West Coast of USA to Indio

Shelton to Raymond, WA

 Shelton is at sea level, so a morning greeting was the 1.5km stiff climb out of town in a light, cool mist on the Old Olympic Highway 3, which would get me back onto 101 south in a few kilometres. That section of 101 is more like a freeway as it is one of the main routes to the state capital of Olympia. At the top of the hill, the mist cleared already and the sun was out.

 

 I was only on this section for about 5km, then I turned right onto 108 to the town of McCleary. A very pleasant ride on 108 with very little traffic and some nice views of this agricultural area. From McCleary, I took the Old Elma-McCleary Road which parallels 108, but is a much quieter and enjoyable ride than the main route. At Elma, 108 ends and joins into SR12, another busy highway, but I could still parallel it on what was now the Monte-Elma Road, which was just as peaceful as the last section. All this last section from McCleary to Montesano was riding through small town America – McCleary, Elma, Brady, Montesano – and it being Saturday with fine weather, there were yard sales going on everywhere, a ball game ready to start in Elma and other outdoor activities – nice to see!
 Yes, the weather was sunny and fine and still is  – according to my thermometer, it was hovering around 80 degrees by this afternoon. Best part was that I had a good tail wind for most of the day, so the miles went by quickly for the most part. Basil didn’t like the wind in his face, but better his than mine!

 

 I stopped in Montesano for some water and a snack; it was too early for my lunch so I routed onto 107 for also another surprisingly pleasant and quite ride – not much traffic at all on this route.

 

 107 joins the western section of 101 which comes south along/close to the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Much busier for me too as I started out on 101 and it was getting quite hot too, but I had lots of room to ride on. After relatively easy riding for most of the day, I hit the first of four long climbs on this section of 101! And for the last 15kms to Raymond, my stop for today, the wind turned around to a headwind! So it was quite slow riding for most of the last 25km but at least I got a nice downhill after each climb and a coast into Raymond. The worst part was that the hills has numerous false summits, where I would turn a blind corner and there was more hill to crawl up! All in a day’s work, I guess. I stopped for lunch out of my supplies somewhere after the second long climb and was glad of the rest and shade for a short while.

 

 Raymond’s another small town (which calls itself a city) that exists from the lumber industry in Washington State. Motel today is up a notch – I started with a 5 star, next day was 2.5 stars and last night was one, wait a minute, that’s too generous, a half-star is even exceeding the standard of the room that I had! Today it’s more like a three star  – nice Mom and Pop run place, Wi-Fi is iffy, but I can put up with that.

 

More tomorrow...

AdamK & Basil, "I want wind goggles"

 

Raymond, WA to Seaside, OR

 Yes, after a brutal day in the saddle, welcome to Oregon.
Yesterday, 100km seemed to fly by, yet today just 10km more seemed like a lot more. Not because of hills, there were a few to deal with, but the headwinds today were very challenging. I left a little after Scott and Bob into a fairly stiff headwind from the southwest, a brief respite when I headed north to South Bend, but then the journey south was face first into a Sou’wester. I met up with the guys a little later and we leap-frogged each other throughout the day as we fought the wind coming off the coast onto 101.

 

 Not much to say about the road as riding at first alongside the Willapa river delta was scenic but not on a good shoulder and very little for services.  We hoped to find something at Nemah, but that was just a dot on the map with a fish hatchery (closed) and a school. The wind decreased a little as we headed inland to the southeast turn onto SR4. Next stop ending up being lunch at a gas station in Naselle at the turn onto route 401 – 401 would take us to the 5km long Astoria-Megler bridge, between Washington and Oregon States across the Columbia River.

