to this though – suddenly the hassle was worth it.
Day 139: Big Sur to Monterey (31 miles)
Spent the morning looking at frickin’ massive trees. Nothing more to it than that.
More crazy hills and awesome locations. Snapped a spoke unfortunately so spent a good while tuning a one-less-spoke wheel. Also the front derailleur has decided to stop working, so it was a day of cycling in the smallest front ring (i.e. slow), and trying to ignore the worry about whether the wheel would fold.
Since then it’s been a couple of days in Monterey catching up on some work.
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San Francisco and the Bay Area’s coming up, which is super exciting and should be really fun, and then it starts to get really adventurous. But before that, anyone got any advice on not destroying wheels? And does anyone know / recommend a bike shop in Santa Cruz / San Francisco / The Bay Area? The bike’s not in the best of shape right now. If you do, holla’ in the comments below. Thanks for any help, enjoy your chocolate, and don’t be too sad about YouTube!
