MONDAY 9 MAY 2016
MENDOCINO TO STANDISH-HICKEY STATE PARK
0845 - 1920
88.05 km (54.71 miles)
Av. Speed: 13.3 km/h (8.3 mph)
Max. Speed: 54.5 km/h (33.9 mph)
Time On Bike: 6h 35m 05s
Leggett Hill is the highest pass on the Pacific West Coast between Mexico and Canada.
At 1950 feet (approx. 600 meters) it probably doesn't rate amongst the highest million passes in the world.
But it is big enough to get cyclists up and down the coast trembling with fear at the prospect and it was plenty high enough for me to drag my monster rig over today.
I knew pretty much from the moment I woke up today that I was going to take it on.
Whatever my original plans had been, I decided to knock it on the head even though it was likely to be a fairly enormous day.
Hence the early start.
Although the rest stop in Mendocino had done me some good, I wasn't the least bit sorry to be leaving the Russian Gulch camp site.
It was dark, dank and moist and I knew from the moment I descended into it on Saturday afternoon, it was not going to benefit my lingering flu symptoms one little bit.
There was also the small issue of having to push back up out of it this morning, so beyond the hot shower I enjoyed shortly after arrival, it was so long & farewell.....
Mendocino itself is a nice little town.
At 3 blocks by 3 blocks, it's not a big place but between the free wi-fi at Moody's cafe and the hearty dinners and good beer served up at Patterson's Pub across the road, I found more than enough to occupy myself with on my rest day.
Sunday afternoon's weather improved to the point that the heavy dwall of cloud and drizzle that had hung over the coast for at least the past 48 hours cleared within a few hours so by departure this morning, I was once again blessed with clear and calm conditions.
It seems I'm beginning to make a habit of this.
Fort Bragg came along in just over 40 minutes so I made a mandatory stop for some laundry.
As Mendocino had no laundry, there was no intention of taking on Leggett Hill later in the day dragging a full bag of heavy and wet clothes with me.
So Lucy's Laundry filled in an hour or so and I still had enough time to stock up on groceries and grab a bite to eat.
By midday, it was time to start moving as the spectre of Leggett Hill loomed.
Immediately north of Fort Bragg, the riding was fabulous, with the highway meandering through picture-perfect farmlands and rolling across some of California's finest coastal scenery.
A better spring day could not have been prescribed either as the northern Californian coast beckoned me along its shorelines.
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COASTAL SCENERY JUST NORTH OF WESTPORT |
The absence of heavy traffic also was a bliss I probably couldn't have imagined even a week ago - the areas north of San Francisco so far have proved like another planetary sphere - it would seem therefore that big scale Californian tourism barely manages to cross the Golden Gate Bridge before petering out to the low-flow locals who frequent this strip and mostly only on the weekends.
It just makes it all the more enjoyable, basically having the road to yourself for better parts of the day and then pulling into near-deserted campgrounds at night.
Sure, I don't mind a bit of company now and then but it's also good to have a run of the place.
Not long after Westport, the Shoreline Highway suddenly banks away from the coast and disappears inland, beginning to climb almost immediately.
The road doesn't necessarily rise sharply, but you surely know you're on the up.
These hills are populated with millions of acres of Coastal Redwood forest - a very good reason as to why this section of California is famously known as the "Redwood Coast" - and the shade these forest provide for cyclists is welcome for the most part.
An initial climb of around 500 ft (150 meters) is then backed up by the slow approaches to Leggett Hill itself, which started its ascent on my trip meter at 65 km.
12 kilometers (7½ miles) and about 3½ hours later, I was nearing the top.
In spite of varying commentaries and appraisals of Leggett Hill I've heard before and since, I won't be rushing back to do it again anytime soon, however I will say this.
In respect to the ongoing argument in this part of the world as to whether it is better to travel the PCH south to north or vice versa, there is no way known I would argue that Leggett Hill is somehow more easily dealt with from the north.
Having now ridden the ascent from the south and taken the descent to the north, I know which way I would rather have had it.
So unless conditions suddenly turn against me over the next few weeks, I am very close to resting my case.
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