May 9, 2011, 7:07 p.m.
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.
County Line Park to Ft. Stevens SP
-
Day 6
-
54.02 mi.
-
10.9 mph av
-
4:50 hr
-
414.4 tot mi.
-
2095.5 odo
Today was another hard start. It was a foggy and cold out. I finally had the sense not to wear my rainpants to combat the cold. The sun came out eventually and beat off all the cold and fog. I think it was eight-thirtyish when I got on the road.
The mornings ride was good. It was mostly uphill but it was in a long construction site that had a flagger so the cars were all grouped together and spread out over long time periods. I wasn't riding very fast all day. It was easy because of that. I figured since it was going to be a short ride I might as well go slow.
There wasn't a whole lot to see along the way. I took a ferry in Cathlamet to Oregon then out hwy 30 to Astoria. Before I got there I ate some devine ice cream in Knappa Junction. I don't think the ice cream was really that good but the hills behind me and the sweat that was covering me made it taste that much better.
In Astoria I met a couple of bike punks heading north. We swapped travel logs and they told me about a place to camp in a marsh a couple miles out of town. I decided against that idea. I need a place with water. After that I went to a bike shop to have my wheel trued. The guy got it on the stand and fixed it within 20 min. I was impressed. He liked my bike buckets. He also wished me good luck on the tour. I also grabbed new brake pads while I was there.
Outside the shop I met a homeless guy who gave me a map of the Or coast bike route and advised me to take care not to leave my cyclometer on my bike. He really got me excited for the upcoming ride through OR. The hiker biker sites only cost $4 and they have free hot showers! I think the next leg of the trip is going to be great.
Tonight I'm camped at Ft. Stevens State Park. Tomorrow I'll ride back into Astoria for a rest day!
April 12, 2011, 2:51 p.m.
I made this a while ago but I didn't finish it. I dug it up today, added a few new stats, and now I'm calling it done. I got the idea for this graphic from the Foursquare graphs. I figured it would be a fun way to sum up my tour and visualize the records I kept while riding.
moustacheride2009infographic
April 12, 2011, 2:33 p.m.
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.
Centralia, WA to Wahkiakum County Line Park
-
Day 5
-
73.18 mi
-
12.0 mph av
-
6:05 hr
-
357.3 mi tot
-
2038.4 odo
Getting going this morning was tough. I got spoiled with the showers and a real bed. Not to mention not having to worry if my things were dry. I didn't really eat breakfast. I had a slice of banana bread and one of the crazy protein bars mom got for me. Plus it was really cold this morning. So cold I could see my breath. So all this made for a bad morning ride. Which made this mornings hills hard to deal with as well. All in all today my mindset was crap. Especially when compared to yesterdays amazing ride.
The weather finally turned around today. After the morning clouds burned off the sun came out and it got hot! Not too hot, I don't think it crossed 80 F. It was nice to see farmlands and forest in the light. Unfortunately the scenery wasn't as nice as yesterdays. There were a lot of depressingly poor farms along the way. I did find a few things to take pics of but not much.
In the morning there was a cute little dog that started to follow me. I got his picture and a picture series of an old ad on a barn. The ad was for a tonic prescribed by Dr. Pierce for 'weak' women. I couldn't help but think about all the bad associations that could go along with that statement.
Initially I hadn't intended to ride as long as I did but I got to my initial destination at one and decided to press on. Shocking. It was against a fair bit of better judgement too. The ride so far had been through flat farmlands with one hilly section. The next 40 mi. or so looked like the hills could get worse. and they did. The farmland gave way to ranch land and the rollers that go along with it. At one point I actually climbed enough that the map had the elevation change marked (the marks only come every 500 ft). Thankfully the hills were not steep, just long and numerous.
I'm developing my first blister and saddle sore! I'm hoping that short ride tomorrow and a rest day after that will cure the sore. The blister will get moleskin tomorrow and be fine I think.
On a side note, the sun finally charged my Solio solar charger! Combined with the new charger for my phone I got from mom I'm doing well in the electronics department. She also gave me a Hulk action figure (among many other things). I tied him to the front rack so he'll lead the attack on hills.
I'm camping tonight on the banks of the Columbia River! I stopped at the County Line Park in Wahkiakum County. The park is kinda crappy but it's free for me. The host dropped by and said they didn't make bikers pay! Not that I had intended to anyway. I'm attempting the laundry thing again today. If it doesn't dry I'm just going to hang it from my buckets and let it dry while I ride. I only washed today's clothes so this shouldn't be a problem.
April 2, 2011, 4:24 p.m.
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.
