Day 6: Port Orford to Brookings

Friday, Sept. 12

We had another early morning in order to get to Brookings by noon.  I was out of camp before 7:30. 
Almost all the riders were catching either the bus to Portland or the bus to Hayward at 1 pm.

We had low rolling hills up to the rest stop in Gold Beach, about half way to Brookings.  There was a nice sign welcoming us to the area.  We continued with low rolling hills until about mile 30 when there was a climb, but it wasn't bad.  Following that, larger rolling hills all the way to Brookings.  Just before entering the town of Brookings, we stopped at a traffic control with a flagger due to some highway construction.  The flagger was very friendly and told me that next year there will be a special path for bike riders to get off the highway and go right into a park in town.  I arrived at Azela Park in Brookings at about 11:30 am, so there was time for a shower.  The caterers had boxed lunches for us to take with us on the buses.  We took a few pictures.  A winner was selected in the men's beard contest.  And that was it.

Our bus rolled out about 1:30 pm.  Sadly, we found that the bike truck somehow was not with us again.  We stopped for a leisurely dinner in Ukiah to give the truck some time to catch up.  The bus arrived in Hayward around 11 pm, but we had about another hour to wait until the truck arrived.

We loaded up and I took Derek home to El Sobrante before I went home.  After putting my bike away and all, it was almost 2 am by the time I got to bed.  It's a good thing the next day was Saturday.

Bob at Azelea Park at the end of the tour.

Gold Beach welcomes PCC riders.

Stats:
57.64 miles
3,369 feet elevation gain

Day 4: Yachats to Lakeside

Somehow I slept through my alarm and woke up a half hour late, but I hustled and was able to leave on time; not even the last one out!  In fact, I was able to join the group yoga session.  It was a little wet on the grass, but good to stretch.  Unfortunately, this was the only day we had yoga.

We had a day of rolling hills along the coast.  The sun shone and weather was beautiful.

At the first rest stop, I met a single touring cyclist who had started in Alaska and was on his way to San Diego.  His bike with all his gear weighed 90 pounds!  For someone hauling around so much weight and rolling on 29'er mountain bike tires, he really kept up a good pace.  We had a good chat.  He's working on a movie project related to the ride.  Best wishes and safe traveling Donnie.  His website is borderblender.tumbler.com

I spent most of my day riding with Andrew, a pediatrician living in Washington.  We had some good chats.

At the second rest stop, the mechanic Darren recommended the restaurant Unger's for lunch in the next town.  Unfortunately, they were very slow and we waited for over an hour from the time we sat down to the time the food came!

At that point, we only had about 7 miles to go to camp, however, there was some climbing before we could get there!  When we turned off 101 to come into Lakeside (a town on a lake), the local chamber of commerce members were outside of the various businesses waving and cheering.  They had also placed a number of encouraging signs, including one that said "no more hills!".  In addition, they had placed locally made scarecrows in various activities around town.  When we arrived at the camp site/hotel, we were greeted by dozens and dozens of home made cookies.  This is a really friendly town.

After setting up the tent, I joined some other riders on a boat ride on the lake.  Someone from the Arthritis Foundation had rented a pontoon boat and some of the workers from the tour were driving groups of us around the lake to see what it was like.  Relaxing and fun.

I got a little bit of laundry done to get me to the end of the tour, but now it is time to jump in the sleeping bag so we can leave early tomorrow.  Why?  All will be revealed in the next post.

On the way out of camp on day 4.

View outside of Yachats.

View further on down the highway.

Donnie's touring bike at the rest stop.

Lighthouse outside of Lakeside.

Homemade cookie reception at Lakeside.

Here I am with the Lakeside crawfish.  They have a crawfish festival annually on Mother's Day weekend.

 Stats:
61.63 miles
3,149 feet of elevation gain

Day 3: Otter Crest to Yachats

Tuesday, Sept. 9

The wind calmed down over night, which was great for sleeping.  However, when I took my tent down, I found that the wind had broken 2 segments of one of my tent poles.  I repaired it with some duct tape, but will probably need to get a new one when I get home.

Day 3 was an unusual day because the distance we rode was quite short, 32 miles.  This was to allow for a lot of logistical business to be taken care of.  The 2-day riders were leaving and the 4-day riders were arriving.

