Avenue of the Giants
Day 3 of trip, last Tuesday
Day three along Avenue of the Giants was described as the "signature" ride of the 6-day trip. This section of Highway 254, stretching for nearly 30 miles from just north of Garberville to just south of Scotia, winds along the south fork of the Eel River, through various small towns and amongst giant coast redwoods towering hundreds of feet tall.
The day started with us all meeting downstairs at the Benbow Inn for a group breakfast. I had half of a delicious stack of pancakes. Erin ate the other half, and I had half of her smoked salmon plate.
We rode straight from the Benbow Inn onto Highway 101 up to Garberville, which was just the next exit. We exited there and took a little detour out to Redway, before continuing on 101 for a few more miles up to Avenue of the Giants. We were warned about a hill climbing out of Benbow. Again, this small climb paled in comparison to what awaited us later in the week. Everybody rode the hill. Everybody rode all the hills, in fact. After all, that's what we were there to do.
Erin had visited the area about a year ago on a road trip with her mom. She told me that when driving the route, she looked with envy upon every cyclist she passed. The area was rife with little stores filled with tchotskes and fronted by carved wooden bears. You could pay a dollar to drive (or bike) through a live tree. A couple of people in our group did that.
We all took our time to enjoy the ride (except for Roger, who ended up doing 130 miles that day). It being the middle of the week, and after Labor Day, the road had very little traffic. Lunch was a picnic by the visitor center.
Erin and I left lunch ahead of the rest of the group, who tarried at the visitor center. We rode to and stopped at Founders Grove, a few miles down the road where we were told to visit the Dyerville Giant, a massive fallen redwood. Not wanting to leave our bikes unattended, we rode out the hiking trail. And we discovered that riding a bike through a redwood forest is very very fun. It is also against park rules...
After the hike there was a bit of a headwind, and a few rolling climbs along the Eel River. A little bit of road construction was a minor annoyance for us, but some of the other riders complained of the dust (that we were ahead of). Near the end as the headwind became tiresome, Bruce and Ann passed us, and I jumped on their draft for a few miles. They were going very fast, though, and in the end Erin and I didn't really benefit from it. We dropped off, and arrived at the van just a few minutes behind them.
We all skipped the few miles on 101 into Scotia, opting instead to ride in the van. Roger was waiting for us by the museum in Scotia, as were the photographers from Conde Nast Traveller, who took a few shots of the group.
We stayed at the Carter House Inn in Eureka's historic Old Town district that night. Carter House serves free wine to its guests in the lobby from 5 to 6pm every evening. Erin said she liked the red wine there, which Gus told us was Vieille Ferme, available from Trader Joe's.
Dinner was at Avalon, a fancy restaurant walking distance from the hotel. Avalon was actually closed that week, but we somehow got special treatment in the banquet room.
Day three along Avenue of the Giants was described as the "signature" ride of the 6-day trip. This section of Highway 254, stretching for nearly 30 miles from just north of Garberville to just south of Scotia, winds along the south fork of the Eel River, through various small towns and amongst giant coast redwoods towering hundreds of feet tall.
The day started with us all meeting downstairs at the Benbow Inn for a group breakfast. I had half of a delicious stack of pancakes. Erin ate the other half, and I had half of her smoked salmon plate.
We rode straight from the Benbow Inn onto Highway 101 up to Garberville, which was just the next exit. We exited there and took a little detour out to Redway, before continuing on 101 for a few more miles up to Avenue of the Giants. We were warned about a hill climbing out of Benbow. Again, this small climb paled in comparison to what awaited us later in the week. Everybody rode the hill. Everybody rode all the hills, in fact. After all, that's what we were there to do.
Erin had visited the area about a year ago on a road trip with her mom. She told me that when driving the route, she looked with envy upon every cyclist she passed. The area was rife with little stores filled with tchotskes and fronted by carved wooden bears. You could pay a dollar to drive (or bike) through a live tree. A couple of people in our group did that.
We all took our time to enjoy the ride (except for Roger, who ended up doing 130 miles that day). It being the middle of the week, and after Labor Day, the road had very little traffic. Lunch was a picnic by the visitor center.
Erin and I left lunch ahead of the rest of the group, who tarried at the visitor center. We rode to and stopped at Founders Grove, a few miles down the road where we were told to visit the Dyerville Giant, a massive fallen redwood. Not wanting to leave our bikes unattended, we rode out the hiking trail. And we discovered that riding a bike through a redwood forest is very very fun. It is also against park rules...
After the hike there was a bit of a headwind, and a few rolling climbs along the Eel River. A little bit of road construction was a minor annoyance for us, but some of the other riders complained of the dust (that we were ahead of). Near the end as the headwind became tiresome, Bruce and Ann passed us, and I jumped on their draft for a few miles. They were going very fast, though, and in the end Erin and I didn't really benefit from it. We dropped off, and arrived at the van just a few minutes behind them.
We all skipped the few miles on 101 into Scotia, opting instead to ride in the van. Roger was waiting for us by the museum in Scotia, as were the photographers from Conde Nast Traveller, who took a few shots of the group.
We stayed at the Carter House Inn in Eureka's historic Old Town district that night. Carter House serves free wine to its guests in the lobby from 5 to 6pm every evening. Erin said she liked the red wine there, which Gus told us was Vieille Ferme, available from Trader Joe's.
Dinner was at Avalon, a fancy restaurant walking distance from the hotel. Avalon was actually closed that week, but we somehow got special treatment in the banquet room.
posted by juarezj at 9:51 AM
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