Twanoh SP to Centralia, WA
-
Day 4
-
89.9 mi
-
12.6 mph av
-
7:06 hr
-
275 mi tot
-
1965.2 odo
Update to Day 3: I got an unexpected surprise yesterday. I met a couple that was hanging out around the boat launch all day. They had planned on meeting their grandson but he had to cancel due to weather. Before they left for the day they gave me their left over firewood and beer! Upon receiving such an unexpected bounty I walked up and down the shore collecting live oysters. Then I built a fire and grilled the oysters, all while enjoying three refreshing Coors Lights. It was an amazing evening.
This morning I was awakened by people harvesting oysters at 4am. The park ranger had warned me about this. The tide was exceptionally low so the local tribe had organized some kind of oyster harvest. I laid in my sleeping bag listening the the tribe members plonk oysters into buckets for about half an hour before I decided I had to get out of my tent. I packed up and left by 7am. Unfortunately my laundry from the day before wasn't dry so I had to ride with wet socks and my street clothes to a laundromat in Shelton so I could dry them. I need to figure out a better way to do laundry.
I made good time to Shelton. I got there at about 10? Doesn't seem right. I was really trying to push myself today. My average was up plus I rode my butt off in distance! Almost a century!
Most of the riding was in farmland which was good scenery and very quiet. Also, very flat. It really lifted my spirits. I started taking more pics and updating Facebook because of it. I saw a guy building a literal tree house today and got pooped on by a bird. Ya win some and ya lose some.
At 1pm I got to Elma and decided to keep pushing to Centralia. I'm glad I did. Today was like covering two days in one!
As a result of the good effort and bad weather previously I decided to live in luxury and stay at the Olympic Club Hotel. It's one the the McMenamins hotels. Their hotels are all restored historic buildings. The Olympic Club used to be a gambling hall and brothel, cool. The shower was excellent. So was the food. The family came up and it was really good to see them. They brought a lot of stuff for me. So much that I had to turn down most of it.
Anyway I'm about to pass out so I'm cutting this off early.
-
1 Banana Eaten
-
Lots of $ spent.
Note: The last section of my diary was left minimally edited to preserve the evidence of how I was feeling. Which was utter exhaustion. My room was right above the movie theater which was playing Terminator 3, the final action sequence. Even with all the racket going on I passed out before my head hit the pillow.
The exhaustion was caused by riding 90 miles in one day and seeing my family. My mom, dad, sister, cousin and my cousin's husband came up to visit me. We ate dinner at the McMenamins pub and came up to my room afterward. My mom gave me a giant bag of goodies for the road. She gave me so many I had to refuse some because I couldn't carry all of it. I got some extra clothes, protein bars, banana bread, and most importantly: a mascot for the trip. The mascot was an Incredible Hulk action figure that clapped its hands when you press a button on its back. I tied him to the front of my front rack. The standard joke I came up with was that he helped me get up hills.
March 9, 2011, 9:29 p.m.
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.
Kitsap Memorial SP to Twanoh SP
-
Day 3 (8/14)
-
50.54 mi.
-
10.8 av
-
4:41 hr
-
193.8 mi total
-
1874.9 odo
I’m writing much earlier today. It was a short day compared to the previous two. I also woke up at 5:30 am today to attempt to make an exit before the camp hosts made their rounds. I packed all my stuff and moved to the day use area for breakfast. Besides being out of the camp site that I didn’t pay for it had the advantage of being dry. It rained last night and my table at the camp site was pretty wet.
The host came by and said hello but he was focused on fiddling with the water shutoff or power or something. So I got off with another night of poaching a campsite. I’m hoping for a hat-trick tonight. Because of the short distance and early start I got to the campsite at about 1:00. I could have made it earlier if it weren’t for the day’s fiascoes.
I started the day with my first flat tire of the trip. That set me back a half hour. Then I missed a turn in Bremerton. I got epically lost from that mistake. I spent an hour riding around that shit-hole trying to get out. I don’t think there was a single cool thing in that city. Just a military base and the degree of trashiness that they cause on a town that supports them. The weather today is a bit better, no rain but still partly cloudy. Tomorrow is supposed to get better. I’m planning to stay in a hostel in Elma unless I get motivated and push to Centralia. If I do that I can eat dinner at McMenamins! I’ll see my folks, Evie, cousin Amanda, and her husband Chris regardless. It will be good to see them. Mom is going to bring a bunch of goodies plus I’m a little homesick. All those hours of riding do nothing to prevent me from missing the people I love.
The park I’m camped at isn’t made for bikers. The site I’m at is for marine/human-powered travel. That means it’s bordered by the hood canal, hwy 106, and a boat launch. However, this means it’s apart from the main campground (Twanoh SP) so I doubt anybody is going to hassle me about paying. I’m taking extra time today to do laundry. All of my riding clothes plus underwear are drying in a group picnic site that wasn’t being used. I’m hoping they will dry by morning.
