Rain rain go away

Our ride thus far, down the Oregon coast, has been wet, windy, and absolutely amazing. Half the miles have been on somewhat busy roads through small coastal towns with many great ocean views, the other half on what seems like our own personal paved nature trail through the huge, green, misty, ancient feeling forests of what's technically Oregons rainforest.

Today our course turned East, away from the coast and the mighty Pacific. We have our fingers crossed that'll dry things out a bit for us, as it's been three days of riding through on and off rain and a sometimes relentless headwind (when the wind blows directly in your face slowing you down).

We've met a small handful of other touring bicyclists, however, we've yet to meet any peddling the same route. Lots of great people along the way and many shouts of encouragement, thumbs up, and shockas.

 

I've been riding the last hundred miles with one clip in bicycle shoe and one flip flop due to a broken pedal on day two. Sarah says I look like I have a disability, maybe a club foot or something of the sort...I like to think it gives my usual dorky looking bicycle attire somewhat of a hard edge.

All in all, taking in the landscape at an average speed of 12 mph is pretty amazing.

 

2 Days In

We had an Amtrak fiasco on Wednesday night, so we ended up staying with Chelsey overnight in Sacramento. We woke up in the AM and rented a car from Enterprise, bought a rack from REI and hit the road. We got to Coburg, OR around 9pm on Thursday and stayed with Vilma, Auntie and Phil. We left in the morning for Astoria and got there about 2pm.

Day 1-Rested up and started our first riding day at about 7:30am.  Beautiful ride even though we already got off route in like the first mile.  Not to worry, we found our way back and didn't have to do any backtracking.  We stopped in Cannon Beach for lunch.  We found a covering overlooking the beach and ocean thank goodness since it was raining a bit.  After lunch we pushed on to our destination for the night, Nehalem Bay State Park near Manzanita, OR.  I think our final mileage for the day was 47.

Day 2- Rai rai raining!!!!  Hard to get out of the tent. We rally and find shelter and get our bags packed.  Head to Manzanita for breakfast, find Bread & Ocean and have a great breakfast.  It's drizzling on and off all day.  We ride along the beautiful coast for a few hours and stop off at the Tillamook factory for lunch and a quick tour.  Leave there and head to Netarts for the night.  Super long and stressful 6 miles, lots of traffic and zero shoulder.  We were very thankful to find the Edgewater Motel and the nice lady who runs it.  We have what I think will be the nicest place we'll stay the whole way, a condo on the ocean with 2 rooms, a jacuzzi tub and a washer and dryer, what more could we ask for!!! Not sure of the exact mileage for the day, somewhere between 37 and 45.

Morning Day 3- more rain.....getting ready to go now, but its hard as we can hear the rain and wind outside.  Can't wimp out the 3rd day.....but it does seem to be storming outside, worried more about the wind than the rain.

 

 

 

 

 

Gear List woop woop

So it's Wednesday May 22nd and we're at my parents house preparing for our departure.  I thought I'd share my gear list with you in case you want to come with us.  Ok so this is what your seeing top to bottom: 1 cool journal, glasses so I can see where I'm going, MP3 player, flip flops, water bottles, Nuuns, Wet Ones, Kindle, iPhone, hygiene stuff, my bike shoes, sunscreen, Chapstick, Swiss Army knife, plastic bags for when it rains because our panniers aren't waterproof, sleeping bag, pad and liner, towel, cook pot, cup, bowl, silverware, rain jacket, down jacket, tank top, long sleeve, sports bras, padded shorts, bike gloves, socks, bathing suit, extra shirts and shorts, 4 panniers, hat, extra bike tubes, locks and various chargers.... I'm sure I didn't get all of it, but you get the gist.  So all in all including my bike I'll probably be lugging around an extra 50ish lbs across the country.

Matt's gear is similar to mine except that he has the tent, cook stove, tool kit and I'm sure a few other really important things, but he says that as long as he has his Kona coffee (thanks Kris) and protein powder he's good to go ;)

Also on our bikes we have front and rear lights and a cycling computer so we can see how far we go and how fast etc.

Ok so 1 more quick trip to REI and we're set.

As I think we mentioned before, we leave tonight on Amtrak and get to our destination, Astoria, OR, tomorrow around 8pm.  We're meeting my Auntie Patty and her husband Phil there and they will be riding with us for the Oregon section of the route.  We are really excited to have company and even more excited that they know the lay of the land!  Ok now just need to pray for no rain.  As of now we will have rain for our attempted first day of riding, Friday.  Wish us luck!

After months and many hours of research, pondering, acquiring gear, going over maps, and gathering the know how of what it takes to set off on such an endeavor.....

In just one week it begins....Sarah and I will be headed North, by way of a seventeen hour Amtrak ride, to our starting point on the TransAmerica route, Astoria, Oregon, on the Western edge of these United States. After one month of regular training rides on the mountainous roads around our winter dwelling in the Eastern Sierras I feel we're pushing off in pretty good starting shape. A recent one hundred mile weekend with fully loaded bikes went very well leaving us with only the standard tired legs and sore behinds.....no doubt being perched on a bike seat for six hours a day will take some getting used to.

The route will take us through Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Virginia.....through the Cascade and Rocky mountain ranges, down into
the flat terrain of the Great Plains, next passing through the Appalachian  range to the ending point in Yorktown, VA. 4,234 miles in total.

We decided a blog would be a good way to share our pictures and stories as we peddle our bikes from day to day, place to place, and State to State.....so follow along or check in on us from time to time.