 

 By the time that 401 turned southwest, the wind had kicked up to about 40km/hr – very difficult to ride in and the bridge was getting closer. I’ve crossed this bridge twice before, but never with such strong winds blowing. As I started riding on the bridge, the wind was coming in as a head/crosswind and it was unforgiving. Keeping the bike straight was a real challenge in the very small shoulder allotted for cycling – vehicles for the most part were very considerate, but the bigger RV’s had not much space themselves to allow us that extra space that the wind dictated we deserved. Luckily, today being Sunday, traffic was fairly light and I was able to watch my mirror as waves of traffic went by and take the lane when it was empty. The mirror also allowed me to watch for something wide coming up behind and to pull over. Basil did a good job at giving the “evil eye” to anyone who came too close! He really wanted to close his eyes for the whole crossing, but I laid the law down and told him to keep a sharp lookout from the rear!

 

 All went relatively well for the first 4km, then the steep climb came at the Astoria end of the bridge.

 

 That was a real bear! Not only is it very steep, but with a 40km wind blowing in your face, it was barely rideable, especially at a very slow speed and trying to maintain a line. But, there was also construction almost at the crest of the hill and the bridge was down to one lane with one way traffic and flaggers controlling the flow. I reached the flag lady and she was genuinely concerned that I would have to negotiate the remainder of the hill in those conditions. When it was my lane’s turn to go, she let me go first to get a head start before the traffic. I almost made it to the top before my right knee told me to stop pushing so hard, so I pulled the bike to side as much as possible and waited for another cycle.

 After that I booted it to the top and coasted down the other side to Astoria. Even going down the steep section to the city was a challenge, as the gusting wind would not allow me to let the bike go without constant corrections. Phew (that’s not exactly what I said), I was glad to be off that, but the 3km Astoria-Warrenton Bridge was still a short distance ahead and although not as much of a challenge as what I had just ridden, it was still crazy windy.

 

 I waited for the guys to show up after the second bridge, but they must have been held up too by the bridge traffic and flag lady. With it still blowing like stink, I elected to push on for the last 18km to Seaside, my stop for the night. The guys showed up at the same motel a little while later as white-knuckled as I was after that brutal ride.

 Dinner and a drink calmed our nerves as we made plans for tomorrow.

 

More Tomorrow...

AdamK & Basil, "Now that was scary!"

 

Seaside to Tillamook

 Today was a much easier day than yesterday with mild temperatures, overcast skies and a mild headwind to start the day.
 We agreed to meet in Cannon Beach for breakfast as Seaside was still somewhat busy even though we are in the last throws of Summer. We didn’t plan a time though! But as I joined 101 from Seaside, there were the guys a few hundred metres ahead! Sixth sense? Maybe? After a the first good climb of the day just south of Seaside – a good wake up for the legs and precursor for fuel – read food – we filled our bellies at the Pig ‘n Pancake and forged on satiated.

 

 Some good views of the rock outcrops as I was riding higher out of Cannon Beach. After that there were two good climbs of about 7% grade, the first of which started just before the Arch Cape Tunnel.

 

 There is a cyclist activated flashing light to warn drivers of cyclists in the tunnel – and most drivers afford some much needed space for the uphill cycle traffic, but not all! After that climb, a short respite before the next longer climb to the summit of Neahkahnie Mountain where there were some spectacular views of the beachfront at Manzanita that the camera cannot truly replicate.

 

 From there a great downhill run into Manzanita and Nehalem Bay. Manzanita was a lunch stop before carrying on through the seaside towns of Wheeler, Rockaway Beach, Garibaldi (no, the biscuits are not made here!), Bay City and then onto our stop of Tillamook for the night and a rest day too. The old body is due for a break and the weather is due to change tomorrow with some good rain in the forecast. Laundry is in the works too as some of my riding gear is starting a life of its own! As I am writing this, a thunderstorm has started and it is raining already, so a wise choice to hole up for a day before continuing south – plans to make too for the days ahead.
 We were luck today as there were mild headwinds in the morning, but for the last 20km we actually had a tailwind and the sun finally broke through the overcast skies.

 

 Probably no more until Wednesday...

 

AdamK & Basil, "Can we go to the Cheese Factory tomorrow – please?"