Mike and Debs Cycling Adventures

After visiting the Smith Rocks State park in Terrebonne Monday morning we left town at about 11am. 

Late even for us! We rode along the buttes on a flat road all day. 

It was a very pleasant day riding. We stayed the night in Prineville at a cheap Econoline hotel and had dinner at the Crooked Creek Brewery. It was obviously a service station in its past life the 1920s or 30s. I asked the young server about the building history and she said long ago it was an antique store. Way back when. Always an antique store. Maybe too young to think of a time before her.

Leaving Prineville we had a slow steady climb all day getting up to Ochoco Pass…about a 2000′ climb. 

It was a discouraging day for me as I just want to be stronger now and because I’m so out of shape.  I usually hide under the covers in the morning afraid of what the day will bring. Will today be the day I die of a heart attack or will I just be smashed by a truck? The evenings though bring such satisfaction from a mission accomplished and a really hard workout. This is a great way to build self confidence for sure. 

 Our usual way is Mike rides about a 1/4 mike ahead of me and every few miles he waits while i catch up. My muscles just shake sometimes. At least the sun wasn’t beating down so hard. It was an overcast 80 degree morning but by noon we started to hear rumbles of thunder. We tried to outrun the storm but by about 2pm we were running for cover. It’s hard to know where to hide when you are alone in the forest surrounded by trees. We finally surrendered and pitched our tent in the state park at the top of the pass.

This morning we packed up and rode down the mountain. 12 miles of downhill! We landed ourselves in the town of Mitchell, an old stagecoach stop. We are staying at an old place called the Oregon Hotel. 

Just so charming! 

Let’s get 50 miles in today. We’ve been slacking off.

Ok she said. We made it to Terribonne OR without any break. We were ready to rest and eat and then go to Smith Rock State park. Have a look around and continue on another 20 miles. While we’re sitting at the restaurant Deb strikes up a conversation with a local at the next table (imagine that)

He’s got a Newfoundland dog. Next thing you know he invites us over to his house. We pitch our tent in his yard which just happens to be on a cliff overlooking Smith Rock Park.

What a fabulous setting. Hard to remember we were hike a biking up Santiam Pass a few days ago wondering what we were doing this for. This is why we do this. So much for 50 miles, but I’ll trade for this anyday.

deb

one week on our journey

thoughts so far

• every bone in my body aches. and my hip hurts from swinging my leg over the rear of my bike when I get on it. I have to swing really high to get over the panniers. I think i will have to start getting on from the other side to even out the pain. We stopped at a dispenseryand bought some Cbd oil but I’m not convinced of its efficacy yet.
• mentally I almost feel euphoric.  I fall asleep between 7 and 8 just exhausted. mornings are hard if I look at the topographical map but after a hour or so of riding I’m good.
• we’ve sent home 4 packages already of things we don’t want to carry. clothes, tablets, Bluetooth keyboard. Such freedom in not having to think about what to wear.  Same thing everyday. At night we throw our riding clothes in the shower and stomp on then while showering. works great. we have to tap out our blog on the phone now so our posts are sloppy but it is what it is.
• am I losing weight? i am not riding to lose weight. my body serves me well but my fitbit blew up. seriously its hard to keep enough calories coming in and I usually have to force myself to eat. so yes. It’s falling off.
• how’s the training while actually riding this thing going? great. We worked up to 45 miles a day this week and 50 is about my sweet spot while riding. we take tons of breakscand stop for every little interesting thing.
• people have been so so good to us. I mean it’s unreal.

Mike 

   We thought we were going to be immediately  heading into the hills for a tough day of climbing, our goal to try to get to McKenzie Bridge. Proceeded to go the wrong way from the hotel parking lot and rode two mile into the hill to a dead end:(  The scenery was awsome and the back track was down hill, so no big deal. Figured out where we were supposed to be in Colburg and headed out in correct direction. We were in the Willamette Valley all day and never had to make any big climbs:). What a beautiful ride. We kept stopping to take it in, it is soooo pretty. We were not making very many miles because we were always stopping. 

We left the Willamette river basin and picked up the McKenzie river pretty quickly. The river was moving pretty fast because of the snow melt up higher. Saw several fishermen along the way, they were trying for salmon, but were having ing no luck. A little early in season they said.

It became apparent we were not going to make our goal of McKenzie Bridge because of our dallying so we googled for places to stay. Deb found the Eagle Rock Lodge right on the river.

  Very relaxing and quiet. It was nice sit and watch the river and the kayakers go by. 

We have been riding on flat road most of the day between the coastal range and the Cascade Range of mountains.

Had a good time in Corvallis last night. Found the Sky High Brewery and went up to the roof top. Really cool and it comes with cervesas too!

Todays ride was a very nice quick 40 mile ride through the beautiful valley.  Tidy houses and we’ll kept farms. Beautiful landscaping with azaleas  in full bloom. Wouldn’t mind living here. 

We are in the Willamette Valley. There are mountains all around us. In particular is the one we have to climb tomorrow from Colburg OR to McKenzie Bridge, OR. Hope we have enough chops for this. 57 miles all uphill and the next day is McKenzie Pass. They say McKenzie pass is the prettiest ride on Oregon so we really are/are not looking forward to it. 

We said we were going to find cheap flea bag motels on the way. We found one:(  at the truck stop $45. We are in the Eugene area. It’s not THAT bad but we’ve had better. The A/C works and the shower is good. We’re to tired to care about the rest. 

Happy Trails.

