October 4th,
With the knowlegde of bike shops in both Arcata and Eureka, we got an early start riding out of Elk Prairie (even having a yummy breakfast at a small cafe in Orick). We decided to not circle back north out of the campground and headed south on the biking trails fully loaded and ended up not reaching the 101 for almost three miles. The trail was wonderful as it went through the redwoods and we found out our tires are pretty puncture proff as we rode over sharp rocks, sticks and branches. Just about to the 101 we came across a large herd of elk in a field; biggest we saw for the time we were there.
It was a bit of a hilly ride coming out of the park but with all the adjustments we had made I was able to use my aero bars a fair amount. We passed a couple of lagoons where on one side was the ocean and on the other was freshwater only separated by a thin bit of land. This was the first day in a while that I was able to shed some of my five layers of clothes I had been wearing. The weather was absolutely georgeous! Hardly a cloud in the sky! We stopped in Trinidad at The Lighthouse (small restaurant/cafe) and had their famous mashed potato waffle cone and homemade ice cream. Delicious.
Finally making it to Arcata by early afternoon we found the bike shop (Lifecycles) and set to figuring out how I could make it easier to go up hills. The cheaper option of changing the rear cassette was exhausted as the guy said I already had the lowest gears I could for my bike. Bit of a bummer but then he decided I could change my front crank and cassette to a smaller, mountain biking one and get a more significant change to the gearing. This sounded great to me so I shoveled out the $364 in order to make it happen. They guys there said I could also drop some of the weight I was carrying and that would help too. Compared to all the other cycle tourers we have met, we are travelling in quite the luxury with all our bags of food and tarps.
That night we stayed at the KOA kampground by Eureka where we enjoyed the wifi, showers and hot tub at $34 a night (of course split between 4 isn't so bad)
