I even caught a ride pretty soon and a native couple picked me up who were cycling quite often as well and offered me a ride back to Boonville where I could get my bike repaired apparently. I didn't really know what he meant but he explained it to me that for holes like that he usually uses some Gorilla-Tape on the inside which prevents the tube from coming out. When he went into a shop there to buy something to drink he even bought me some (without asking him of course), introduced me in how to fix it and went on. It sounded pretty logical to me and I believe that it usually works for them but my luggage was simply to heavy and the tire opened immediately. Before I could react my brake-block hit the tube and BOOM! Extra tube Nr.3 was gone...and if that wouldn't be enough because of the sudden loss of air in the tire by bike fell to the right and hit my brake lever of the front brakes that bad that it broke and oil started to come out the hydraulic tube, means: front brakes were gone! Now I was standing there, after everything was perfect an hour before, with a broken tire, no tubes anymore and just one brake left... That moment I really thought somebody or something doesn't want me to finish this trip. So close to the end and brake, tire & three tubes said goodbye and that the host of the Radio show tried to encourage everybody listening close to Boonville to help me wasn't successful really - not many SWR3-listeners here I guess:/ That meant I had to try hitchhiking again and luckily I got picked up pretty soon again by a family on their way back to Santa Rosa. Cause the bike-shops were all about to close already they drove me to the next Walmart were I had the best chances of getting a tire and a tube at this time of the day. Luckily they had exactly one tube in store and one tire and although it wasn't really good quality it was better than nothing.
But now I had another problem: taking the closest road to the coast would have been to short for finishing up with enough kilometers on my speedometer but there was almost no direction I could go anymore without crossing my earlier path again. The only possibility was to cycle a 60km-southbend loop in this quit non-spectacular valley as this was simply the most convenient solution if I wouldn't cycle over another pass.
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| Not Again! |
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| This tire is gone! Or? |
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| But this tube is definitely rubbish! |
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| Fixing my bike on the top of car:) |
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| Gorilla Tape is definitely a good idea but this hole is simply too big:/ |
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| Destroying my bike... |
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| Second time this day!! |
After camping in a little forest a few kilometers south of the Walmart I wanted to continue another 20km south to turn west and north again afterwards which should have been enough to gain the extra 50km/30mi I needed to finish up with the magical number at the end. BOOM! (I didn't know how to foretell it this time:) I had no idea why I should deserve this but again my tire was flat like a piece of paper. But no hole this time in the tire, nothing, so I had to take a look inside and again it was a completely different thing which could have happen any time during the 90 days but why now???? It was the protection of the spokes inside the wheel which got a tiny bit out of place and so the tube could touch the sharp ends and voila! I couldn't really believe it anymore, 4 flats, one tire loss and one broken brake within less than 48hours, so close to the end! Again I had no extra tube anymore and had to hitchhike again. I didn't wait very long until a guy picked me up with his pickup and offered me a ride to the next bike-shop he knew. He was really nice but soooo strange and a little bit scary cause when we found out that the bike shop wouldn't open before 10:30am (it was 10 at that time) he just decided (without telling me why) to drive to a home in the middle of nowhere to unload some stuff from the back of his car (an old skateboard, shoes, plants, an old battery - looked like stolen items to me somehow but I don't want to judge without knowing for sure). While waiting there he told me a plenty of conspiracy theories like that the government wants to lower the amount of people in the world to lower costs and so on... really strange stuff. He also just took the back roads although we could have stayed on the main road till the bike shop and when we finally arrived there he first drove into the backyard instead of parking in front of the shop cause he didn't want to get in trouble with the police he said. I just responded nothing to that and left the car:)
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| Second last campsite on this tour:) |
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| No comment |
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| The last repair? |
In the bike shop I got everything I wanted (except of a new brake - I decided to ride careful for the rest of the trip cause not much more hills were about to come) and an hour later I was on the road again, heading towards the coast which I reached a couple hours later through the beautiful valley of Russian River. Now I did the last real "turn" of my trip, going south from now during the next 130km till San Francisco not really leaving this road anymore till my final destination. For another time I got myself a hot chocolate (summer was gone again) and pitched my tent soon after for the very last time on an open field.
