The views coming back down out of the redwood when the ocean came into view were spectacular. The following pics don't really do it justice.
Once in California, I wrap around Pelican Bay and through Crescent City. Then it's into the Redwoods before returning to the coast north of the Klamath River. Orick, known for its burl art is my stop for the night after a long, 71-mile day, riding solo. It's also my most "suspect" overnight accommodations, the Palm Cafe and Motel. I'm watching the weather report because it's possible I'll catch a littler rain. Wish me luck! Wow, that was quite a climb. It's also cold today but I still haven't put on the windbreaker (don't want to cover the BikeTheCoast13 jersey), and I sent the toe warmers and long-fingered gloves home yesterday. The views coming back down out of the redwood when the ocean came into view were spectacular. The following pics don't really do it justice.
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I've been back in the saddle for seven days already, including six days with 40 other riders and a stellar staff at the People's Coast Classic. It feels like I'm just getting to know some people, and haven't yet met others, and that it's too soon to say good-bye. Steve and I were the last ones to arrive today, so I (regretfully) don't have many photos from the finish. I really appreciate Steve stopping at just about every viewpoint, and at at top of every hill, to wait for me. It was great to have a friendly face to share this magnificent part of the ride with. Every day through Oregon was fantastic. We had sun for two of the first three days and that was perfect after my rainy start through Washington. Although it was foggy the last three days, the vista were spectacular. In fact, my favorite day was today. Every view was over-the-top and fog was typically high enough that the views extended to the horizon. Physically, I felt a little better again today. It will be new test starting tomorrow with panniers, but I'm pretty confident the knee issue is not going to resurface. The achilles seems to be getting better too, but it's still there and requires me to keep a very steady pedal stroke, with just the right amount of resistance. Finishing up the PCC also sucks some of the juice out of me. I'm very sleepy right now, and I still need to go out and refuel and then come back and get set up for solo riding. I have a 70-miler tomorrow and I think it's going to be tough, even though I'm feeling stronger every day. One item of note for those worried about me biking alone, another PCC rider, Kathy, is continuing to San Francisco, supported by a friend. We exchanged numbers, so I will have help close by if needed. Now I'm back to the solo routine - checking out local holes-in-wall. Having dinner at Zola's Pizzaria. Wow, this place is killer. Awesome, loaded salad and vegetarian spaghetti. Best I've ever had. Pizza looks just as good but that's too much cheese for my heart. Day 11 Recap: Arizona Beach, OR to Brookings, OR
Actual Miles: 50.0 Cumulative Miles: 693.5 Elevation Gain: 2,559' Cumulative Elevation Gain: 25,422' % Distance to Mexico: 36.8% I hug the coast today, rolling over the Rogue River Bridge and into Gold Beach. No other towns to speak of before Brookings, the biggest town since Astoria, and my last stop before leaving Oregon. After 6 days of supported group riding where I had the good fortune to meet many great supporters of the Arthritis Foundation cause, it will be just me and my panniers again after today, until I get to San Francisco.
We rolled out into a wet, morning fog and it stayed foggy most of the Day. Gibson and I rode the "Seven Sisters" together, and those hills were not much more than speed bumps to us, though I'm not able to attack them the way I would if I were fully healthy. We rode through the town of Bandon, home of world renown, Bandon Dunes Golf Course. Our rest stop was along the waterfront in the center of town. It was a short stop for me before heading back out. I snapped a few interesting pictures that I posted to my blog, before riding into Port Orford, where a number of us stopped for lunch or a cocktail at Redfish. The Gibsons and I had lunch with PCC riders Julie, Michelle and Bill Every night after dinner, someone is asked by Tai to share their arthritis story and I was asked tonight to talk about BikeTheCoast13 and Lindsey's battle with arthritis. I talked briefly about my own obstacles getting here and then I shared a few "then and now" visuals about Lindsey. I talked about how she was suddenly overcome by the disease at age 3, our experience with the Stanford juvenile rheumatologists, and her inability to ride her new bike from Santa Claus more than a minute or two that Christmas morning. Jumping to the present, I talked about Lindsey finishing 3rd in her 7th grade speech contest (her speech was about focusing on what you CAN DO with arthritis, not what you can't do). I talked about how Lindsey's passion is ballet and that