THE EAGLE HAS LANDED
I slept straight through ‘til morning, which allowed me needed rest. When I surveyed the damages from yesterday’s fall, the real concern were fingers on my left hand. I could not bend them. Could I do the braking necessary in the high country with all the hills and steep downgrades over Tioga Pass? The middle finger worked fine other than some skin rubbed off. My shoulder was a little raw but with the first aid cream and a band aid it would be fine. The cut on my upper forearm just looked bad but was fine. The scrape on the bottom side of my forearm was a little deeper and needed first aid cream and a band aid. My knee needed to be covered with a dressing. The legs were alright other than several pretty good bruises.
Before I left Jamestown, I visited a medical clinic to get some assistance with my wounds. They denied me any help based on some ridiculous rule. So off I went. Amazingly enough I had no pain. I felt infused with the power fueled by real purpose.
After three long days of riding over mountains, down mountains, and then back up mountains I finally would arrive at my destination of Yosemite Valley.
The day started with a carb filled breakfast of pancakes and eggs. After the meal I packed up and prepared for the journey. Destination: Yosemite Valley. I knew I had a long day ahead. The first handful of miles was not too bad. I had a 55 mile ride up hill to the Yosemite park entrance. I had driven it and knew what to expect. After the first phase of the ride from Jamestown to China Camp I planned take on enough water to get up Priests Grade. When I got to China Camp, I found it had been closed up since I was there a couple weeks before. No water. I only had enough to get me to the bottom of Priest Grade. When I got to the bottom of the grade, I looked for water to no avail. It was time to summon another angel. A nice lady came along and was the first Angel for the day and offered to take me to the top of the first grade and a gas station where I could get water.
After filling my water containers, I proceeded on to Groveland. It had been my plan to stay there last night. As I entered the town to my relief and excitement, I saw a big sign over a store called Groveland Pharmacy. I could finally get the right size of band aids and other items I needed to care for the injuries. The people there were so nice.
From this point it was all uphill to the park entrance with only one more water stop at Yosemite Lakes store. I ate lunch in Groveland and filled up with water and took extra for the long grinding uphill trek.
While eating lunch I became really nauseated and a real down feeling came over me. I prayed for help to get through it. I rested an hour there and felt better. Then was off. When I was miles up the road sitting on a guardrail for a short rest, a little water and more sunscreen a feeling of real joy came over me. Others were speeding by in their cars and I was there with my bike watching the hawk soar above me. I could feel the breeze on my face, and smell the fragrance of the pines. That was a little bit of heaven.
However there were lots of miles and thousands of strokes on the peddles before I could get to bed.
Some miles up the road at The Rim of the World. I was able to see where I was and where I needed to go. I took off from there and in a couple of miles was able to ride downhill into a valley, a welcome break. At the bottom of the downhill I looked up what seemed to be the last straw. I could see the grade of the upcoming road that seemed to be endless, as though it went right into heaven. My first thought was, “how in the world would I ever be able to make it up this climb. It made Mt. Rose, Geiger Grade, Spooner Summit, and YES, Ebbets Pass look like rolling hills. Time was ticking away and I needed to get to Yosemite Lakes Store for water. At 4:00 p.m. I started up the grade and to my surprise I found myself at the top by 5:30 p.m. I made it to the store. After a quick stop for water I took off and found it to be 6.5 miles and the same if not worse than the previous road. Perhaps because I was tired. When I got to the entrance at Yosemite National Park, I had my picture taken at the sign and went to the entrance gate to pay my fee. When I paid my fee and inquired of the campground there, I was told it was full and I could only camp in a designated campground and the next one was 10 miles up the road and 4000 ft in elevation gain up the road.
It was time for plan B. I rode up the road out of site, waited for a little bit and prayed for another angel. After 5 minutes along came a very large Ford Sport Van all decked out with Thule carriers, bike rack and a Mercedes following. I motioned to them and they pulled into the parking area across the road and a man got out and asked if he could help. I told him what I was doing and would appreciate a ride a couple miles to Crane Flat. It was my plan to coast from there into Yosemite Valley and find a place to stay. I gave up on getting anything to eat. It would be too late and things would be closed.
He loaded me into his van and the bike went on the back rack and off we went to Crane Flat. At Crane Flat we unloaded and packed up my bike again. I thanked them and off I went. It was all downhill from here. It was now getting dark and I turned on my headlight and down I went. What a ride. On the way down I noticed my derailleur on my lower gears would only give me the two lowest gears. This meant I could not get much speed when I reached the flat and level road of the valley. I had also lost all my gears on my left side which were all the high gears in the accident the day before. It would only get me there later and later. I had two options, search through a campground in the dark and hope someone did not show up and set up a tent or go to Curry Village and try to get a tent cabin and a hot shower. I chose Curry Village. Word everywhere was that everything was full. I walked in the office and was greeted by Michelle. She was doubtful of an available cabin. To our surprise there was one. At that point I was starting to shut down. The endorphins were used up and my muscles were getting tight. I was hungry and could hardly keep my eyes open. I thanked her, got the key and drug myself off to the cabin on the far side of the complex and stumbled in. Too tired to fix anything I relied on my stash of Tahoe Trail Bars. Two bars and relief for my hunger and screaming body. I was so tired but the hot shower won out. I soon found myself standing under the most refreshing hot shower ever experienced by man. I was operating on only two cylinders by this time. When I got back to the cabin I unpacked, and made the bed. Before my head hit the pillow, I was asleep and slept rock solid. Good night to a most eventful day.
View photos from this adventure in my Gallery – Yosemite Trip page.