Three links, first one is mine, other two are Jeff's.
http://picasaweb.google.com/gswang/SanDiegoOregonBikeTrip
http://picasaweb.google.com/JPatzer/OregonBikeTrip
http://picasaweb.google.com/JPatzer/OregonBikeTrip2
Well, Jeff pretty much summed up our last few days. I'd just like to put in that overall, it was a great trip but for weather being a crapshoot. I loved that we got to stand still and look around without all the scenery flying by. The calm Oregon countryside/oceanside has its own kind of beauty, especially for persons like myself, who are too used to the fast-paced silicon valley lifestyle.
For future reference: DO NOT DO THIS EARLY JUNE. That was easily our worst mistake on this entire trip...well, other than taking Jeff the Skunk along. We expected 2 or 3 days of rain, but what we got was only two or three days of sun. That changed this from a real bike tour into touring with bikes.
Anyway...I heard Vermont is a nice place to ride.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wrap Up
Apologies for the lack of posting for the past few days, but we were busy and lacking a cell phone signal with which to log onto the internet.
Monday:
We started out riding North of Bandon at Bullards Beach State Park and made it only about 20 miles where once again the skies opened and once again felt the need to soak us. Therefore, we stopped at Langois, had some awesome hot dogs with the homemade honey mustard, got stared at by the 'rustic' locals, and promptly clambered back into the Pilot for the trip down to Gold Beach. Once there we confirmed our reservation for the jet boats and found a Yurt to stay in (inclement weather, once again).
Tuesday:
This day consisted mainly of the Jet Boat ride up the Rogue River. It was an awesome trip where we encountered a great deal of interesting wildlife and various fishing locals. The only complaint issued from Liz: "I want to go faster and go over more of the rapids". After the ride, we drove down into the redwood forests of northern California and stayed the night there. We didn't get any riding in due to the lateness in the day.
Wednesday:
We only rode a short 8 mile section through the best part of the redwoods earlier in the morning and then drove back to the Bay Area. The short bike ride was great because it was a slightly sloping downhill grade that meant no pedaling and a good pace to view the trees from. We stopped at David and Kays' house on the way back to see their new animal additions (both very cute) and to eat some pizza. After that we returned back to the apartment and unloaded.
Thursday:
Dad and me are driving home. The valley sucks.
End Note: Good trip. Not as much riding as we wanted, but thats how it goes. Great Scenery.
End Trip
Pictures and Video will follow.
Monday:
We started out riding North of Bandon at Bullards Beach State Park and made it only about 20 miles where once again the skies opened and once again felt the need to soak us. Therefore, we stopped at Langois, had some awesome hot dogs with the homemade honey mustard, got stared at by the 'rustic' locals, and promptly clambered back into the Pilot for the trip down to Gold Beach. Once there we confirmed our reservation for the jet boats and found a Yurt to stay in (inclement weather, once again).
Tuesday:
This day consisted mainly of the Jet Boat ride up the Rogue River. It was an awesome trip where we encountered a great deal of interesting wildlife and various fishing locals. The only complaint issued from Liz: "I want to go faster and go over more of the rapids". After the ride, we drove down into the redwood forests of northern California and stayed the night there. We didn't get any riding in due to the lateness in the day.
Wednesday:
We only rode a short 8 mile section through the best part of the redwoods earlier in the morning and then drove back to the Bay Area. The short bike ride was great because it was a slightly sloping downhill grade that meant no pedaling and a good pace to view the trees from. We stopped at David and Kays' house on the way back to see their new animal additions (both very cute) and to eat some pizza. After that we returned back to the apartment and unloaded.
Thursday:
Dad and me are driving home. The valley sucks.
End Note: Good trip. Not as much riding as we wanted, but thats how it goes. Great Scenery.
End Trip
Pictures and Video will follow.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Change of Pace
Despite my silence, actually quite a lot has happened over these last couple days.
Three days ago, we started off in a yurt, launching our day into a fair weather without rain. Of course, we were nowhere near that fortunate, since as soon as we left the campsite, the rain began and never ended. The difference between yesterday and the second day was this: headwind. When we finally got to Depoe Bay, the synergy between wind and rain struck us with such force as to be able to feel it as a steep hill or to topple me when it deigned to blow to the side. It took us an hour and a half to simply ride about ten miles. At Depoe, we had a solid hot lunch, but more importantly, bought time to rest and dry off. Mike also popped us a question that at the very least Liz and I had not considered: the possibility of having the car follow us as a support wagon.
Unfortunately, as soon as we opened the door to the outside, the wind streamed into the store and chilled us so much so that as Mike walked outside, Jeff, Liz, and I took a leap backwards shivering. After finally mustering the heat to go outside, we huddled together outside laughing and giggling at every murmur, each joke: all this to distract us from the reality of cold winds and wet clothes.
