christmas in july

Starting location: Calistoga Village Inn & Spa, Calistoga, CA
Ending location: Home. Davis, CA
End of day cumulative mileage: 992.2

With my legs well rested from the spa I packed up my belongings and started my last day of riding. From Calistoga there was a short ride down Silverado Trail road back to highway 128.

From there the climbing started. Lake Berryessa was about 15 miles away, it was uphill almost all the way there. There were a lot of areas where rock slides had covered the shoulder, and there were a lot of sharp rocks littered across the road surface.

It was here that I got my final flat tire of the trip. I’m lucky that I got it while going uphill. The downhill portion was seriously fast, I hit a maximum speed of 42.7 mph. If I had gotten a flat then, I probably would’ve broken my neck or something.

After the dam at Lake Berryessa, the riding was mostly downhill and flat all the way to Davis. When I finally got to the familiar bike path along Russel Blvd I started to feel like I was home.

When I got home I saw all the boxes that I had shipped home. Three from Portland and three from Fortuna. It was like Christmas in July. Well, I guess it would be a very sad sort of Christmas where all the presents to me were from me.

I checked the mileage on my bike computer. 992.2 miles. Just short of one thousand. I considered riding down to the south Davis loop to make it over one thousand, but I was lazy and decided to shower and take a nap instead. Let’s just round up and say I rode one thousand miles.

In the end I got home safely, about ten pounds lighter and about five shades darker. Well most of me is darker. Parts of me got burnt when I tried to even out my tan, and some parts are just as light as when I left. Luckily my normal shorts are longer than my cycling shorts, so no one will ever see this terrible tan line I have now.

It’s good to be home. It’s nice sleeping in my own bed and even having a roof over my head. It’s nice being able to shower whenever I want. It’s nice not having to wonder when my next meal is coming. If my two weeks on my bicycle living like a vagabond has taught me anything, it’s to appreciate the simple every day things that we often take for granted.