Pick up just about any book on California bike rides, and the ride from Mendocino to Little River to Comptche is in it. The book “Best Bike Rides of Northern California” by Grob describes the ride with terms like “Glorious road” and “near orgasmic cycling”. Then when you realize that the Mendocino / Little River airport is located exactly right on the route, it really calls to you.
I started the day with a meeting at the Oakland airport, and as they tend to do the meeting went long and I got out about noon. I still had to fuel up the plane, and I also had to be back home in the Sierra foothills by 7:00 pm because my wife had evening plans so I had to do dinner for our teenage kids. Hmmm. Can I do it? It was a 35 minute flight to Little River, where I changed from my suit into cycling clothes, then out to Comptche, back past the airport to the Little River deli (nice deli!) on the coast, then back up to the airport to fly home. I wanted to do a longer loop, but maybe next time.
I actually made it home by 7:00, but life with teenagers is hard to schedule, and it turned out neither of my kids came home until about 9:00. Oh well.
West Coast Flying Adventures 