We therefore were at a crossroads: to continue riding into five days of rain and high winds around "Cape Foulweather" or to hide in our SUV, drive down until the weather clears, and continue without luggage. We chose to delay a bit by taking out a local motel, even though we had only ridden 10 miles or so and was only about noon. There, we chose the latter, and gave Mike's brother, John and his mother a call. Their support wagon arrived only a few hours later and we all went out to dinner together. I was actually feeling ambivalent at the time about the car situation, but as the days rolled on, I became all the more fond of having a car around. Thank you again, John and Joanne so much, because I appreciate your help more and more every day. John, thank you for all the great food we had at your house, because I don't think I ever said that enough, and that apple cider was unbelievably good. Joanne, thank you for coming with us when we started, thank you for housing us for two days, and thank you both again for coming out in our time of need.
---------------
Two days ago:
Well, we took a leap forward about 90 miles or so, jumping from where we started all the way to Newport, where we ate some great clam chowder at world famous "Mo's" restaurant and checked out the aquariums. There were some really weird fish and some extremely cute sea otters. I have great pictures to share, but unfortunately, my connection is too slow to upload them at this time. The chowder at Mo's was delicious, although I personally preferred the little cafe at Seaside City. Although Jeff and Liz each had their own different favorites, we could all agree that the chowder has been excellent overall. We ended that day at Florence and retired to a game of Scrabble at the Holiday Inn Express. Yours truly emerged victorious, much to Liz and Jeff's chagrin.
------------------
Yesterday:
We spent the entire day at Honeyman National Park, arriving there shortly after breakfast at the Holiday Inn. Jeff, Liz and I went on a quest to see the sea. We started on a dunes trail, and scaled the dunes. As I climbed, I discovered that climbing nearly vertical dunes was not easy on my beat up calves and found a newfound appreciation for "Lawrence of Arabia". Every step I took that raised me higher by a foot was followed by sand slipping about 6 inches beneath my feet. That was not an easy climb. At the crest, we saw the ocean...a few miles of dunes and forest away. Our quest shifted promptly to finding the way back. After fruitlessly searching for an alternate path for maybe half an hour, finding nothing but deer trails, we decided to go back the way we came. Arriving at the camp, Jeff and Liz napped while I inhaled some literature: "Red Mars". We had Liz's amazing food (more amazing that she cooked it at a campsite) for dinner, and went to sleep soon after.
-----------------------------
Today:
Miles: 70!
Weather: My, oh, my, what a wonderful day. Plenty of sunshine headin' my way, Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!
Route: Honeyman to Bandon
Today, without any of the bags on the bikes, we set out from Honeyman towards Coos Bay early at about 8 or so. In the next four hours, we rode about forty five miles over two small hills (400 ft or so). Hills are infinitely easier when we don't have the panniers dragging us down. Add that to the fantastic tailwind and sunny skies that we were getting, and we had a recipe-perfect day to be biking.
After a lunch at Subway, where Jeff and Liz whined about their poor sandwiches, (my own was excellent) we shopped at Big 5 to pick up some tights for Liz. For the next few hours, she would spontaneously spread out over the floor bemoaning the excellence and comfort of her spandex leggings.
From North Bend (where we stopped for lunch), we headed off onto the "Seven Devil's Road" towards Bandon. We all hypothesized that the Seven Devils would be seven peaks, since the road there was effectively winding around the crest of the hill. Personally, I counted about 9, but I suppose that two of them didn't actually qualify as a "peak". Anyway, that was a fun ride, very windy and very up and down.
Finally, we arrived at a campsite just before Bandon and we actually reserved one of the last yurts, where I'm hammering this out tonight.
Three days ago, we started off in a yurt, launching our day into a fair weather without rain. Of course, we were nowhere near that fortunate, since as soon as we left the campsite, the rain began and never ended. The difference between yesterday and the second day was this: headwind. When we finally got to Depoe Bay, the synergy between wind and rain struck us with such force as to be able to feel it as a steep hill or to topple me when it deigned to blow to the side. It took us an hour and a half to simply ride about ten miles. At Depoe, we had a solid hot lunch, but more importantly, bought time to rest and dry off. Mike also popped us a question that at the very least Liz and I had not considered: the possibility of having the car follow us as a support wagon.
Unfortunately, as soon as we opened the door to the outside, the wind streamed into the store and chilled us so much so that as Mike walked outside, Jeff, Liz, and I took a leap backwards shivering. After finally mustering the heat to go outside, we huddled together outside laughing and giggling at every murmur, each joke: all this to distract us from the reality of cold winds and wet clothes.
