Season 3 Episode 9 (10/5-10/7) California Here We Come!

Season 3 Episode 9 (10/5-10/7) California Here We Come! – 

10/5 North Bend to Port Orford, OR 57 miles 3034’ climb.

Yesterday’s rest day in North Bend delivered much needed sunshine. I sat for over 2 hours waterside by Coos Bay. It was restorative to be soaking up rays instead of being soaking wet. I recently saw a sign that said “water soothes my soul”. Staring out at the bay, contemplating the ocean views we’ve cycled along and thinking of the countless hours of kayaking at home - I could not agree more.  Water does soothe my soul - unless I’m biking in it!

The cute AirBnb where we reset ourselves. Departure was once again in cool weather, but dry!

After snacking by the charming harbor in Bandon, and indulging in more samples than what was reasonable at the “Cranberry Sweets” shop, we rode south to discover magnificent views. 

(Bandon is the Cranberry capital of Oregon, Wisconsin is the US and world capital.) 

 Get yourself to Bandon, Oregon and ride or drive south. You can thank me later!

Near the town of Langlois, we encountered a large mass of bugs flying at us. It felt like I was in a video game flying through an attacking swarm. About once a minute, I’d hear a thwack and feel one fly into my cheek or neck. And I’d shout out. We learned later from Laura, our waitress at dinner, they were likely flying termites common this time of year. 

As we approached Port Orford, we saw signs like this. And then we saw many signs in town thanking the fire fighters.

We learned, again from Laura, that the Anvil forest fire had spread to 7.5 miles to the east of town; fortunately, the downpour a few days ago greatly helped to contain the fire. She told us September is normally a very dry month, but they’ve had double the monthly typical rain this year. I told her we could vouch for that. And just like that, we re-thought our soaking day to Florence and recent days. We were both grateful for the rain that spared some people evacuating and who knows if worse.

Although the day started with cool temps again, it finally warmed up to be the very first day we finished in shorts and tees without arm and leg warmers. We actually celebrated.

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10/6 Port Orford to Brookings, OR 60 miles 3697’ climb.

This morning, I was struck by my very own Impressionism, Monet moments and the play of light. As I left our motel room, I took this first photo. 

I stepped outside at 7:44AM

 Just 2 minutes later, at 7:46AM

And 45 minutes later after breakfast, and granted a bit closer to the rocks. 

Fun fact: we were told that in Oregon, towns on the coast are about 25 miles apart, the distance a horse-drawn wagon could travel in a day. 

We soon started pedaling up a long and steep hill. Heather was ahead of me, out of sight, and I stopped for a moment. What happened next is in the truth is stranger than fiction department - I could not make this up. 

As I clipped my shoes back in to my pedals, I could not pedal as I’d stopped in too high (hard) a gear. There was too much resistance. I fell to my right. Fortunately, I was so far to the right that I did not fall on pavement or black top, but rather beyond the edge of the shoulder of the road and onto a soft bed of pine needles and grass. Unfortunately, it was on ground that sloped sharply down away from the road. So I rolled down about 5 feet. And in the split second that I looked up, I could see my bike was next to fall down that embankment and land on me. Ouch. 

I lay there stunned, with pine needles all over me and in disbelief. I then did a mental inventory of my bones and joints, and determined I didn’t break anything. I pushed my bike off of me - not easily- and climbed back up to the road. Cycling up the hill, about 20 yards away, I saw an odd-looking rider - looking more like a drifter on an old clunker of a bike. I jokingly asked if he’d ever seen such a crazy fall. He said that was wild. I scooted ahead wondering how am I going to tell Heather about this mishap, knowing she already thinks I’m a disaster. I caught up to her as she had already started to ride back towards me and in her words “wondering what the hell had happened to you”. I wished Heather had been behind me to witness this - perhaps she would have worried if I was okay. 

We stopped at Humbug Mountain State Park for me to reminisce about camping here in the early 90s when I biked a few days here supporting a tour group. All of a sudden, a car pulled in behind us. A woman jumped out and said “I just told my husband to pull over, there’s our cycling friends that we saw in Lincoln”. Now, we never met this couple before, but they had seen us riding on the highway and were so excited to see us again. We loved that they used the term “friends” as we also say that often about somebody we’ve seen who doesn’t even know we exist. It’s all one big family of like-minded travelers out here on the road.

As it warmed, we enjoyed pleasant riding and a second day of sunshine for which we were thrilled and grateful. 

We frequently buy food at supermarkets for snacks, breakfast and lunch as we try to eat healthy and not always at restaurants. At the supermarket, we enjoyed a chance encounter with Kate from England (of flat tire in the rain fame from a few days ago). And she was now riding with Jim from Colorado. It’s nice to see others of your riding “family” - helps to know we are not the only ones foolish enough to do this. 

And 90 minutes later, we picnicked in paradise.

In Brookings, we splurged on a professional chain and gears cleaning and lubing. Partly as my bike was making some noise and partly preventative maintenance. Rich did a fantastic and thorough job, and our bikes purred silently afterwards. It was worth the detour and time. Maintenance is one of those ongoing concerns for us. He did freak us out a bit with his warnings not to ride through San Francisco! We will let him know when we are safely done. 

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10/7 Port Orford, OR to Klamath, CA 48 miles 2167’ climb

We quickly arrived at the state line. 

California here I (we) come.

6 minutes into the state we hit a thick fog. 

Two hours later, next to the beach, the fog concealed any sight of water. 

We rode past Crescent City, CA and I read an astounding statistic. Since 1933, the small city has recorded 34 tsunamis, the highest number on the Pacific Coast of the USA. That’s an average of more than 1 every 3 years for 90 years - yet I’ve never heard of any of this.

We soon climbed higher, and slightly inland and enjoyed better visibility. We were excited for the Redwoods awaiting us, and also met Tate and Rochelle from Vancouver, a young couple also riding to the Mexican border. They climbed that mountain much faster than we did. 

This was our second day of the trip that perfectly illustrated Heather’s mantra that not all miles are created equally.  After 32 basically flat miles, the climb of the day was very concentrated - 1,257’ over just 4.5 miles. It was long, but that’s a pretty manageable grade (slope). It just means delayering as we warmed, and putting clothes back on for the descent.

After about an hour of climbing, resting, drinking, and more climbing…we arrived at the sign that makes Mark very happy, and Heather not!

We were excited to be in California and in the Redwoods. The downside of our forest location was we had limited dinner options, and unfortunately had our worst meal of the trip. As I write this 3 days later, I can say at least we didn’t get sick. 

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