After a lot of interest, only 3 of us rode today. There were 3 folks providing support. A one to one ratio! Got to love that.
After a lot of rain over night the skies were partly clear and it was not raining as we started out just a few minutes after 5AM. We pedaled northward on Hwy 101, which was pretty empty of vehicles this time of the day.
I got a bit of a jump at the start on Keith, a noted ultra cyclist, who was riding a fared recumbent. It took him about 29 miles to catch me, then he added insult to injury by passing me on a hill! (recumbents are notoriously slug like going up hills....what does that make me?)
When we reached Hwy 26 we turned east and made our way to Hwy 53 at Necanicum Junction and turned south. The morning had turned out quite nice. No rain and just the lightest of breeze.
As I crossed the Clatsop/Tillamook county line, and the 1/4 ride complete distance, I took the opportunity to give true "mobile audio blogging" a try as I posted this while riding about 18 mph!
We made our way back to Hwy 101 and pedaled along Tillamook Bay. The weather was still quite nice as I looked across the bay to the town of Garibaldi.
When I reached 90 miles into the ride the weather took a downturn. It was dripping just a bit, not hard rain, but the tires where throwing up rooster tails none the less. After about 10 miles of this I arrived in Beaver where I stopped for a snack at the store.
At Beaver I took a left turn and started up a road that followed the Nestucca River. SAG had moved Elise up the course and set her off at Beaver where she now had a 10 minute start on me. Keith was already ahead of me, so I now was the official "lantern rouge", the last rider on the course!
Somewhere along today's route, I forget exactly where as I'm posting this, our route sent us over a bridge that was out. There was a signed detour, but being unsure exactly how far that detour might be I pedaled slowly up to the precipice in search of a worker's walkway. It had one!
There were even wooden stairs! But I had to negotiate wet slick rocks in metal cleated bike shoes to get there. :-O After several tense moments I did in fact make it down to the river and back up the other side safely.
Elise's plan today called for 100 miles interspersed with SAG rides. We had a little fun with this during the day calling it her "energy management plan". Despite the rain we were determined to have fun today!
I climbed a LONG hill and made my way into Willamina. Willamina bills itself as logging and mill town. Despite this, the Desert Coyote felt right at home.
From near Willamina the Tillamook Double's route traces the same route as Reach the Beach. It was in the stretch that we had the hardest rain of the day. It just poured! I remembered this section well from earlier this year, when I covered that distance just a bit faster than I did today. But I did cover that distance fast enough today to stay ahead of Keith, who had missed a turn and been the recipient of "bonus miles". I had hoped to stay ahead of Keith at least until Pacific City. I managed to do that, then had a little fun posting an audio update.
I had walked into a little store directly across the road from the Pelican Brew Pub and refilled hydration and energy stores. I was munching on a slice of pizza when I saw Keith ride by. Despite me waving, he never saw me. If one is going to get passed that's the way to do it......... he never got the enjoyment of passing me, he thought I was still ahead of him!
The wind had increased in intensity and was now blowing about 15 mph, but luckily was at our backs. Our route would take us on the "Three Capes Scenic Tour". We were sheltered a bit from the wind as we were riding along forested roads for a good portion of the time. There was the almost imperceptible "climb" over Cape Kiwanda, then a big climb on tired legs over Cape Lookout. As I pedaled up this long hill insult was added to injury by the condition of the road. Earlier this year three of us had ridden this and noted a few places with rough pavement, it had only gotten worse with time. I was glad to descend Cape Lookout while we still had daylight, it would have been ugly in the dark on wet roads.
It was still raining and it was now clear that it was going to get dark on us before we would be able to finish. None of us were looking forward to riding along busy Hwy 101 on a dark rainy night. The event organizer made an executive decision and modified the route. We would take a turn that would have us miss Cape Meares, and save nearly 10 miles, but still get our 200 miles in.
There were no complaints from the riders.
I made it though Tillamook and turned northward on Hwy 101. I already had front and rear blinkies on, but a bit after Tillamook I turned on the steady state front LED light too. Just as darkness was beginning to take hold I came across Keith who was along the road with his second flat of the day. It was raining hard. Having ridden bonus miles with the missed turn on the Nestucca River he was already at 210 miles for the day, enough he said. After a call to our SAG driver he urged me to pedal on before I got cold. There was a ~20mph tailwind blowing and it was going to help me make quick work of the last 10 miles. I had two 5 LED front lights, with one in blink mode and one in steady state. It wasn't much light for moving as fast as I was moving. Traffic was quite heavy on Hwy 101 and I was riding outside the fog line. I made it another 5 miles (traveling 22-24 mph) when suddenly I hit something that blew both tires immediately. I never did see what I hit. I thought it might have been a metal shipping band by the sound. It was raining and dark. I feared that the tires might be cut but could not see them well enough to make any decent determination. I was in a narrow section of road with no real shoulder. I knew that our SAG driver wouldn't be able to pull over there so I crossed to the other side of the road and made like a pedestrian as I walk my bike to a wider spot. Before I could make it there the SAG vehicle came past and was waiting for me. We loaded my bike........4 miles short of the 200 mile mark, at the speed I was riding I was 12 minutes from the end.
Keith rode more miles, but I made it the farthest on the course of any of us today.
and the final audio update was posted post ride as we all gathered together for pizza.
You can read Sandy's account HERE (more accurate than mine, no audio shenanigans!)
............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.....ROLLERS....TOTAL
Today.......196...............0...............0..........196
Jan........618...............0................0..........618
Feb........692...............0................0..........692
March......940...............0................5..........940
April......934...............0................0..........934
May........905...............0................0..........905
June......1152...............0................0.........1152
July......1020...............0................0.........1020
Aug.......1000...............0................0.........1000
Sept.......826...............0................0..........826
_________________________________________
TOTAL.....8105...............0..............5.........8110
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