Cycling for the Arthritis Foundation: 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.