Ian B. Harper

In the summer of 2009 I rode my bike 2100 miles down the Pacific coast from Blaine, WA to San Ysidro, CA. I started riding on Aug. 12th and reached the border on Nov. 22nd. This is my ride diary. The prelude to this diary can be found here.

• Day 12 8/23
• 57 (64.71) mi.
• 12.1 mph av
• 5:20 hr
• 709.7 tot mi.
• 2390.8 odo
• 70.97 mi / day

The stats for today include a trip back into town. 57 miles was the original ride total. Also the average miles / day includes miles from rest days but not the days themselves.

The day overall was ok. Riding was good, mostly. I did catch some of that tailwind but not as much as I did yesterday.

I think I started riding at 8:30 this morning. I made decent progress till the first stop for coffee in Reedsport. It’s an industrial town, no charm at all. I saw a trio of bikers at the coffee stop who were at Honeyman last night. They were pulling a century today! I’ll be doing the same distance in two days. Hearing that made me reevaluate my pace. I constantly hear people say 50 mi. per day is a really easy pace. I think it’s fine. For the kind of tour I’m doing 50 miles per day is reasonable. A lot of it has to do with the route along the way I think. If there were more places to linger I think I’d find 50 miles a good distance. Also I’m locked into the available campgrounds as well. Right now I’m only staying at parks with hiker-biker sites and showers. That has forced me to conform my distance each day. Ideally I’d like to do 60 – 75 miles per day. Perhaps I will in California.

The scenery along the way was mostly forests. Every now and then I’d see the dunes too. I rode alongside the OR Dunes National Recreation Area for the majority of the day. I stopped once at a park on the edge of the dunes. I took a couple pictures but they didn’t do them justice I think. They are so foreign! they look like scenes from Lawrence of Arabia. I never even got to see them properly either.

While riding along the dunes I stopped at a weigh station and discovered that my bike weighs 250 pounds! Thankfully it’s well within all weight restrictions.

The next stop was North Bend/Coos Bay. To get there I had to cross an especially windy bridge. The Adventure Cycling map said to walk across and I am real glad that I did! I had trouble controlling my bike while walking, I can’t imagine what it would have been like to ride it! The towns after the bridge remind me of Bremerton without the naval base. I stopped at a Safeway to pick up some groceries. Strangely the store had WiFi so I could get on the net while I shopped. I found a brewery in town; got my heart set on going there; then had my plans ruined when I called them and heard that the number was disconnected. As consolation I went to a Chinese buffet instead. It was pretty crappy. I got to eat frog legs there but they were over cooked.

After riding through some more small towns I reached my camp for the night, Sunset Bay. Aptly named in my case because this is the first time I’ve actually seen the sunset over the ocean. I nearly missed it too. I showed up just after eight and caught the last minute of the sunset.

Tonight I’m alone in the camp. I think it’s an unpopular site for hiker-bikers.

• Spent over $30 today
• Bought some bananas.

P.S. Should have brought long johns and a larger towel.

In the summer of 2009 I rode my bike 2100 miles down the Pacific coast from Blaine, WA to San Ysidro, CA. I started riding on Aug. 12th and reached the border on Nov. 22nd. This is my ride diary. The prelude to this diary can be found here.

• Day 11 8/22
• 56.09 mi.
• 13.1 mph av
• 4:17 hr
• 645.0 tot mi.
• 2326.1 odo

It hasn’t been too long since I last wrote in here. The hangover didn’t stick around thankfully. Chris however looked like the walking dead. I said my goodbyes and was on my way at about nine.

The ride out was great I caught a tail wind and literally sailed down the coast. The views were amazing all day. I love the ocean! Went through a lot of smaller towns today. Saw places where I stayed with my family on vacations. The views started to get really cool at Seal Rocks. I wanted to get up close and check them out but I kept moving. After that was Waldport which was cool too. Lots of seafood in that town. Yachats was good to see as well. Neat little town.

I ate lunch watching the waves crash on the rocks at cape perpetua. That was awesome. I could have watched them till the tide went out. I even got splashed by one! I was walking around near the rocks and a giant wave came in and surprised me. I got wet but not soaked. Then I went and watched the spouting horn go off for a while.

All very cool. The roads in that area were fantastic. They had good shoulders and were all newly paved. Combined with the sailing effect from the buckets I really enjoyed the ride. Not to mention I was cranking like no other! There was another tunnel today. Not nearly as long and frightening as the arch cape tunnel.

At the top of the headlands there were sea lion caves. I went in but tickets were $11 so I passed. In the parking lot a guy gave me some really excellent smoked salmon. Some of the best I’ve ever had. I was a minor spectacle in the lot. Two guys came up to me and just started asking questions. One even too my picture with out asking!

I ended up at Honeyman State Park. It’s right next to all the Oregon sand dunes. I explored one for a bit when I rolled up. Nothing unexpected but I did take a couple pictures.

• Ate one banana
• Spent $7 today.

In the summer of 2009 I rode my bike 2100 miles down the Pacific coast from Blaine, WA to San Ysidro, CA. I started riding on Aug. 12th and reached the border on Nov. 22nd. This is my ride diary. The prelude to this diary can be found here.

• Day 9-10 8/21
• 70.31 mi.
• 11.5 mph av
• 6:39 hr
• 588.9 tot mi.
• 2270.0 odo

Today is my second rest day. I skipped writing yesterday because I was out late with aunt Gretchen and cousin Emily.