Then I woke up for my very last stage of the whole trip and it felt kinda strange that everything I was doing this day from now on I would do the very last time starting from putting my stuff together, having breakfast in the middle of nowhere, sitting on a full-loaded bike and setting my speedometer to zero. Some of this daily stuff I would definitely miss like my unhealthy food I could eat as much as I wanted of cause I would burn the calories anyway or all the people I just met on the road which all were really nice and friendly and gave me lots of advice but some things I definitely wouldn't miss like re-loading my bike every morning (which takes quite long) or changing tubes all the time (Ok, maybe this point of view changed a little bit during the last three days). So I got myself the very last hot chocolate in the next cafe I passed which I really enjoyed and even got some sunshine when I was cycling the short inland part where the road follows the Saint-Andreas-Fault north of Stinson Beach. I actually got quite perfect conditions for the very last day, good temperatures, some sunshine and wind from the north:) Although the last few days were quite tough with lots of breakdowns and some illness I somehow managed it to gain an extra day till now which meant this day was the 16th of August so I wasn't in a rush at all and wouldn't have to hurry anymore if something would get in the way. This day I did a really good speed which put me way ahead of time and I reached the section where Highway 1 goes the very last time 200m uphill over the hills before Golden Gate, already by 2pm so I definitely had enough time to make a last detour to the Muir Woods Monument just 10km north of the Golden Gate, the only place to see the Coastal Sequoia Trees close to San Francisco. Although they're "just" about 80m high at this grove they're really impressive trees. They're not as massive as the other Sequoias have been but they look way higher because they're looking more like needles than towers which makes you focus more on the height than on the circumference of the trunk. What I found quite impressive was that they were able to preserve something like that so close to the city of San Francisco, good job!
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| Watch out for islands! They're quite dangerous when they come out of the water! |
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| Last Hot Dog - stop:) |
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| Back to the cold again |
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| 130km to go on Highway 1. |
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| My very last campsite on an open field. |
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| Short sunny part during cycling on Saint Andreas Fault |
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| Walking between giant Redwoods |
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| You can see how tall they are if you can see the person on the bottom of the picture. |
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| The tree-tops far away |
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| Not as big as in Yosemite National Park but still impressive:) |
From there it was not even an hour when I was finally standing in front it, exactly 9990km after the start: The Golden Gate Bridge. First I have to say that the Golden Gate wasn't golden at all this day, rather stormy, 12°C/54°F and no sun but the feeling of standing in front of, I was looking forward to for months, just felt incredible! I can't describe it really but I guess that this moment was the best of the whole trip, even better than the final arrival later that day:) But after a really stormy interview with SWR3 I couldn't wait much longer, I really wanted to cross the Golden Gate now and simply couldn't wait anymore although I was really enjoying just standing there and watching the scenery in front of me (I was freezing!:) The next highlight followed right after anyway: The 10000km-mark! I swear that this wasn't planned but I hit it right at the bottom of Lombard Street (this famous street with the switchbacks) no kidding! Just two weeks before I would have never ever guessed that it would be possible to make it that far and this even without being in a real rush at any time! To be really honest: When I wrote the "8000km that way" on this sign on the very first day I thought that if I would make it really that far nobody would know that I expected way less at the start and now... Well what should I say, I didn't really get the number in that moment cause it just felt surreal and although normally I never congratulate myself I can say, just this time: Well Done!:) But that wasn't it, I wasn't finished yet cause my final destination was still 7km away but they felt actually like one or two with that much motivation at once! I cycled faster, fast and faster and then..........I was finished!
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| There it is!:) |
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| Looking at the Grey Gate Bridge:) |
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| Dozens of cyclists on the bridge:) |
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| One moment of sunshine, wow!:) |
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| Me on the other side:) |
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| Cycling down Lombard Street. |
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| Dit it!! 10000km done! |
Exactly 10007 kilometers / 6219 miles after I started my trip back in Dobbs Ferry 85 days ago I was there, standing in front of Julian & Heather's home and I was finished! It's so hard to describe what I felt that moment but I guess it was mix of everything:) I couldn't realize it really that all this what I did for the last three months had come to an end just right here, right now and it was so funny to think about that my final destination of this whole thing I planned for more than a year had become the home of people I haven't heard about even a week before:D That's the spontaneous kind of living I like and it was just perfect like this!
