Day 1 of my 300-mile challenge

 This morning I woke up motivated and got a fairly early start to my day by riding.  It was cool and gray out when I started the ride.

I took one of the regular paths that I have been doing for training for this event.  When I approached School Road from the Hammond Trail, I made the decision to start this challenge with a bang.  I ended up riding down the hill crossing the Mad River bridge into the Arcata Bottoms.  While I cycling through the bottoms I came across some bovine friends in their field.

After leaving the Arcata Bottoms, I decided to ride into town to Cal Poly Humboldt.  I rode up the hill to one of my favorite spots that I used to think at when I was a student there.  Unfortunately, the trees have grown up so much you can no longer see the Arcata Bay from this vantage point.

After visiting my old favorite spot, I rode to Redwood Park.  I was glad that I have an e-bike, because I don’t remember the ride being that steep.

Redwood Park is beautiful, especially on a quiet Saturday morning.

I rode all the way up to the center of Redwood Park.

I cycled through the center of Redwood Park and then left through the Bayview Street Entrance.

I decided I was going to go as far as Samoa Blvd, so I went down Union Street.  Unfortunately, when going down Union Street, I my rear hydraulic disc brakes went soft while descending down the hill.  Honestly, I can affirm that I was a little nervous as I had to rely on the front brakes to carry me down to the stop sign at MLK Jr. Parkway.  Fortunately, the rear hydraulic brakes returned when I stopped at the stop sign at MLK Jr.

After getting on Samoa, I decided it was time to return home.  I noticed that the e-bike was getting kind of low on battery and I was also running out of steam.  I rode out to the Arcata Bottoms, crossed the Mad River bridge and up the steep hill on Fischer Ave back into McKinleyville.

In total, I rode 25.75 miles on my first day of the challenge and broke my longest cycling record.  Afterwards, I celebrated with a Backwoods Burrito.  My intention is to try and break this record on the last day of the challenge!

Tomorrow will be a shorter ride.

Until then,

John