It was too cold to sit and eat breakfast in the forest, so after breaking down our tent, Dallas and I rode about 3.5 miles before we found a space where the sun penetrated through the trees.  We sat in the warm sun and shared an apple, banana, pear, and an energy bar.  We only had to ride another mile before coming to a coffee shop in the town of Myers Flat.  Three shots of espresso and two cookies later, we were back on the road.

This was one of those rare days where I was ahead of Dallas for most of the day.  I was able to keep a fairly good pace once I got going, but would stop and wait for Dallas every few miles.  The stopping and going was draining though, and overall we progressed at a slow pace.  We stopped again outside of Garberville to eat our tuna and crackers with some pistachios, a grapefruit and dark chocolate.  Even though we were on the road before 10am, we had only gone just over 20 miles by 2pm.  As the day went on, the terrain grew hillier, and the second half of our ride involved a LOT of climbing.  Dallas was feeling undernourished and sluggish, and I was feeling frustrated for having to stop and wait.

As we crested a hill just a mile or two before Leggett, I saw signs for food across the street.  I suggested we fuel up over there (The Peg Room) while deciding our next move.  The burgers we ordered there were incredible, and they had outdoor picnic tables where we could sit with our bikes.  It was starting to get dark, and we had completed just under 50 miles since morning.  A couple that showed up while we were eating told us they had biked the coast two years ago and that there is a pretty tough hill coming up to Leggett.  It didn’t look like there were any other campground options for another 27 miles, so we ultimately ended up camping across the street from the Peg Room.  Maybe we can get breakfast there too!