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| On the last kilometer:) |
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| Finished! (Julian and Heather live on the top floor) |
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| My route of the last three days (it looks a little bit confusing - just follow A to J, then it makes sense) |
The key was hidden right next to the front door cause they weren't back home yet so I could get in and didn't have to wait outside! I already felt welcomed and liked them that already that moment although I haven't met 'em a single time before, cause how cool must someone be to leave his home open for someone he/she never met before and just recently heard of! It needs more people that trustful in the world in my opinion and I wasn't wrong: When they came in later that evening it really felt like I was living here and they would visit me, so much I felt like home here:)
They are both really amazing people and we talked the whole evening and could have talked even longer if I wouldn't have been just so tired that I had to go to bed early but I had two more full days here so I wouldn't miss anything:)
It just felt soooo good to sleep through again with no alarm ringing that I almost forgot to get up the next morning. Julian and Heather were currently doing something like a "Healthy week" which didn't allow them to eat many common things which contain for example wheat-flour, milk or eggs. Some things are allowed in a different way than usual but it sounded very complicated and they even had a list were they could look up everything which was forbidden. So I tried to make pancakes (European-style) for them which was really hard without normal flower, milk and eggs (which are pretty much all the ingredients you need for pancakes) which forced me to use Coconut-flour, almond-milk and no eggs which ended in a totally catastrophe (just watch the pictures:( ) All I could do was making some real dough afterwards, putting it in the fridge together with some instructions so they could make some European-Style pancakes after this week would be over:)
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| Doesn't look like a pancake really... |
Julian found a book with swimming holes of California in his bookshelf and decided spontaneously to have a look at one of them this day which was more than 3 hours to drive. I would have totally loved the idea of this spontaneous trip but this was my only day I could explore San Francisco (by bike for sure;) before I had to start packing all my stuff till the end of the next day so I decided to explore the city but I definitely will come back one day to explore some swimming holes, I really loved the idea!:)
My route through the city went over the Twin-Peaks from where I could take my finishing-photo I have been thinking about for weeks with an incredible view over Downtown San Francisco and the whole Bay Area. On this two peaks which look like two giant breasts (quote: Wikipedia!:) you can realize the different micro-climates which vary even in this city extremely! While the fog is blowing against the hills from the west (the well known phenomenon at the coast) the western side has these low (15°C/60°F) temperatures with no sun while you can sit in your T-Shirt in a cafe on the other side enjoying a nice sunny summer-afternoon with easily 23°C/73°F:) That's impressive that it varies that much on both sides of the same city! I guess that even the prizes for houses vary because of this phenomenon, I mean who wants to have a summer full of fog while your neighbor is enjoying the sunshine (That's actually really the case on the hills where you can literally find totally different weather in one and the same street!) Then I cycled to Golden Gate Bridge again where I hoped to find some sunshine this time but I got disappointed with even more fog than the day before so I turned around quickly. My last stop on this ride was Downtown for sure where I took some photos of the Cable Cars and realized how hilly this city is in some areas. Cause they just put a square-street system over totally hilly ground without thinking of switchbacks or anything they created some super steep hills which were absolutely impossible to cycle up and I had to walk my bike for the very first time because it was simply too steep! I also realized that day that San Francisco is actually a super bike-friendly city! Everywhere they built bike paths on the streets and sometimes they've even installed a Green Wave for cyclists:) Everything was just so different than in New York or LA!
Later I found a nice cafe close to the harbor from where I called SWR3 for the very last time. It was a nice talk and the host of the radio-show (who lives in Stuttgart!) invited me for a coffee some day when I would be close to his home, which I'm definitely gonna do cause I'm gonna live there as well from October on when I'll start studying. He's also a good friend of Udo Lindenberg, a famous German singer, who I maybe could meet then as well:)
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| Never leave your bike unattended in a big city! |
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| Precise parking! |
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| One little earthquake and all the cars parking there gonna slide done the street! |
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| Green wave for cyclists!:) |
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| Cycling up to twin peaks |
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| View from the top.) |
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| My official finishing picture:D |
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| No question why they had to build cable cars |
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| Which are more a tourist attraction than really useful |
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| Cycling through Downtown |
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| Alcatraz island |
Later that evening I surprisingly received a mail in which a German guy said that he had heard of me via the radio and lives not far from here in San Jose and invited me for dinner the next day in a German Restaurant called Suppenkueche in the middle of San Francisco. He sounded really nice and as I always like to meet new people I said yes and saved me another good meal:)
