Oh... The Wind! And a Great Climb

On Monday, Gale and Nancy decided to ride from Gale's home near Agate Beach down the Bay Rd. in Newport up over the hill to Toledo, then on to Siletz, then east to almost Logsden.  Other than the highway to Siletz (horrible shoulders and LOTS of traffic), it was a great ride with just enough hills to give us a challenge.  The return trip was a bit different!  Everything was great until we came down onto the Bay Rd. from Toledo, then the wind hit!  Gale and Nancy rode 10 miles with our hands in the "drops" and leaned over as much as we could; the more than occasional gusts almost knocked us off of our bikes.  For some strange reason, even though we had a headwind, climbing up the dreaded John Moore hill seemed easy to both of us.  We rode about 58 miles; neither of us was physically tired, but we both felt mentally tired from fighting the wind.  We later talked with Lisa who had ridden up 101 from Waldport in that wind (would have been a direct headwind), and even rode across the Yaquina Bay Bridge in it!

Today Gale and Nancy rode from Nancy's house to Drift Creek Falls.  To get there we had to climb over 1600 feet into the coast range; 1500 feet of the climb came in the first 4 miles; the average grade was 7.2% with portions up to over 25%.  After a brief stop at the first mile we didn't stop again until we reached the top.  We descended about 600 feet to the Falls parking lot.  With the ride back up to the top, which included some "ups and downs" we ended up with a total elevation change of about 2500 feet.  We both felt great and really wanted to ride some more, but when we got back down to civilization we learned that the road we were planning to ride (Anderson Rd.) was being paved, so we turned around and rode back to Nancy's house.  We ended up riding a little over 41 miles - not as far as we would have liked, but a good workout.  This was an absolutely beautiful ride!

We think Lisa rode from Newport to Pacific City and back today; if she did she rode over 100 miles!

Lots of Miles, Good Routes, and a "Close Encounter"

We have all been training hard and enjoying some different routes.  Lucinda and Dana recently rode 40+ miles together on Sauvie Island (near Portland); this is a relatively flat ride through beautiful farmland. 

Lisa has been riding some familiar routes - Newport to Toledo on the Bay Road (a beautiful 25 mile ride, mostly flat but with two major hills), and Newport to Taft (south end of Lincoln City) over Otter Crest and back to Newport (about 50 miles).

Gretchen is planning on riding the 80 mile route of Reach the Beach this Saturday.  You go girl!  That will be quite a ride!

Nancy rode from Waldport to Yachats then up the Yachats River Road last Wednesday (about 38 miles round trip) - a truly beautiful ride on a spectacular sunny day.  She also has ridden a couple of times this week from her house up to Kernville then east towards Siletz on Hwy 229, the Siletz Hwy for a distance each time of 50-60 miles.  Today on that route Nancy encountered a coyote!  Fortunately for Nancy, they looked at each other then the coyote decided to run back into the woods.

The Oregon weather is finally getting warmer and drier opening the door for more riding opportunities.

Siletz River Highway

Jeri, who is already in condition to start our tour, rode up to Hwy. 229, the Siletz River Highway, this morning and met me at the old Kernville Steak & Seafood House, and we rode out about 10 miles on the Siletrz River Highway.  It was a bit cold, but a beautiful morning for a ride.  We turned around at the 10 mile mark and returned to the restaurant parking lot.  There is major highway construction on Hwy. 101 where a new bridge is being built, and it really is not safe for cyclists, so I drove Jeri to Salishan and left her there to ride her bike back to Newport.  What this means is Jeri rode about 60 miles today and I rode 20.  There is probably something wrong with this "picture"; I think I better do a longer ride tomorrow!

For some reason I had never ridden along the Siletz before even though it is fairly close to my house.  It is a beautiful ride and one I plan to start doing much more frequently.  The road does have some traffic, and no shoulder, but it did seem pretty safe.  This may become my new favorite practice route!