Tour04 Day 9 - Jenner to Olema, CA

A rookerie north of Bodega Bay

I only rode 43 miles today and only the first ten miles was along the coast. CA 1goes inland at Bodega Bay, curving around the huge Tamales Bay and not returning to the shoreline till after Olema. The Pacfic Coast Route leaves CA 1 at Olema because CA 1 south of there would be very dangerous to bicycle. I stopped at Olema and my friend who lives in Alameda picked me up there.

Crossing the Russian River just south of Jenner

Because I had what I thought was an easy day ahead of me, I worked in my B+B room in Jenner till almost 11:30 AM. I am glad my iBook G4 has a long battery life since the power went off in Jenner before 8 AM and had not come back on when I left. Breakfast was a little iffy without power, but the restaurant had gas stoves, griddles, and ovens, so it worked out OK. I was able to finish the long web page for day 8 and get it and the ride report uploaded before I left.

The beaches north of Bodega Bay and south of Jenner are gentler than those north of Jenner

Riding from Jenner to Bodega Bay meant the usual climbs and descents, but both the climbs and the beaches were much gentler than those just north of Jenner. It was a nice ride of about ten miles. As I rode up into Bodega Bay, I smelled fish cooking. The smell was coming from a 'fast fish' place on the ocean side of the road. It was after noon and I hadn't eaten for four hours, so I pulled into the fish place. I had good fish and chips and a nice conversation with a young woman seated at the next table. We talked about the difficulties of getting Hispanic kids to buy into Anglo culture. She teaches 8th grade English at a predominantly Hispanic middle school some 20 miles inland from Bodega Bay. It is a hard job, but she loves it. I expressed my admiration for her love of kids and her willingness to take on such a difficult assignment.

My tourist friends leaving Bodega Bay

I pulled away from the fish restaurant only to hear someone calling my name from a shopping area across the street. It was my friends from Portland and Canada (Ottawa, to be more precise) who were taking a break and eating fook they had just bought from a grocery store. Since I had only 33 miles to go, I joined them and we visited/rested till almost 2 PM. We headed out together, but they pulled away from me climbing a hill leaving Bodega Bay. I rode on, expecting to have an easy ride and to get to Olema by 4:30 or so.

There were several hard climbs north of Tamales

And lots of rollers south of Tamales

It took me almost three hours to ride those 33 miles and it was hard work for most of that distance. I reached Olema, pretty well wiped out, at 4:50. My friend missed an exit on the freeway, so he didn't arrive until 5:30. The intersection of CA and Francis Drake Blvd in Olema is nice place to wait for someone. It has pleasant surrounding and plenty of services inlcuding an Inn, a Deli, a Restaurant, and a Bar. It also has a pay phone which is very useful since there isn't any cell phone service in Olema.

I saw my tourist friends for the last time the next afternoon. They were cranking up the big hill south of Salsalito, heading for the Golden Gate. If they had kept to their original plan, they would have gone over that bridge several hours earlier. I suspect that they, like me, we surprised by the amount of climbing and stopped short the day before.

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