she's recently been accepted into Ballet San Jose. Finally, I read a text I sent Lindsey the day I returned to this ride, saying, "Alright sweetie. Are we ready for another try? Everyone I talk to says how tough the arthritis must be for you to cope with, and how proud you must be of me for doing this ride. I tell them how tough you are to have such a great attitude, and how proud I am, OF YOU! I love you Lindsey." I had no thoughts that this might prompt anyone to donate to my ride, but it did. After my talk, at least three people told me they were donating to the ride, and many others said they look forward to following me after they get back home. That was very, very touching. I believe everyone who's here has already done plenty. The highlight of the evening was the bidding war to smash Jack Klippel's retirement cake in his face. The bidding was finally won by Willard, but not before the faces of Bill, Beth, and Tai were added in to make it a $600 Arthritis Foundation donation. And to nightcap the evening, we were treated to a video of our ride so far. Hard to believe there's only one more day I'll have with this great group of people. Day 10 Recap: North Bend, OR to Arizona Beach, OR
Actual Miles: 70.7 Cumulative Miles: 643.5 Elevation Gain: 2,940' Cumulative Elevation Gain: 22,863' % Distance to Mexico: 34.2% Today's 69-miler is off the coast a bit until the town of Bandon, famous for golf & cranberries. The route then moves inland again until Port Orford, then coastal to Arizona Beach. Well, we survived the sprinklers coming on during the night. I think I only got hit with two passes. The staff was all over it, helping to make sure my duct-taped Quechea didn't float away.
Today is the day I returned to the sand dunes of Oregon and my traumatic experience at age 8 of getting lost in the fog on the beach and in the dunes near Florence. How would I handle it? Would there be flashbacks? Would I get lost again? We discovered that news article just 10 or so days ago, thanks to my sister and the editor of the Florence newspaper. How cool is that? I just had to find that spot and replicate that pose, and thanks to the help of the staff here, we found it! Excuse me, but who ordered the headwind today? Jeesh, the trees up here are all permanently bent south and for some reason, we had to have the wind in our face all day. It was also another foggy day, which continues the trend of foggy, sunny, foggy, sunny, foggy, since I started Leg 2 in South Bend, WA. Also, why is South Bend north of North Bend? As noted above, we rode through the Oregon Dunes today. I didn't venture out into the dunes themselves for fear of getting lost again like I did when I was 8. Back in 1965, I disappeared in the fog while playing on the beach with my sister here at the Siltcoos Recreation Area in Oregon When I couldn't find her, I decided to walk to the parking lot, only I went the wrong way. After walking a couple of miles along the beach, I decided to turn inland and over the dunes in hopes of seeing our campground. I got to the top of a dune but didn't see anything, so I headed back to the beach, where the Sheriff's Department, a helicopter, and other tourists were frantically searching for me. Here I am 48 years later, and I blame the Oregon dunes on my proclivity to lose stuff on a daily basis. I rode alone today and rather enjoyed it. Even though I'm riding in group rides on 14 of my 29 cycling days, the goal of getting to Mexico is mine alone and it just seems more appropriate to be riding alone. But I do enjoy the people here. They are a great group and I have now met a lot of them. Physically, it's hard to tell if I am getting better or if I'm just keeping my injuries at bay with lots of ice and careful riding. I have found that smooth shifting (no jarring) and a consistent pedaling stroke are what feels best. I'm very happy with how my knee and achilles are doing, but I'm not sure that either are going to subside entirely. If they stay the way they are, that'll do just fine. See if you know where this story is going.... Our previous night in Yachats was very windy. Combine that with my priceless 2-second tent that I have loved and bragged about for the 8 years since I did my first California Coast Classic. Combine that with the fact that I keep that priceless tent in the rafters of our garage where it heats up to at least 120 degrees in the summer and drops into the 40's in the winter. Now, what do you think I spent my first hour in camp doing? Fortunately, they have duct tape here and as my PCC co-rider (and BikeTheCoast13 donor) Laura told me, "if you can't fix it with duct tape, it means you haven't used enough duct tape." And I used about 2/3 of a roll to fix my Quechea 2-Second tent. And now, it's STILL better than any other tent here. You ROCK, Quechea. I mean, who wants to put up a tent after cycling 77 miles? So, I'm in North Bend (south of South Bend) working on my blog and resting in my tent. Didn't go to town; just not enough time after the long ride, patch job, and blogging. Another 70 tomorrow, hopefully with a little sun and a shift in the wind. Day 9 Recap: Yachats, OR to North Bend, OR
