Season 3 Episode 8 (10/1-10/4) An early Thanksgiving

Season 3 Episode 8 (10/1-10/4) An early Thanksgiving – 

10/1 Tillamook to Lincoln OR. 63 miles 3503’ climb.

Yesterday’s Tillamook ice cream tasting bonanza was nearly a perfect day, until dinner that is. I qualified for my first senior citizen’s dinner discount for being 60 years old. Ouch. Here I am pedaling daily, clinging to my notion of self as youthful, and then there’s reality. That’s one savings I’d rather do without.

Today we took a 12 mile gamble. We wanted to cycle through what’s known as the Three Capes Scenic Loop on the coast. It’s known for magnificent views including the Cape Meares, Cape Lookout, and Cape Kiwanda. There were landslides leading to the road’s closure in 2013. Online chat forums said the route is closed to vehicles, but you can ignore the “road closed” signs; locals bike through it and claim it’s terrific as there are no cars. After 10 years, it’s finally expected to open up end of October this year. Since it was a Sunday, we figured there would be no workers and let’s go for it. And we figured the road was stable.

We came to our first sign, and boldly went on. We understood if we could not pass through, we would need to come back this way - a round trip of more than 12 extra miles (more than an hour of riding).

The fishing scene on the Tillamook River was spectacular. Heather is in fact wearing two jackets as it was 48 degrees and that’s in the sun, even colder in the shade.

The second sign, as expected, also said the road was closed. At this point, we started climbing a steep mountain road forging ahead.

Finally, after 18 minutes of climbing effort to the top of the road, another sign specifically states no bikers.

At this point we were undeterred and going for it!! And then a monster truck pulls up and the driver had biceps that demanded respect. He informs us that he’s one of the project managers working on the road, and that no bikes or pedestrians are allowed. I felt like he was basically saying to me “what are you an idiot ignoring all these signs?”  It was time for my self-preservation instinct to just politely thank him and turn back down that mountain we just rode up. We lost today’s gamble. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. We comforted ourselves by enjoying the fishing scenes on the river a second time, this time straining our neck looking to the left on the return trip.

Our route today, like most Oregon days, combined 3 different types of roads:

Ocean views.

Forested old road with 1 lane each way.

Commercial strip. (with more cars on weekdays)

On account of the 12 extra miles from losing our gamble, plus the effort needed for my extra cargo I was carrying today (2.5- 3 pounds that is more than a 10% increase), I started to sag with 10 miles to go. It was a slow, weak finish, but at least a dry day!

Yesterday I stocked up on a pound of almonds, half pound of free cheese samples, extra avocado and banana (normally I have 1 of each, today I had 2 of each), and my souvenir Tillamook ceramic cone! It’s not much but, it all adds up!  That plus the 4-5 scoops of ice cream we consumed.

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10/2 Lincoln to Florence, OR. 81 miles 4150’ climb.

Hands down today was our toughest day!  We should have known from the outset. The forecast was for no rain until 1PM, so we were happy to start at 7:30AM to get half of our 80 miles in while we were still dry. However, after 5 minutes, it was light misty rain. So much for the forecast.

The interesting thing about spittle, mist-like rain is I could see nothing was accumulating on the road so I didn’t think much of it. However, it sure accumulated on our clothing.

In the morning, the scenery did not disappoint and lived up to our high expectations, but we could not linger to enjoy it.

Whenever friends at home initially heard of this ride down the coast, anybody who had driven it cautioned us about the narrow shoulders and steep drop offs. This roadside view over the guardrail was one of several.

We had another tunnel and 2 more bridges that warn motorists of cyclists when the lights are flashing. I thought of the French couple we met who didn’t speak much English and of Matheus who we met from Poland and hoped they understood these signs. And then after the tunnel, I found out I should be most concerned about Heather. She reads English well, she just doesn’t bother to read road signs and told me she missed the tunnel sign for cyclists to press the button. Yikes.

And then midday it started to rain - real rain. Not torrentially like we experienced on the east coast last year for shorter bursts, but fairly constant for 4 solid hours. We thought last week’s cold rain in Washington was hard, but today was the wettest we’d ever been on our bikes, and with no short bursts of sunshine as a break in the rain.

My only reprieve was tucking into the entranceway of the Dollar store to eat my cheese sandwich and banana.

When we arrived in Florence, we literally could wring water out of our socks, gloves, shorts, hats, arm and leg coverings and could hear the puddles in our shoes. The cash inside my supposedly waterproof pocket was soaked through. My finger tips were prunish and my hands were numbed into a rounded position as if still curling over my handlebars. I could not straighten my fingers. Neither of us could change gears with our left hand as we were too numb and weak to push the shifter.

It was cold, but the saving grace was it was not as cold as a few days ago. It was mid 50s.

And it could have been worse! At one point we passed Kate, a solo cyclist in her 40s who was crouched roadside in the rain changing a flat. We felt so sorry for her. I stayed with her to make sure she was ok and had it resolved. (She then passed me on an uphill, I could not believe how strong and fast she is.) She was heading to a campsite.

We were lucky enough to be in a dry, warm hotel and to heat our insides with hot minestrone. For dinner, I was delighted to see on the menu my ultimate comfort food that I normally eat only once a year - turkey, stuffing, and gravy - it was an early Thanksgiving and we have so much to be grateful for!

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10/3 Florence to North Bend, OR. 53 miles 2386’ climb.

We are finally figuring out the forecast on the coast of Oregon. No rain must mean just a misty, light rain - which is what we rode in for the first 20 miles.

Heather hit a bump and her handlebar bag was dislodged and flew off her bike into traffic. As it contained her phone among other important items, luckily there was no car immediately coming by to crush it, nor to crush her as she ran back to retrieve it.

Despite another damp morning, I was in soaring spirits. We rode through Jessie M. Honeyman State Park and by the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area that triggered a flood of positive memories for me from my first camping trip here in 1985! I was then 22 and trying to figure out “what to do with the rest of my life”, and that trip began my love affair with the western parks and landscapes. No amount of rain today could dampen my spirits. And now at 60, while I still on occasion contemplate my future, I have learned to shift gears and am much more focused on living in the present.

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area

© Copyright Mark Segal 2023.