The 6-day riders could choose either a free morning or a whale watching boat ride.  I opted for the whale watching.  We rode our bikes about 9 miles into Newport for the boat tour.  We saw a lot of whales and harbor porpoises.

After the boat,  all riders met at Rogue Brewery's headquarters and had a special tour by brewmaster John Meier.  John is also a rider on the bike tour (and Rogue is a sponsor).  Following the brewery tour,  we sampled a custom brew John had made for the occasion and had lunch at the brewery.  Beer people, you can tell me if I haven't gotten this next part right.  The beer was made with wet hops grown on one of Rogue's farms.  It was placed in a firkin and sealed.  While in the firkin the yeast produces carbonation, so it ends up being less carbonated that the beer we are used to.  After a while, the excess carbonation is vented.  The bung was knocked out by Wade and then a serving tap was put in so we could all have some.

I was stuffed full of food by the end, so I decided to hit the rolling hills hard to try to burn up some of the calories on the remaining 20-some miles.  The sun was out and not too hot; good riding weather.  For the first time we really got to see the ocean for more than brief glimpses.

I rode with Pete and Nathan, a father and son from Minnesota who had just arrived to do the 4-day ride.  Also, Peter from my training group joined us on our quick paced jaunt.

In no time we were at Yachats (pronounced ya-HOTS).  Since we arrived on the early side, I made use of the sports massage team that is part of the tour (at our own expense--the Arthritis Foundation treats us very good, but not free massages good.). 

After dinner when the evening program was done, I walked out to the beach.  It was too late to see the sunset, but there was still some light and it was low tide.  There were tons of starfish and shellfish on the rocks.  Amazing.

A snap from the road.

Jetty with birds in Newport.

Captain of the whale watching boat.

View of the bridge from the boat.

One of the crabs we caught while on the boat.

One of the businesses on the wharf.

Fishing off the pier.

I'm afraid these pictures are a bit out of order, but they don't take well to reorganization.  Peter had to kiss the old bait fish for luck before it went into the crab trap.

Boats in this area a typically working vessels and not recreational.

Another working boat.

Birds and bridge as seen from the boat.

Wade, another rider, knocked the bung into the container and John poured the special brew.

Inside Rogue.

Inside Rogue.

Inside Rogue.

Bikes at campground in Yachats.

Tide pool in Yachats.  Starfish and shell fish.

Tide pool in Yachats.  Starfish and anemone.

Tide pool in Yachats.  Starfish.

Yachats sunset.  Picture from Barbara.

Yachats sunset, also from Barbara.

Stats:
32.87 miles
995 feet elevation gain

Day 2: Tillamook to Otter Rock

 Monday, Sept. 8

I'm not sure what happened, despite getting up at 6 am, I was almost the last one out of camp.  The few of us left had to hurry for about 3 miles to get past a particular spot before the road got closed for road work.

We hit a very peaceful section after that.  We were off the highway, so there were very few cars and a lot of quiet.  The tide was out and there were a number of people digging for clams.

That section led into our first climb of the day.  It was not too bad compared to some of the hills at home.  At the top Mr. Incredible was waiting (see photo below).  There was a nice descent and then we headed into some mixed terrain that had both flat and rolling parts.

At the rest stop I met up with Keith.  We rolled out together.  Just before the second climb of the day, my gears stopped shifting on the cassette.  In his youth, Keith was a bike mechanic before becoming a racer.  He took out a multi-tool and reached for the cable only to find that it was broken.  He jimmied a quick fix while we called the mechanic.  Fortunately, Darrin, the mechanic (with Chris the EMT), showed up right away and replaced the cable.  Turns out, when checked, the other cable was about to go, too, so he replaced that as well.

 

I was at the back of the pack again, but at least on the road with gears that worked.  Keith and I continued on to the second rest stop.  The sun came out during the climb leading into the rest stop.  It was great to have the sun out.

At the rest stop, we met Mary, Rita, and Sue.  We all continued together until Lincoln City where the ladies and I stopped for lunch while Keith rolled on.

 

After lunch we were on the highway again. It was noisy and busy.  I didn't have any more patience for it and wanted to get to camp in time to set up my tent and take a shower, so I put some pep in my step and high-tailed it out of there.

Near Otter Rock, our route thankfully took us off 101 and we were rewarded with a beautiful, albeit climb-y,  ride into the Inn at Otter Crest. 
 

