Ride Day 68

Bay Area to Bodega Bay today 62 miles 4200' of climbing with a head wind.  Arduous day to ride but beautiful.  The sun was out and the breeze kept me cool but did slow me down and make it more work.  The first fifty miles went well even though it was way more rolling hlls than I had expected today.  I am 210 pounds to restart my ride and I guess a bit out of shape despite traing hard in Bakersfield for the last few months. 

I had allergy problems for the first time today.  I was sneezing and had thick mucus coming up all day which seems to have made me more tired since I couldn't breathe right.  It hit 80 and I covered myself a few times with sunscreen and pedaled on.  I was enjoying being back on the road.  I missed the sense of adventure.  I toyed with the idea of riding out to the Point Reyes lighthouse just for a side trip but quickly changed my mind and turned around to get back on route for Bodega Bay.  The lighthouse would have added 35 miles to the daily total putting me closer to 100.  Glad I turned around too.  When I was only 10 miles from Bodega I started to seriously cramp up.  I had to stop often and rest and a couple of times walk off cramps.  I would have stopped for the day right there but I was meeting Karen in Bodega Bay so I had to push on because there was no way to contact her and she would have worried about me.  It took me a couple hours to crawl the last 9 miles.  I made it to Bodega Bay and then had a hard time finding Karen.  We are so used to having cell phones that when they do not work we screw up.  It worked out but I had to sit on the side of the road for an hour just hoping that she would drive by and luckily she did.  I couldn't pedal another foot at that point.  We went down to the campsite and I was seriously in bad shape.  I considered going for medical care but I hate doctors so much that I just crawled into the tent in the hopes that I would recover by morning.  All night long the cramps bothered me.  By morning they had subsided but I felt like I was beat up.  So today I am not riding but instead Karen and I are enjoying Bodega Bay.  If I don't feel better by tomorrow I may have to cancel this trip for now and go back to the bay and try to get healthier.  The allergies were a big problem draining my energy which an old man like me needs to do these grueling rides like this.  There are a lot of tough days ahead I can't fool myself and feeling this bad at day one is scary.  I will decide in the morning whether to abort now or try one more time to keep going.