Bike - Specialized Roubaix
Day's run - 76.4 miles
Average speed - 13.7 mph (zeroized cycloputer)
Time in saddle - 5:33:10
Total miles - 327.4
A long, hard day. Saddled up at about 10:00 and headed south. Got off the headland and hit some miles of flat land as far as Florence, when a long stretch of climbing and rolling hills began. Passed one rider - a single man in his 20s, en route to the Mexican border. Like every one else I've met, he's on a more relaxed schedule than I am - he left Vancouver on the 12th of June. Caught up with Bob in Reedsport and had lunch, then continued south on more friendly terrain as far as North Bend, which I reached somewhat before 4:00. Wind continues to provide a kick in the pants - according to my hand-held nautical anemometer, at one reading the wind was NW at 15 kts-plus. Met and pitied several northbound riders. I can't imagine why anyone would willingly ride south to north along this coast, at least not at this time of year.
In spite of its name, Hwy 101 is bike-friendly. Amply wide and smoothly paved, at least outside the towns, it has well-delineated shoulder bike lanes. Traffic was not a problem today, either. Very few trucks, a moderate number of cars, campers, motor homes and SUVs, and lots of motorcycles. Groups of six to twelve riders passed in one direction or the other every couple of minutes and our Coos Bay motel is hosting several heavy-set, Vietnam-era-aged, men and their wives, some in the required leather, with their Harley V-twins parked outside their doors.
Should you ever pass this way on a bicycle, do not fall for Adventure Cycling and the Oregon DOT's signage suggestions that you leave 101 and head south on the Scenic Route, via the coastal fishing town of Charleston. You make a several hundred-foot climb onto a ridge as you leave Charleston and the only scenes over the next 16-plus miles are of the winding, twisting, rising and falling, coarse asphalt ahead of you. Bob had gone ahead to find no "room at the inn" in Bandon and we had to return to Coos Bay to find overpriced but comfortable lodging.
Should you ever pass this way, I suggest dinner at La Costa, an unpretentious Mexican/Peruvian
restaurant well to the west of 101, at the corner of Broadway and Newmarket.
#1: Dipping the wheel in Oak Harbor, WA, June 20:
#2: Megler-Astoria Bridge, in far background (duplicated below)
#3: Aunt Vivian, Cousin Jackie, Shelton, WA, June 21
#4: Arch Cape tunnel, OR, June 23
#5: Oretown start, June 24
#3:
We plan to phone ahead tomorrow morning for reservations in Gold Beach, 70 miles to the south. We're about 40 miles ahead of my rough, theoretical itinerary. I hope I can stay on schedule. Today was a challenge.
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