Day 6 – The Test of Risk

I woke with the smug satisfaction of having just crossed off a top-ten bucket list item- a birthday in Garberville. All of yesterday seemed like a dream as I shook off sleep inertia and looked toward present challenges. Some coffeeshop wares combined with continental breakfast goods fueled the crew as we packed up on our second consecutive move day. We got a group photo in front of an Avenue of the Giants mural map that had Brookings, OR and Fort Bragg, CA labeled on each end. We made sure to proudly display our Diestco shirts and handlebar bags, and I’d like to extend a special thanks to Dan for all of his support of this endeavor. We got to have dinner and beers with Dan in the evening, but first things first.

Dr. B, Jimmy and I started the day’s stretch on a fairly quiet road called Redwood Drive that links Redway to Garberville. Celina joined us in Garberville, at which point we jumped onto 101. Maureen was too swamped with school work to join us. I hope that she can aptly recover from falling behind in the name of Ian’s Ride.

The first stretch on 101 was short (about 2.5 miles) and relatively easy: there were wide shoulders and no tight corners. We quickly assumed our positions, with Jimmy in the lead on debris patrol, Celina right behind me, and Dr. B taking up the rear.

We got off the highway at Benbow and onto a quiet road that led us through a couple of sweet little redwood groves, leading us to designate it the Alley of the Giants. We had ample space and very few cars passed us. The most challenging parts of this road were the dirt and rock stretch of the road and my girlfriend’s suicidal tendencies on the large bridge toward the end. Regarding the former, my Invacare chair took an absolute beating on a short but brutal stretch of road with large ruts and rocks. The chair took it like a champ and kept cruising. Now, I don’t want to jinx anything, but we brought spare parts for the chair that we haven’t had to dip into yet, despite this being the most technically challenging trip I’ve taken so far. If there was a time for wheelchair mayhem, this section ought to have been it. But we just cruised right on. Regarding the bridge, Celina insisted on sitting with her legs and feet hanging over the hella high bridge that crossed the Eel River. It was a cool bridge, but the thought of Celina falling helplessly to the rocks and water far below made me nervous. I could just see all of the eels in the river feasting upon her remains. That was a risk she was willing to take on what, as you’ll see, was a hella risky day. Before the day’s riskiest moments, however, we enjoyed a light hearted moment at the end of the Alley of the Giants when our antics made my mom pee her pants with laughter. She had to dry her pants in the van for a little while.

Then it was back onto 101 for what was a rather awful stretch. The shoulders were nonexistent, the corners were tight and the traffic was heavy. Vehicles of all sorts, including semis and RVs, were screaming by, their drivers still in full on highway mode despite the change in road conditions. My mom went from sheer laughter to sheer terror. The driver of a semi loaded with dimensional lumber angrily blared his horn at us for a long time in the midst of relentless traffic. For the first time ever, over the cumulative course of thousands of miles of riding, I wasn’t comfortable with the risks to myself and to my crew. I felt that this went beyond pushing the envelope in the name of promoting accessibility to just being too dangerous. This went from pushing the limits to being downright treacherous. There was the unpredictability of people’s reactions to our caravan, and there was absolutely no room for error on my part. This is a high order for someone controlling a 400 pound power chair by sipping and puffing on a straw. I felt that I was toeing the line on safe riding.

After that hellish stretch, we got off on 271, which had mixed surfaces but almost no traffic at all. That was an utter relief. There were some cute little redwoods, so we decided that this was the Avenue of the Dwarfs. Toward the end of this road, just before we had to get back onto 101, my mom showed up with lunch. We ate, then had a team meeting about impending safety risks as we knew that we had a really lousy section coming up. Crew Chief Dr. B told me that he’d let me know if he didn’t feel safe, but that he’d otherwise let me make the call. Jimmy and Celina were right there with him. I knew that they’d do it if I did. They were committed, and I felt the weight of that bearing down on me. I concluded that we’d proceed, and play it by ear.

Just then Jimmy got another damn flat tire, after two full days of no incidents. Just the confidence builder that we all needed right then. He fixed it quickly enough and we proceeded. We didn’t go far before things got very hairy with the now all too familiar safety hazards compounding to scream danger in my mind. I had to make a call. I was racked with indecisiveness. On the one hand, the constant microadjusting in the face of abhorrent conditions was wearing on me and I feared for us all, but on the other hand I have never bailed on a section of any Ian’s Ride event, and that includes two traverses of the state of Washington. I decided that these people who I love aren’t expendable.

The safety factor exceeded all else, and I made the call to skip an 8 mile section. It was an emotional moment for me. I had to listen to my gut. As the Man in Black said, “I keep a close watch on this heart of mine, I keep my eyes wide open all the time, I keep the ends out for the tie that binds because you’re mine, I walk the line.” Only in my case, I roll the line. I could tell that I had the backing of everybody in the crew.

We loaded up into the Quadessy and bypassed the dangerous section. This brought us to the junction of Highways 1 and 101, at which point we visited a drive through tree (the Chandelier Tree) that provided some fine photo ops.

From there Dr. B, Jimmy and I rode up Leggett Hill on Highway 1, which took us west toward the coast. It was a steady uphill for a few miles, but the shaded roadway was cool, and though there were hardly any shoulders, there was very little traffic and people weren’t going fast. This was an enjoyable section. Dr. B carried a watermelon that we ate at the top of the hill. We dropped 4 miles down the west side of the hill, and concluded the ride portion of the day there.

This is by far the most technically difficult ride I’ve undertaken. I do not recommend that people do those sections of 101 in a wheelchair at all.

When we got to our hotel in Fort Bragg, Jimmy’s wife Leah and their two daughters, Anna Wren and Linnea, greeted us. It was great to see them. After some clean up and decompression, we met up with Dan of Diestco and his buddy Pete at North Coast Brewing Company for some much needed outdoor and socially distant refreshments and food. I had my first flight in a long while, and enjoyed some barrel aged Old Rasputin as well.

Tomorrow brings another round of challenges, but hopefully the worse is behind us, and hopefully we can safely navigate all the coastal bends to conclude this journey.