Deb

It is slow going in the mornings for us, we usually ride in silence for an hour or so until our muscles warm up. Both of us are very sore but it’s a pretty good feeling. This morning was especially hard because we knew it would be uphill all morning, the road was curvy and we were close to traffic all the way, very exhausting. 

The weather was absolutely beautiful, maybe 80 degrees and sunny,  inland Oregon is a relief after the darker sky’s of the coast.

When we made the summit early afternoon the view was unreal. Mt hood in the distance with vineyards and pastures in the forefront. We passed lots of sheep (yarn! wool!)  The map finally got us off the main roads so we decided to push for Corvallis, a college town. We rode in, pooped around 5pm. Found a hotel in the cool area, cleaned up and headed out to explore. Too bad we can hardly walk.

Found out someone stole our credit card info and has been having fun in Las Vegas. Dealing with that this morning. Also keeping in touch with brother Doug who is left alone dealing with dear mom and dad medical issues. Hard to be away in those times.  Heard from daughter Jill who is on the Pacific Crest Trail. She has the noro virus and is extremely sick, hiking out to get a motel. Seems to be more and more common on the trail.

Heading for the Eugene area today. Looks flat!

Mike

The lure of the coast is hard to get away from. So much to see. We rode around a large estuary with lots of water fowl to look at. So interesting to see what is uncovered when the tide goes out. Rode into Neskowin looking for a cup of coffee and a snack. Found a nice place where we were right next to a farmer’s market. Lots of homemade food, but alas, we haven’t enough room to carry anything.

After we has checked out the town we mounted up and headed out. Good thing we had read the addendum to our maps. There are two Slab Road exits from Highway 101. We needed the 2nd.  Slab Road was both beautiful and creepy. 

It is kind of rain forest-y, with moss on the trees and very green and thick foilage. When you stopped for a drink it was dead silent, creepy. I must have too much time to think while I’m riding.

 I started to think this place would be where some movie starlet would be lost and some bad guy would be chasing her, while some handsome good guy would be trying to rescue her. Yeah it was that kind of a woods.

We stopped again in Otis for a snack. The best Cinnimon roll ever. I like how I can eat every two hours:

We finally made it to Grand Ronde. Basically a Casino with a few other business around it, in the middle of nowhere.

Not far from the casino we found a campground and set up for the night. We caught the shuttle to the casino (they really want you to go there) where we walked around and ate. We aren’t gamblers so we found it quite boring and went back to camp pretty quickly. I think I’m gonna dream about damsels in distress hahaha.

Deb

Still figuring out Word Press for blogs so bear with us. 

We stayed in a very remote little coastal village last night called Netarts. We headed out for dinner to the only place in town,  a small local packed bar.   We found a seat at the bar and I asked if they had an IPA with a pretty high IBU …my favorite. The older woman bartending ’bout hit me over the head with a skillet she was so mad. She said she didn’t know what an IBU was as was too busy to deal with it.  She then wouldn’t serve us at all. We caught the attention of another server and ordered just like whatever she wanted to get us.  So, that was the highlight of that cute place. Before we left I apologized for upsetting her so much. Sheesh…but our hotel was adorable!

We left the village this morning knowing we would have to climb the highest elevation on the Oregon Coast. After 7 or 8 miles of following the Netarts Bay on Whiskey Creek road it started climbing and climbing. It took us to Cape Lookout Park but it took us nearly two hours to get up the mountain. What a haul. We felt pretty tickled though and came off the mountain, following the coast to Pacific City.

We didn’t know, but Pacific City is preparing for a HUGE biking event which is happening tomorrow. The town is super cute so we found a small room and decided to stay for the night.  Had dinner at a highly recommended little windowless bar that serves fresh caught (from a dorie) fish…watched the pool players and ate the best fish and chips ever.

Tomorrow we start to head inland..will miss the coast but not the prices. It’s very pretty but quite touristy. We hear the scenery will change quickly. 

Deb 

All I can say is wow. Oregon has some mighty hills. Whew. 

We woke this morning well rested, all gung ho, ready to go and my tire was flat. I am so thankful Mike is an even tempered patient man. He flipped my bike over and fixed the thing. It has proven to be a bit of a problem…the tire that is, and we have been keeping an eye out for a good repair shop.  No matter what we do to fix it, it cannot hold air. Mike is the smartest mechanic I know, and I know if he could just borrow their repair shop he could fix it in a snap.

We travelled the day just  filling it with air as we go.  Now he is working on it in the hotel room. 

What a guy.
Back to the ride. It was quite a pleasant morning, gentle ups and  downs and I was so looking to visiting the Tillamook cheese factory. That was hilarious!  There was a small kabota tractor in the middle of a gift shop with a picture of various  types of dairy cows. Boo. That was it. It was a huge gift shop. The village of Tillamook was the first industrial town we have ridden through on our ride and we were happy to leave. Loaded up with sharp white Tillamook cheddar. 

After Tillamook we headed out of town on the only road available and it was terrifying. Straight uphill, curvy road with no bike lanes or shoulders. Glad to get out of that one alive.  The nice things about these hills is the wind in our hair on the way down.

Made it to Netarts around 3:30 pm and decided to call it a day so Mike could get my bike in order. 

Staying at another nice beach town resort hotels and we are able to take advantage of off season rates for another week or so. 

Deb

After a rough first day weather wise we both slept good last night and got an early start. We made it to Cannon Beach where we had a cup of coffee and I conveniently had a flat tire. After getting that taken care of we headed into the mountains and came across some spectacular views. The weather was outstanding, but the climbs were tough. 

We are both feeling really good about the ride  and people have been just so good to us. We may not have to buy your own beer the whole trip! Not many miles today we are still getting our biking legs.