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.
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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% At 83 miles, this is the longest scheduled day in Oregon or Washington. Mostly traversing the coast, I'll start with the Three Capes Scenic Route to Cape Meares, Cape Lookout, and Cape Kiwanda, then cycle through Pacific City and Lincoln City, before finishing at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. Sort of a weird night. Woke up to go to the bathroom and couldn't go back to sleep for about an hour. Then I woke up all stressed out and I'm not even sure why. I just needed to hit the road. Now that I have, I'm back in my "zone." I'm feeling really good at the rest stop. Cleat re-positioning and a little different riding technique seems to be doing the trick with the achilles. Knee feels good too. Long way to go though, so still plenty of time for me to complain about something.
Got to camp late, had to ice half my body parts before I could even take a shower, my camping gear was in total disarray, and I had far too many electronic devices that needed charging - but hey, HOW BOUT' THEM NINERS! I actually tried to catch the end of the game in Tillamook but all the restaurant/bars were the kind without windows, and I wasn't gonna walk into one of those joints wearing black Spandex. Rogue Ales Brewmaster, John (More Hops) Maier is riding with us. Need to belly up to him somewhere along the way. I think there's some sort of tasting tomorrow. Lots of "Fear the Beards" here too, and John's one of those guys. Check him out here: http://rogue.com/about/rogue-brewmaster.php Today was a bigger test for the knee, a 73-miler with 2,500' of climbing. The knee treated me great; in fact, it was even better than the first day back. I was able to stand and pedal just fine, and I think that was good for me. The first couple of times I stood and pedaled, my knee popped like when you crack your knuckles. Wake-up call for sure. The day's ride was awesome. Several nice little beach communities and I tried to stop and take pictures in all of them. Cannon Beach was my favorite but it was a little too early to stop there for lunch. I ended up having lunch in Manzanita with Steve and Cathy Gibson, chowing down two killer tacos. It's perfect weather, too. People are saying best weather ever for the PCC. Only negative is that both my achilles are swollen and especially the left one. I'm sure it's because of the way I rode yesterday. I overcompensated with my riding style and Mr. Achilles didn't like it. I was rocking my foot way too much. I think I did better today but by the end of the day, the left achilles was visibly swollen. I've been icing both of them, as well as both knees. I also moved my cleat position back, so as to stabilize my pedal over the cleat a little better. Hopefully I can nip it in the bud and get my groove on! Day 6 Recap: Astoria, OR to Tillamook, OR
Actual Miles: 73.5 Cumulative Miles: 383.5 Elevation Gain: 2,500' Cumulative Elevation Gain: 11,760' % to Mexico: 20.8% |
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 |