Yesterday I got up at 6:30. All the bikers in the area were still asleep. I had plans to ride with them to the Pelican Brewery so I hung around. I’m glad I did because I took a longish walk on the beach to where the beach ended at the base of a cliff. It was really cool. The water had eroded hollows in the cliff and the ricks were lined with mussels, barnacles, and some other kind of filter feeder that I dodn’t recognize. The waves were making crazy pools in the sand too. All of the pools were connected and slowly draining out to sea. Every now and then a big wave would come up and refill some of the pools and change how they were connected. I could stand all day looking at them and trying to figure out how they were created. I couldn’t linger too long, I wish I had more time.

I ended up riding with only one other guy that day. The girls were sick so they decided to go back to Portland. The morning ride was killer. Right off the bat there was a hill that was bigger than any I’d ever ridden up to this point. It was over 800 feet tall! Then there was another one that was about 600 feet tall!

After those two monster hills we stopped at the Pelican Brewery in pacific city. It was really good. I had a saison and a Reuben sandwich. In hindsight I wish I had eaten more.

I ended up riding slow the whole day. I blame it on not eating enough. After heading out from Pacific City I followed the guy I was with for a while but he was better at climbing hills so I soon lost him. At the time that I lost him there was another epic hill, 750 feet high. This time the hill was on 101. I had the option to take a more scenic route but I chose not to. I wish I had opted to take the scenic route. It was five miles longer but according to the Oregon Coast Bike Map it was the same elevation gain which would have been easier because it was spread out more. Plus I wouldn’t have had to ride with all the traffic. Grr!

After that hill the ride got easier. I reached Lincoln City and too a road around a lake to bypass most of traffic. It was nice but full of rollers and there wasn’t any place to get water. I stopped at a state park thinking I could fill up but there were no working faucets. A guy in a truck saw my dilemma and gave me his water! I was really glad to have it. He was a really nice guy. We swapped stories about riding bikes then I was off.

I kept riding on 101 till Otter Rock. That “town” had a road that followed the hwy but did so right along some crazy cliffs. It was so neat. I couldn’t really enjoy them because I was so darn hungry and I was literally riding in a cloud! I ended up stopping at a pullout and eating some trail mix. A little bit later I reached Devil’s Punch Bowl. While I was there I bought some coffee and chatted up the woman running the stand. We talked about the weird weather. She also said someone had seen orcas off the coast that day.

After those stops the riding was much easier and faster. I think it was all from the food and drink. By the time I reached Newport it was about 6 pm and I got my second flat of the tour. I tried pumping it with out fixing the flat twice before I finally stopped riding. I was at a bike shop and hostel that my aunt Gretchen told me about. Unfortunately they were closed. I fixed up the tire in their parking lot.

Aunt Gretchen picked me up at the closed bike hostel and took me to her place. After a shower and a change of clothes we went out to eat with her daughter, my cousin, Emily. It was really nice. After that we came back to her place and I crashed out.

In the end I decided to make the next day my second rest day. I did a lot of resting that day. I ate breakfast at my aunt Gretchen’s place then I went to the Rogue pub for lunch. My cousin Chris was working there and we made plans to go out later that night. Gretchen also showed up for lunch so it was a great time.

After that I watched some people filleting fish on the docks and went to the library. I tried to post a bunch of photos on Facebook while I was there but it didn’t work. About that time mom showed up with her friend Jeri.

We went down to the beach and flew kites for a while after that. It was relaxing fun and I got some goodies from mom before she left.

Later that night I met up with my cousin Chris for drinks. We ended up going all over town and I got hella drunk. I really picked up on the small town vibe that night.

I’m actually writing this the next morning (typing it two years later). I’m about to pack up the last of my things and head out. I am unfortunately still feeling the effects of last night. Hopefully I’ll still ride well.

• Spent WAAAAY too much money yesterday!

In the summer of 2009 I rode my bike 2100 miles down the Pacific coast from Blaine, WA to San Ysidro, CA. I started riding on Aug. 12th and reached the border on Nov. 22nd. This is my ride diary. The prelude to this diary can be found here.

• Day 8
• 74.31 mi.
• 12.5 mph av
• 6:16 hr
• 518.5 tot mi.
• 2199.6 odo

I left Ft. Stevens today and rode to Cape Lookout. I got up on timeish and left the park at about 8. I stopped for coffee in this horrible ‘internet’ cafe. The price to use the computers was way too high and the internet wasn’t free either! On top of that the coffee was weak! Grr!

The ride was uneventful until I got to Rockaway Beach. At that point the land started to get more rural and scenic. Plus I rode past my 6th grade outdoor school! After that I rode past a lot of beautiful ocean vistas. The landscape is also getting drier.

When I got to Tillamook I stopped and grabbed a package of cheese curd from the Tillamook Cheese factory. I was really astounded at the number of people who were shopping there. It was packed!

Once I got to Cape Lookout I immediately entered into conversation with the cyclists camped next to me. One was a socially awkward older gentleman and the other was a less awkward man about my age. We swapped stories and destinations. As it turns out there are three parties (counting myself) heading south tomorrow. One was the younger gentleman I met and the other party was a couple of girls. I met the girls around a big fire somebody had started. They had some leftover beans that they gave to me. I used them in place of tuna in my soup. It was really good. I’d eat beans more but they are just too heavy. We all got talking and decided to go to the Pelican Brewery in Pacific City for “brunch.” I’m not sure how well that will work out because we are shooting for Newport tomorrow too.

I also did some shopping today. I grabbed some fuel, sunblock, batteries, food, and a beer. A little expensive but it will last. I also had to take out more money from the bank.

• Spent $47 today
• Spent $225 total