Beers, Bridges, Beaches...Believe

Day 8 - 65 miles (Ilwaco to Nehalem)

I woke up refreshed this morning! The weather last night was perfect for camping. Cool breeze with the sounds of insects chirping. We tested some new camera mount positions and headed into Long Beach for some breakfast. We went to a restaurant that Bo used to work at as a youth and the owner of the restaurant bought our breakfast! It was a very appreciated gesture.

After a few hours, we made it to the Astoria Bridge where we tested out one of our camera mount positions. We attached a GoPro camera to a selfie stick, duct taped it to my front rack and handlebar bag, positioned it out towards the street, hit record and started riding. I didn't think something so light would make it hard for me to ride, but it did. I kept worrying about cars hitting the GoPro and about it wobbling back and forth as I prepared to cross this 4 mile bridge on it's narrow shoulder. I rode the entire bridge white knuckled and full of adrenaline as cars whizzed passed me. I was so focused on not letting the camera hit anything that I didn't even notice how steep the last section of the bridge was. We finished scaling it, found a parking lot and took the selfie stick off my bike. Although the footage turned out great and I plan to do it again, I was done with it for the day.

We rode for another 17 miles to Seaside and had a nice leisurely lunch of pizza and beer. It hit the spot. I have a wedding to go to on July 31 so over lunch we were figuring out logistics to make that happen. We decided we could start biking 70 miles a day for 10 days, drop my bike and gear off at a friend's place and then take a bus back to Salt Lake City while Bo explores San Fran. With that goal in mind, we were off to Nehalem. We knew it would be a tough ride but didn't expect it to be THAT tough. For 24 miles, we scaled hill after hill. For the last five miles, we had to climb two 600 foot beasts before we could get to our destination.

As with all challenges worth facing, the rewards outweighed the struggle. We had a gorgeous view of Manzanita Beach from the Neahkahnie Viewpoint and an awesome ride down. We rode into Nehalem Bay State Park (which is awesome FYI), set up camp and headed back into Manzanita to watch the sunset back at the beach. Today was a great day.

Day 9 - 55 miles (Nehalem to Pacific City)

We hit the 500 mile mark today! It's crazy to think we've ridden so far on our bikes in such a short amount of time. Not only that, but we've also had no serious injuries or bike malfunctions. I'll keep crossing my fingers for us.

Today we planned on biking 73 miles to Devil's Lake. After biking 55 miles to Pacific City, we made the pivotal decision to take it easy and enjoy our time on the coast instead of forcing our way through 70 mile days to get into San Francisco in time to leave for the wedding. As such, I'll have to get creative with storing my bike and gear while I'm gone. I also won't bike around 100 miles of the north California coast, but sacrifices need to be made. Bo will continue biking while I'm gone and I'll meet up with him in San Francisco after the wedding.

Prior to arriving in Pacific City, we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory and enjoyed some ice cream and cheese for lunch. We ate so much sugar that morning/afternoon. Three donuts for breakfast and dairy goodness for lunch...it was worth it. It was really hot all day. We accidentally took a road off the coast and it almost did us in. We rode 15-20 miles off course in 90 degree weather with no ocean breeze. Luckily we reached a convenience store full of unfriendly locals and rehydrated before heading to or final destination.

Riding into Pacific City and looking back on our night there makes me glad that we spent the night there. We had dinner at Pelican Bay, which is a beachfront pub and brewery with tasty food, and then looked for a place to camp. There was some festival going on that weekend (Dory Days) so three of the campsites we checked were all full. We got creative...

After dropping off our gear in our makeshift campsite, we headed back into town and hung out at beach with some locals. There is this HUGE sand dune on the beach that I couldn't pass up. I had to climb it. I would guess that it was around 150-200 feet high and a (not exaggerating) 60 degree incline. I was trying to wrap my head around how this geological feat was formed. After surmounting Sprint Hill (as the locals call it) we built a fire on the beach, drank some recovery liquids aka beer and headed home at dark.

Bo had WAY too much to drink so he had a difficult time biking home. But I'll leave it to him to tell that story...*

We got to our campsite and Bo slept outside. I got out my tent and crashed for the night. No changing into pjs or teeth brushing...just sleep.

*Actually I'll tell it since I don't think he remembers all of it! We had forgotten our night gear so we had the bike home using the light of the street lamps. I tried to convince Bo to walk home but he was set on biking. So he headed into the dark and I got in front of him so he could follow my blinking tail light. A few cars started passing us and so Bo decided it would be safer to bike on the shoulder, but the shoulder was full of sand. I look in my rear view mirror and see Bo and his bike's silhouette, horizontal in the road... The car slowly drives around him and I headed back to check on him. I couldn't stop laughing as he kept tried (and failed) twice to stand up before he gave in to the spins and laid down on the side of the rode. Fortunately for us, he was able to bike (yes, he STILL wanted to bike the rest of the way...) home without further incident.

Day 10 - 58 miles (Pacific City to Newport)

We woke up amongst the chest high grasslands and packed up quickly to avoid any confrontations with the rangers. We didn't get ready for bed last night so we stopped at a gas station in town and freshened up.

We rode about 10 miles until we got to Slab Creek Rd; a 10 mile scenic ride along the old Pacific Coast Highway. The first mile and half was easy. It stayed relatively flat alongside the creek and then the uphill began...we probably climbed around 1,000 feet for the next 2-3 miles. I did notice that my legs feel much stronger and capable of the task at foot and the rode was free from cars so I enjoyed the slow incline. I've actually started to enjoy seeing uphills because I know what's waiting for me on the second half... We flew down the canyon going around 25mph for 8 exhilarating minutes.

We passed Devil's Lake on our way to Lincoln City and I was not a fan of the road: 7 miles with a narrow or nonexistent shoulder to navigate while stabilizing my bike against the winds and vehicles going 50mph. Not fun. I've become much more conscientious of bike lanes in towns (imagine that) and think they're one of the signs of a healthy city.

After taking an afternoon break in the library and charging our electronics, we headed towards Depoe Bay and Newport. I'm not sure if it was our lunch or the extensive climbing in the afternoon or the culmination of 10 days of biking, but the second half of the day was really hard. I'm very happy that it was overcast and foggy all day. The wind got annoying but I prefer it over stagnant heat. We biked along the Oregon coast up some massive hills and took a detour to Devil's Punchbowl State Park before reaching Newport exhausted.

I'm glad we decided to get a hotel tonight because we both feel gross and tired. Taking a hot shower felt like heaven and sleeping in a bed couldn't get any better. Tomorrow were planning to ride another 60 miles which would put us in Dunes City. We'll see what actually happens*.

*I forgot to mention. At some point during our drunken pitch black cycling the night before, we lost our map and no longer know the topography on the trail. This kinda sucks because we can't tell which miles are going to be difficult and which will be easy. We'll survive though!