Day 16 Report - Rest Day

Good afternoon bloggers. I'm taking a rest day in Crescent City, California and the sun is shining. My laundry was done last night and the Bike shop was visited this morning. They had all the right stuff.
- Spare inner tube - I'm running a (lucky) 3 spare strategy - I could repair the ones I puncture but, they are only a few dollars and time is short so...
- New cleats (these connect my shoes to the pedals - road surface ruins these when I get off at stops/lunch etc- I put a new pair on at Vancouver and they are shot already!)
- Chamois cream...

...I've been asked to explain...

One of the enemies of the long distance cyclist is saddle soreness (sorry Mr H the younger - I know you don't like toilet chat - you being a gentleman an' all! - so probably best for you to look away now).

The way I look at it there are 2 main causes of saddle sores...

1. Not enough padding - 2 solutions are a big padded saddle (but this greatly increases the risk of cause 2) or padded cycling shorts - these come with a padded section called a chamois. I go for a small saddle and a good pair of shorts.

2. Second cause is friction. To prevent the skin being irritated we have something called chamois cream. It lubrucates and also has disinfecting/antibacterial stuff in there. The best type is made by a Swiss firm called Assos. It so happens that the cycle shop had some of this - RESULT! Once you've used this particular chamois cream - you never want to use another.

Ok, I said last night that I have some climbing ahead. I gain some height and peak at c 1800ft or c600m above sea level near a place called Leggett over the next few days. Although after chatting with the bike shop guy earlier I don't think these are mega steep - just long slogs. These aren't that big compared with back home (for example looks like Etape Caledonia is 81 miles and 1900m total ascent) but what can make it tough is the heat, the extra weight I'm carrying and that I'm on my own with non-one to get pulled along behind. Finally Etape is a one day event - I need to get back in the saddle day after day.

Now I've gone about 800 miles or so I have just over 1000 miles to go. That's a LEJOG!

Ok, I'm off to relax and get ready for some climbing - and some Redwoods!