The second morning - Heather and Julian were at friends in Sebastopol - I wanted to have breakfast in San Francisco's oldest diner "Saint Francis Fountain". I got the tip from a friend who lives in my neighbourvillage in Germany and has just left San Francisco two days before and highly recommended it so I had to try:) When I looked it up on Google Maps I had to laugh because it was just a two minute walk from Julian&Heather's home (what are the chances!). The pancakes were super delicious, definitely better than in the Denny's where they've been already really good and I could start happy into my last full day in the city:) In the early afternoon I picked up a large cardboard from the next bike-shop which I wanted to use for protecting my bicycle in the bag later and left it at Julian&Heather's home cause it was simply to big to carry it through the city. All my other stuff I loaded on my bike again and rode it to the other end of the city were I would stay the last night in the Fisherman's Wharf Hostel. I kinda had to because I booked it actually for two nights three months ago and they stored three packages over the whole time for me so I didn't want to cancel both nights then. In the early evening then, right before I wanted to dismount my bike, I suddenly received another mail, this time from the German Consulate in San Francisco. Somehow somebody who heard me via the radio must have called them and told them about my trip cause I didn't and now they wanted me to come the next morning at 9:30 for a talk and photo with my bike and them together which was quite a perfect timing cause that meant that I had to wait with dismounting until at least 10am the next morning which would have left me two hours two dismount everything and get all my stuff together before I would have to leave for the airport. Well...I know that I can be very effective under pressure so I agreed and left my bike like it was. That turned out to be quite helpful anyway cause I could use it to get to the German restaurant in the middle of San Francisco, where I had a delicious dinner (German Jägerschnitzel with Spätzle) with the guy who heard me via the radio, who was really nice by the way! I'll skip on every single detail now but it was a very tasteful way to spend the last evening in the city:)
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| Oldest Diner in San Francisco |
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| With very fresh-made pancakes - delicious!! |
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| An apparently common way to explore the city:) |
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| Me and Stefan who invited me for dinner |
The last morning I stood up really early again to get everything together (except of my bike) and I had to shave myself! My three months-not-shaving experiment has been success as you can see on the last pictures and now this beard had to go! Unfortunately I deleted all my selfies except of them on Facebook but you can also compare the photos of me from the beginning and from the end to get the same effect;) Right before I left for the consulate Julian passed by and brought me the cardboard for my bike and I could take a picture with him what I forgot to do before. Unfortunately Heather couldn't come because of a really bad headache but I'm sure I can photoshop her in later to complete the photo:)
I was pretty punctual at the German Consulate then and had to pass a couple of security checks before I could get in (had to show my international passport as well. It is a really nice building on the top of a hill so you can overlook most parts of the city from here. The talk with the consul and his secretary was really interesting although it felt quite "official" and I had the feeling that I was definitive not overdressed for this talk:) But the consul was a cool guy and told me that he was on a similar adventure as I have been on in New Zealand when he was my age but he did a whole year of hitchhiking through america which is such a cool thing to do and who would expect this from a consul?:) Before I left we took the picture with all three of us and my bike which they took later as the startup-picture for their official Facebook-Page they set off the next week.
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| Julian and me at Fisherman's Wharf:) |
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| The German consul, his secretary and me in front of the consulate:) |
Back at the hostel I immediately started dismounting my bike as quick as I could and got finished right at my deadline which was noon (my flight was supposed to take of at 4:30 from Oakland!). Luckily a Russian guy, Oleg, who I met an hour earlier and who was apparently also a fan of cycling offered me his help on finding the right bus to downtown and taking the right metro across the bay to the airport and even took the bus with me to help me carrying my stuff till the gates at the metro station and although I didn't know how I deserved so much spontaneous help I was really thankful for this, cause my stuff was super super heavy this time!
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| 2 hours left to solve this chaos! |
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| Ready to leave (with some help:) |
And with this last nice last memory I will finish my blog here cause I guess it's a good memory to finish with (other than my flight back to Germany (4 hours delayed, super stressful in Stockholm etc.) Now I was sitting in the train to the airport, looking back on all the experiences I made during the last 90 days, good and bad ones, all the nice people I met (especially those I could stay with) and all the other memories I could bring home now. This was it.
But the moment I left the ground I already knew for sure: This wasn't the last time here, someday I would come again:)
For everybody who's interested here the stats of my trip:
About the whole trip:
- Total days of cycling: 81
- Average distance per day: 124,75km/77.53mi (including all city-roundtrips)
132,37km/82.27mi (without all the resting-days)
- Average speed: 16,42km/h / 10.21mph
- Average high-speed: 47,03km/h / 29.23mph
- Total uphill: 73580hm/241342ft
Daily Records:
- Longest distance: 302,13km/187.78mi (the Salt Flats)
- Longest time cycled: 18 hours 47minutes (the Salt Flats)
- Highest average speed: 21km/h/13.05mph (leaving Yosemite)
- Highest speed ever: 69km/h/42.88mph (Interstate Downhill in Utah)
- Most altitude climbed in one day: 2386m/7826ft (approaching Yosemite)
- Highest altitude reached (by bike): 3688m/12095ft (Independence Pass)
My blog was read in the following 42 countries which totally surprised me and I still haven't found out who was reading it in the red-marked ones, so if you were one of those people please write me I would love to know:)
Germany
United States
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Tanzania
Spain
Indonasia
Australia
Chile
France
Peru
New Caledonia
Thailand
Denmark
Hungary
Italy
Vietnam
Canada
Netherlands
Russia
Bosnia Herzegovina
Norway
Sweden
Hongkong
Singapur
Brasil
India
Croatia
Lebanon
Philippines
Poland
Ukraine
Cambodia
Mexico
Portugal
Austria
Switzerland
Israel
Greece
Japan
Columbia
Venezuela
Before I will finally finish this blog I want to thank everybody who was reading this and especially all of them who read it to this very and. I also wanna thank everybody who supported me on this trip in any kind of way, either in the US or from home, without all of you this wouldn't have been possible! It was a lot of fun to share my experiences with you and although I got way behind in the end I can just hope you enjoyed reading it all the time as I enjoyed writing it:)
Thank You!