Actual Miles: 78.0 Cumulative Miles: 572.8 Elevation Gain: 3,261' Cumulative Elevation Gain: 19,923' % Distance to Mexico: 30.4% Lots of up & down as this 73-mile route skirts the dunes and past Sea Lion Caves before rolling through Florence & Reedsport, past several lakes & over the Umpqua River to North Bend, situated on Coos Bay. .As far as the cycling goes, not much to report on Day 8. It was an easy, 28-mile ride along the coast. The sun was back today and that was a big bonus. The coastline is amazing here. The beaches are wide and clean. They remind me of Manhattan Beach.... without the people. Since we didn't leave until afternoon, we had the morning free in Newport. I hung out at the aquarium for awhile and then rode into town. I didn't explore too much because I wanted to give my body as much rest as possible. When I returned, it was time to head over to Rogue Ales Brewery for appetizers, a tour led by Brewmaster (and PCC rider) John Maier, and lunch. During lunch, we were introduced to Barbara, who is the Pacific Coast Classic Honoree. Barb has arthritis......and she's a cancer survivor......and she's blind......AND she's doing the ride! She's on a tandem with another rider. My gosh - what an accomplishment! She has also done triathlons, jumped out of airplanes, and who know what else. I talked to her after lunch and then again at dinner. Barb is quite an inspiration - a lady who will not accept the word "can't". That's what it's all about, baby. I finally set out from the brewery alone for the short ride to Yachats. Although it was a short ride, there was some really great scenery that is probably shrouded in clouds or fog normally. Not today. Knee continues to get better, achilles is treading water.
Day 8 Recap: Newport, OR to Yachats, OR Actual Miles: 28.9 Cumulative Miles: 494.8 Elevation Gain: 840' Cumulative Elevation Gain: 16,662' % to Mexico: 26.3% The shortest day of my ride follows one of the longest with this 23-miler down the coast to Yachats (pronounced Ya-hots), a frequent choice amongst Top 10 travel destinations in the World. The People's Coast Classic will hang out in Newport for lunch before our casual spin to Yachats. We spent the night at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport and I had a bird's eye view of the Shark Tank. The video below is taken from where I spent the night. It's pretty cool, plus no tent to put up or take down. However, I'm situated 10 feet away from the guy snoring like a freight train. I do enjoy the social time with everyone cycling the People's Coast Classic, but I prefer my solo riding days to these. When I'm riding solo, I'm on my own schedule and my mind just floats. At the PCC, I'm spending a lot more time stressing out over stuff. Plus, nobody is snoring when I'm alone. This was the day I have been targeting as meaningful if I could get through it unscathed. I figured that if my knee could get me through 3 days riding more than 200 miles, there would be a good chance I might be able to make it to the finish. While I don't think I'm out of the woods yet, I felt good about how I held up. After 80 miles of riding, my achilles was less swollen than the night before and my knee has just a slight twinge. As it should be, my neck muscles and butt were more sore than anything. The fog hugged the coast for most of the day, which meant that we were in the sun every time we maneuvered inland a little, and we were usually in the fog along the coast. The fog spoiled what would have been some spectacular views, but we got peaks here and there and a foggy coastline makes for good pictures too. We ventured off of US-101 in Lincoln City on Devil's Lake Road and skirted Devil's Lake. The inland route got us out of the fog and it was a great bypass. I rode most of the day with Steve Gibson. With the long day, we didn't stop much and when we did, it was short, except for our lunch in Depoe Bay. There were no long climbs but it seemed like we were going up and down all day, and when you're doing 80 miles of that, the down hills are always too short, and it seems like you're always pedaling uphill. The fog in Depoe Bay continued to Cape Foulweather, so named by Captain Cook for its ferocious winds. The winds weren't too bad today but it was definitely chilly through this area. Finally made it to Newport and got ourselves situated at the aquarium. Reminds me of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in terms of some of the features, but on a much smaller scale. Day 7 Recap: Tillamook, OR to Newport, OR
Actual Miles: 82.4 Cumulative Miles: 465.9 Elevation Gain: 4,062' Cumulative Elevation Gain: 15,822' % to Mexico: 24.8% |
Jeff FredericksOn August 14, 2013, I'm flying to Vancouver, British Columbia and beginning a 29-day, 1,880-mile bike ride from Canada to Mexico. Archives |