We camped overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  It was beautiful, the the wind was blowing like crazy.  It was hard to put up the tents.  Once they were up, the wind would blow them into all kinds of unusual shapes.

We walked to the Flying Dutchman Winery.  They hosted us for a wine tasting and appetizers (with Rogue Creamery cheese).

After the wine tasting we had an excellent dinner back at camp with marinated tuna, brought fresh from the port at Newport that day. We had a great dinner, as usual, followed by the evening program where we learn why some of the riders have decided to be part of the tour.  After I am home, I'll add a link to the website of Jeff Fredericks, a Bay Area rider whose daughter has juvenile arthritis.  He's done some phenomenal things.  Here's Jeff's website for this year:  http://cancal14.weebly.com/.  Last year he rode from Canada to Mexico, including this ride and the CCC (which I did last year) is at http://www.bikethecoast13.com/blog]

The wind calmed down after dark.  That made sleeping easier.

Clamming outside Tillamook.  It sure was peaceful here.

Here I am with Mr. Incredible at the top of the first hill.

At the second rest stop.

View from the Flying Dutchman.

View from Otter Crest.

Lunch with Sue, Rita, and Mary.  Rita is taking the picture.

Buoys at a house near the winery.

The wind blowing my tent like crazy.

View from Otter Crest.

View from Otter Crest.

Tasting and appetizers at the winery.

Darren putting in the new cables.

Stats:
64.82 miles
3,744 feet elevation gain

Day 1: Astoria to Tillamook

Sunday, Sept. 7

We had breakfast at the campground and then rode our bikes down the road to Rogue Public House.  Rogue is one of the tour sponsors.  We took some group pictures in our matching jerseys then hit the road at about 9 am.

We road across the bridge to get on to 101.  The weather was quite cool and a little drizzly.  Definitely time for leg and arm warmers.

We went through the town of Seaside where riders Dan and Julie Jesse own the Caffe Latte.  They offered riders free coffee.  We continued through Seaside.  Outside of town, I saw Keith ahead of me and tried to catch him, but couldn't.  In about 5 miles we arrived at our first rest stop in Cannon Beach.  It is a pretty town on the ocean.  Rita's husband Hal was working the rest stop as well as Keith's wife Shelley and their son Patrick.

I continued on from there on my own.  At the second rest stop, I had a nice conversation with the couple there, rider Wade's parents.  Apparently, I was only the fifth rider to come through.  A train pulled up a few minutes after I arrived. 

There were rolling hills after that.  There wasn't much climbing on this route so I had a pretty fast average speed.  I didn't see another rider until I got to Tillamook at the end of the rid.

I arrived at the campground around 1:30 pm.  I didn't realize that if I wanted to go to the Tillamook cheese factory, I should have stopped on the way in.  Oh well, there's plenty of cheese factories in Marin I can visit.

The sun finally came out as I was coming into Tillamook. 

Rita and I checking out at the hotel.

Getting ready for the start at Rogue.

View in Cannon Beach.

Train at rest stop #2.

Pressing the button turns on a light that flashes at the entrance of the tunnel so car drivers know a cyclist is there because there is no shoulder.

Tillamook cows near our campsite.

Stats: 

69.35 miles
2,271 feet elevation gain

Day 0: Sept 6

Saturday, Sept. 6

I don't know what the problem is, but I don't seem to be able to attach photos to the text I am posting.  That's a disappointment.  If there is a way to fix it later, I will. [I never did figure out how to add more than one photo, but I'm going back now and adding additional photos, cleaning up my typos and filling in the details.]

Today was a free day.  I slept in and then joined some of the other riders from our group for a look around town.  

Astoria formerly had a strong fishing industry, but it is moving on to other industries now, such as tourism.

The morning started warm, but a cool breeze came up in the afternoon.

We had a kick off event at 5 pm at Rogue Public House where we met the other riders and learned more about what's happening tomorrow and the rest of the ride.  We are attaching our name plates to the bikes now and getting ready for an early morning.

This is the Astoria-Megler Bridge.  It takes people from Astoria to Point Ellice, Washington.

The Flavel house is now a museum.  It was the home of Captain Flavel.

Giant anchor at the Maritime Museum.

Rita and Hal at lunch at the Wet Dog Cafe. 

View along Columbia River from the River Walk.

There is a deep shipping channel very close to shore.

Another view from the River Walk.