Reach the Beach

(gosh this has been a busy last few weeks!)
Yesterday was the annual Lung Assn of Oregon's Reach the Beach bicycle ride. I've done it for the past 3 years.

www.reachthebeach.org
Jason and I planned to make it our inaugural tandem ride of the year. He's been doing short rides here and there with other stokers, but I haven't ridden it since last September. We were NOT planning to ride to the beach and back; we've already done that this year :-)

We did plan to invite our spouses to join us on the coast, stay over, and then come back the next day.

The start was moved a few miles down the road, to eliminate the initial big climb up Scholl's Ferry Road. It was also moved from a middle school with a big parking lot, to an elementary school with minimal parking. When we pulled into the neighborhood just before 7am, there were lots of puzzled looking drivers. We figured we could ride to the start, and parked on a handy side street. The owner of the adjoining house was wondering what was going on. We filled him in, and he wished us a good ride. A car pulled in behind us - I had to tell him to back up - we were pulling a tandem out of the back, and needed about 6 more feet.

Loaded our "extras" on the bike (in my case, booties, rain mitts, and extra socks), pulled on our daypacks with clean clothes and minimal shower gear - in case we beat the spouses to the coast, we wanted to be able to take a shower! Coasted down to the school, parked the bike on a handy curb, handed our bags over to the support truck... and stood in a long line for the portapotties. Visited with Dave and Edna and Marilyn. Visited with the woman in line in front of us. Checked out the crowd. Saw the shirtless wonder - young man, sneakers, baggy shorts, tie dyed doo-rag, no shirt. WE had on armwarmers, knee or leg warmers, caps, shortfinger gloves with thin wool gloves over, and jackets. It was not warm or sunny.

So, with that long line, we didn't get started until 8am. Ouch. It was cloudy and breezy, and in the low 50's. The most enjoyable part of the early bits of the ride is the enormous hill covered in red clover on Scholls-Sherwood Road. One of these years I'll get a picture, I promise.
Stopped at the first stop at the Sherwood Elks Lodge. They always have hard-boiled eggs; this year was no different. Also bananas, a Mango Clif Shot for the road and, new this year Pepperidge Farm cookies. I had a couple of Milanos go to :-) Yum. My favorite.

The route changed after this stop - rather than the completely icky part on Hwy 99 (4 lane, busy, dirty shoulders), we went out Kruger Road (lots of up, not so bad), but then some really twisty hairpins DOWN. Being the stoker, I couldn't see what was coming up, and it felt really fast. I think I've gotten a little twitchy about fast and down since the crash. Poor Jason - and he swears he was taking the corners like a little old lady.

Then finally we were out on North Valley Road - big rollers, and very familiar. A local motorcycle club was corking intersections for us - I saw a co-worker and yelled hi. I'll go by his desk and see if he figured out who it was :-)

A brief stop at the next rest stop. My goal this year was to NOT stop at every rest stop - they are spaced maybe every 12-13 miles - too much stopping!

Then off toward Lafayette, past the open barn where Rickey fixed his flat on the day I crashed, and through countryside that, well, the last time I was riding there, it was pitch black. We gave the Dayton rest stop a miss, heading off towards Amity and lunch. We had started standing back on Kruger Road, and were pleased that we remembered how. It helps get up hills faster, and makes for forward progress when we need a stretch on the flats. It also impresses the heck of of other riders. We were not going as fast as we usually do - there had been a headwind all day. Not that I noticed it much, with Jason as a windbreak, but he'd been putting up with it all day. It wasn't going to let up, either - until summer kicks in, the wind is from the west.

Arrived in Amity, left our shoes at the door, and got in line for our baked potatoes. We found Diane and visited with her before she took off, then chatted with some other riders, one of whom turned out to be the rider on the Klein who was impressed with our standing prowess.

Called home - Fitz was getting ready to go pick up his shiny new car; Jason's wife had just gotten up.

Off again, through Ballston, past the Ballston General Store (open today), through some more open country, then into Sheridan. Where we stopped again. And both crashed on the grass for a few minutes, stretching everything out. Excedrin all around, plus calling Fitz back. The car purchase was proceeding nicely. Pepperidge Farm cookies, then off to Willamina, over the stretch of really bad railroad tracks. I made Jason stop and walk over one of them. On another one, some idiot in a pickup was ignoring my DO NOT PASS NOW hand signal, so crossing THAT was tricky, he passed on the tracks so we could not angle over them.

Just before getting on Hwy 18, we decided it might be warm enough to ditch the jackets. Then the 4 or so miles on Hwy 18, with a rumble strip taking up a third of the shoulder. You might think it is ok, until you realize that you need to pass the slower cyclists...

Finally, passing through Grande Ronde, and off the highway, climbing up to the reservation. We pulled off at one point, because traffic was backed up, and a noisy Harley pilot was next to us. Once that pulled ahead, we went on. More Pepperidge Farm cookies. This ride was fueled by Milanos :-) Also a butterscotch pudding. Jason's wife was heading south from Tillamook; she'd beat us there for sure. It was getting cold again, so we pulled our jackets back on.

Then the climb to Sourgrass Summit in the Coast Range. Not a hard climb by any means, but it does go on for a few miles. Jason and I had a discussion about descending all the way up :-)

Finally summitted, and headed down. The road had been resurfaced since we rode it a month ago (yahoo), and it a NICE descent - big sweeping turns, clean surface, not too steep. So I had fun. One last rest stop (more cookies, plus a wave to Bob Heath, who was volunteering). Fitz called; he was in Pacific City, but the cell service was really thin out there, so I'm not sure I got through that we were 15 miles out still.

Then down the Little Nestucca byway, one of the prettiest stretches of road heading in from the coast. Then UP mile 92 - a steep, nasty pitch that gets you when you are just downright tired. We stood it, passing a couple of guys grinding up in their lowest gears - they had double chainrings, poor things. There is a 24 tooth granny gear on the tandem. We can climb trees, if necessary. Then we popped out in the estuary area, and could see the big rock that is in the Pacific Ocean right at the finish line. North on Hwy 101, then left on Brooten, climbing slightly for a mile or so, then into Pacific City.

We stopped at the hotel to say hi to the spouses, then headed off to the finish line. We ran into my co-worker April, who had ridden in from Amity. I had her take a picture of us. Saw shirtless wonder. I don' t know how he did it. We collected our shower bags, visited a couple of booths and then rode back to the hotel.

Hot Shower! Dinner at the Pelican Pub! Much admiring of the Shiny New Car! Falling asleep before the end of Law and Order...

Breakfast at Grateful Bread! Lots of folks in cycling jackets eating breakfast :-)