We therefore were at a crossroads: to continue riding into five days of rain and high winds around "Cape Foulweather" or to hide in our SUV, drive down until the weather clears, and continue without luggage. We chose to delay a bit by taking out a local motel, even though we had only ridden 10 miles or so and was only about noon. There, we chose the latter, and gave Mike's brother, John and his mother a call. Their support wagon arrived only a few hours later and we all went out to dinner together. I was actually feeling ambivalent at the time about the car situation, but as the days rolled on, I became all the more fond of having a car around. Thank you again, John and Joanne so much, because I appreciate your help more and more every day. John, thank you for all the great food we had at your house, because I don't think I ever said that enough, and that apple cider was unbelievably good. Joanne, thank you for coming with us when we started, thank you for housing us for two days, and thank you both again for coming out in our time of need.
---------------
Two days ago:
Well, we took a leap forward about 90 miles or so, jumping from where we started all the way to Newport, where we ate some great clam chowder at world famous "Mo's" restaurant and checked out the aquariums. There were some really weird fish and some extremely cute sea otters. I have great pictures to share, but unfortunately, my connection is too slow to upload them at this time. The chowder at Mo's was delicious, although I personally preferred the little cafe at Seaside City. Although Jeff and Liz each had their own different favorites, we could all agree that the chowder has been excellent overall. We ended that day at Florence and retired to a game of Scrabble at the Holiday Inn Express. Yours truly emerged victorious, much to Liz and Jeff's chagrin.
------------------
Yesterday:
We spent the entire day at Honeyman National Park, arriving there shortly after breakfast at the Holiday Inn. Jeff, Liz and I went on a quest to see the sea. We started on a dunes trail, and scaled the dunes. As I climbed, I discovered that climbing nearly vertical dunes was not easy on my beat up calves and found a newfound appreciation for "Lawrence of Arabia". Every step I took that raised me higher by a foot was followed by sand slipping about 6 inches beneath my feet. That was not an easy climb. At the crest, we saw the ocean...a few miles of dunes and forest away. Our quest shifted promptly to finding the way back. After fruitlessly searching for an alternate path for maybe half an hour, finding nothing but deer trails, we decided to go back the way we came. Arriving at the camp, Jeff and Liz napped while I inhaled some literature: "Red Mars". We had Liz's amazing food (more amazing that she cooked it at a campsite) for dinner, and went to sleep soon after.
-----------------------------
Today:
Miles: 70!
Weather: My, oh, my, what a wonderful day. Plenty of sunshine headin' my way, Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!
Route: Honeyman to Bandon
Today, without any of the bags on the bikes, we set out from Honeyman towards Coos Bay early at about 8 or so. In the next four hours, we rode about forty five miles over two small hills (400 ft or so). Hills are infinitely easier when we don't have the panniers dragging us down. Add that to the fantastic tailwind and sunny skies that we were getting, and we had a recipe-perfect day to be biking.
After a lunch at Subway, where Jeff and Liz whined about their poor sandwiches, (my own was excellent) we shopped at Big 5 to pick up some tights for Liz. For the next few hours, she would spontaneously spread out over the floor bemoaning the excellence and comfort of her spandex leggings.
From North Bend (where we stopped for lunch), we headed off onto the "Seven Devil's Road" towards Bandon. We all hypothesized that the Seven Devils would be seven peaks, since the road there was effectively winding around the crest of the hill. Personally, I counted about 9, but I suppose that two of them didn't actually qualify as a "peak". Anyway, that was a fun ride, very windy and very up and down.
Finally, we arrived at a campsite just before Bandon and we actually reserved one of the last yurts, where I'm hammering this out tonight.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Rain Captivity Continues
Day two of rain captivity continues. The sky continues to pee on us without relent. However, I will not let weather determine whether or not I will ride. I rode about 14 miles this morning when the weather was relatively okay. The scenery was amazing and then in Newport we saw the aquariums. Then we drove down to Florence (i choose to capitulate to the weather on this one) and are once again staying in a motel due to the inclement hatred of the weather gods.
hopefully there will be a better chance to ride in the upcoming days.
bleh.
hopefully there will be a better chance to ride in the upcoming days.
bleh.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Rain + cold + headwind = sucks
So basically the combo of rain, coldness, and a rather hefty headwind has resulted in our early stop in Depoe Bay which is only ten miles south of where we started in Lincoln City. Also due to the forecast of crap weather for the next week we have decided to get a sag wagon i.e. Jeff's grandma and Uncle drove the car out to us so we can still go down the coast without catching pneumonia and sleeping in the rain. sidenote: THANK YOU!! Anywho I will leave George and Jeff to fill in the details of their methane wars and sick pleasure in Mike's frozen joints.
