Wednesday June 6:  What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday was very depressing.  After just 35 miles I threw in the towel.  I couldn't handle it.  The gap between me and Pat grew larger and larger.  There was a headwind but the grades were moderate. I was even wobbling across lanes.  Fortunately there was almost no traffic. As Pat said later, "It was like riding in sand."  I flagged the van down and put my bike on the rack.  We drove to catch up with Pat and found him walking his bike. He was finished, too.
An early motel in the rustic town of Austin gave us  a chance to rest.  It was truly the first real rest since the beginning.
This morning began with a 3 mile, thousand foot climb.  We actually zipped up and raced down.  It was fun.  Pat and I stayed together on the long flat stretch and just had a good time laughing and telling stories.
At one point Pat stopped to make a minor repair.  I continued on, I felt so good I got down onto my aerobars and started to fly.  Poor Pat, it took him six miles to catch me.  I kept looking back knowing he was going to catch me but I wanted to make him pay.
Anyway, we rolled comfortably into Eureka with 70 miles and two big climbs behind us.  After lunch, we climbed out of Eureka into  a head wind.  On the down side of the climb we were buffeted by the warm air rising from the heated valley below. Try to imagine pedaling downhill.  On the other side of the valley the wind gave us a nice boost and we comfortably(well not exactly comfortably) finished the day with a 100 miles.

Day five:  What a Team!  Rod and Sal make this trip possible. Today was a scorcher.  Under most circumstances this  of 101 miles should have been easy.  The terrain was mostly flat.  We ripped off 75 miles by lunch.  After lunch, in Fsllon, Nevada
we proceded to ride another 25.  It was like riding in an oven.  We hadn't gone more than 5 miles before Pat had his second flat of the day.  He fixed it quickly, rode fifty yards and it blew out. It sounded like a gun shot.  Fortunately, Rod and Sal were there.  Pat put on his spare wheel and we were off for the final 20.  Rod and Sal stayed close monitoring our progress and giving us cold water.  It would have been an impossible ride without there support.

End of day four:
After a six day drive to San Francisco we picked up Pat and Rod smoothly.  Then everything went a wrong.  We tried to drive to the Presidio to start the ride.  Of course we got lost and drove all over  town.  When we arrived time was tight for Pat and me to unload the bikes and take some pictures. Rod and Pat had to be down at the Alcatraz ferry by 1:45.  When I took my tires out the rear was flat.  I put on one of Pat's spare wheels.  We took off to the picture site and my front tire popped off the rim.  Put on Pat's other spare.  Now organized we tried to find Rod for the photos. No Rod.  He went to a different picture sight.  We finally got together for the pictures.  Pat and I hopped on the bikes and did the 5 mile ride to the ferry.  Because of construction Rod and Sal got lost getting to the ferry.  With minutes to departure They showed up.  We quickly loaded the bikes and the guys went to Alcatraz(Sal and I have been).
Sal and I hung out near fisherman's wharf.  I went to the van and fixed both tires.  Pat and Rod met us at the van.  Rod got behind the wheel for the first time to head to our motel across the bay.  No problem except we got caught in a two hour traffic jam in the city.  It ended up a very long stressful day.
Day two involved a 107 mile ride from Vallejo to Folsum.  Easy ride until the final seven miles when my front tire started going flat.  We went thru three CO2 cartridges.  We saved one in case I had to change the tube.  Eventually we called Rod and Sal to come rescue us.
Day three had us leaving Folsum, hopefully to Carson Pass.  We made it half way.  Gruelling steep hills, high heat and no breeze caused us to abandon for the day.  We decided to drive over the pass and find a motel.  60+ miles later  we found one.
Today we drove back 60+ miles to where we stopped and continued the ride.  Oh yeah, we got up at three am to back track.
We had a 50 mile steep climb today.  We finally arrived at Carson Pass.  We roared down, Pat hit 45 mph.  I hit the breaks a little more frequently and topped out at 40mph.
We rolled into the same motel we had stayed the previous night.  Hope things start going a little more smoothly.
Don