Third Day in Oregon
Miles: 44
Weather: Sunny
Route: Tillamook to Devil's Lake State Park, OR
Liz and I discussed a lot about how the third day of riding would be the absolute worst, hardest thing, ever. Turns out, wasn't nearly so bad. There was one hill that was an absolute crapshoot, but beyond that, most of the day was flat. Really, the best thing today was the fair weather. I was extremely impressed from seeing the sun again after a day and a half and it made riding today infinitely easier.
I also got to try the trailer today. On flats, it was actually not a horribly hard thing to do, I just had to downshift a gear or so and basically, I was expending the same quantity of energy, I was just going a lot slower. There were these two hills right before Seaside City that completely annihilated me, however. For those, even the lowest gear was extremely exhausting.
The good thing is that once we got to Seaside City, we hit up this tiny little cafe to the left of the road going into it. They had quite honestly the most delicious chicken and wild rice soup I have ever had in my life, and it was topped off with superb bread. Add in a great Sicilian sandwich and I was absolutely in heaven.
All in all, it was a productive riding day, and though tiring, I came out feeling pretty good. Especially now that I'm about to sleep in a yurt. At this rate, I'll be too spoiled to stay in a tent anymore!
The sun is definitely one thing that I would absolutely love to see again. Unfortunately, from what it sounds like, we may be in for some additional rain tomorrow. If so, hopefully we can get ourselves another yurt or a motel. I'm really enjoying these yurts though.
Weather: Sunny
Route: Tillamook to Devil's Lake State Park, OR
Liz and I discussed a lot about how the third day of riding would be the absolute worst, hardest thing, ever. Turns out, wasn't nearly so bad. There was one hill that was an absolute crapshoot, but beyond that, most of the day was flat. Really, the best thing today was the fair weather. I was extremely impressed from seeing the sun again after a day and a half and it made riding today infinitely easier.
I also got to try the trailer today. On flats, it was actually not a horribly hard thing to do, I just had to downshift a gear or so and basically, I was expending the same quantity of energy, I was just going a lot slower. There were these two hills right before Seaside City that completely annihilated me, however. For those, even the lowest gear was extremely exhausting.
The good thing is that once we got to Seaside City, we hit up this tiny little cafe to the left of the road going into it. They had quite honestly the most delicious chicken and wild rice soup I have ever had in my life, and it was topped off with superb bread. Add in a great Sicilian sandwich and I was absolutely in heaven.
All in all, it was a productive riding day, and though tiring, I came out feeling pretty good. Especially now that I'm about to sleep in a yurt. At this rate, I'll be too spoiled to stay in a tent anymore!
The sun is definitely one thing that I would absolutely love to see again. Unfortunately, from what it sounds like, we may be in for some additional rain tomorrow. If so, hopefully we can get ourselves another yurt or a motel. I'm really enjoying these yurts though.
Tent Experience
upon request from george this has been included:
a tale of jeff and liz in their tent
(Jeff is lying peacefully in the tent, relaxed and reading a book, enter liz through the door)
Jeff: Hey liz. (Liz gets in tent and lays down)
Liz: Hi.
Jeff: (realizes he is hungry for cookies, however the cookies are located in the other tent with Mike and George and since he is tired and had to ride with the trailer for most of the day he asks very politely) Hey liz, would you mind walking the three feet to the other tent and getting the cookies?
Liz: NO.
Jeff: (pleading and persuading) Pleaseeeee!
Liz: NO.
Jeff: fine. ill get them on my own. (he has to leave his comfortable post to go and get some cookies, returns to tent) i hope you are happy. now you will feel my wrath for not getting the cookies. (Jeff releases massive, atomic, sulfuric fart)
Liz: Noooooooooo.
Jeff: (cackling) And now since the rain fly is on, there is now way for it to escape!!! HAHAHAHA.
(George and Mike laugh hysterically and as Liz gags she learns her lesson.
end scene
a tale of jeff and liz in their tent
(Jeff is lying peacefully in the tent, relaxed and reading a book, enter liz through the door)
Jeff: Hey liz. (Liz gets in tent and lays down)
Liz: Hi.
Jeff: (realizes he is hungry for cookies, however the cookies are located in the other tent with Mike and George and since he is tired and had to ride with the trailer for most of the day he asks very politely) Hey liz, would you mind walking the three feet to the other tent and getting the cookies?
Liz: NO.
Jeff: (pleading and persuading) Pleaseeeee!
Liz: NO.
Jeff: fine. ill get them on my own. (he has to leave his comfortable post to go and get some cookies, returns to tent) i hope you are happy. now you will feel my wrath for not getting the cookies. (Jeff releases massive, atomic, sulfuric fart)
Liz: Noooooooooo.
Jeff: (cackling) And now since the rain fly is on, there is now way for it to escape!!! HAHAHAHA.
(George and Mike laugh hysterically and as Liz gags she learns her lesson.
end scene
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