Day 82: Getting all em-ocean-al

Day 82

Monmouth to Pacific City 55miles

I was excited this morning. I knew that I would hopefully hit the coast today. After almost 12weeks, today would finally be the day when I got to the Pacific Ocean. Still not the official finish line, but pretty damn close.

And also today should be a proper bike ride. For the last two days, I had kind of felt like I hadnt really done enough. Whisper it quietly, but I am almost missing the hills! Its a bit like the scene in The Shawshank Redemption, where Red says how first of all the prisoners fear the prison walls, but eventually come to need them. Its almost like that with me. As much as I might have complained about having to do lots of climbs, they were always a great way of testing myself. The last 2 days have been flat as a pancake and only 60miles in total. I didnt really feel like I was being challanged.

Whilst I wont have nay huge climbs from here on in, today a least had a couple of short steep ones to keep me honest. Today was also the day where I really felt like I was seeing the lush side of Oregon which people kept telling me about. It was definitely much greener today. And also a bit cloudy when I set off. After so many days of pretty much unbroken sunshine, it would be annoying if the day I hit the beach turned out to be cloudy!

Todays riding was generally fine. I actually went off the route slightly to knock off around 10miles. I wanted to get to the coast, but I also wanted to both see the coast and stop for the day at the same time. By taking a bit of a detour, I would hit the seaside just as I entered Pacific City. There were a couple of steep uphill bits, but overall I was setting a good pace. I think the adrenalin of knowing the ocean was in touching distance kept me going today.

And then suddenly I was close. I got to the junction of highway 101, otherwise known as the Pacific Coast Highway. It was only 4miles to Pacific City. I could see a large rock, which I knew was actually in the ocean. By now I was up on out the saddle, pushing myself to the sea. Even as I entered Pacific City, I still couldnt quite see the ocean, due to a bit of a sandbank in my way.

The Pacific Coast Highway - getting close!

Nestucca Bay: Note giant rock in the background

And then as I got through town, looking for my campsite, I saw it. The Pacific Ocean. 82 days, and 4,200 miles since leaving the Atlantic I had arrived. It was quite an emotional moment.

The Pacific! I have now ridden coast to coast!

After having a little bit of time to collect my thoughts, I went to a shop to get a drink and directions to my campsite. Turns out it was only a couple of hundred metres from the beach. Result! Also has lots of wild bunny rabbits hopping around the place!

As I was setting off I saw another cycle tourer on the other side of the road and went to say hi. Had quite along conversation with Bryant. He was cycling from California to Washington State, back down the coast and then over to New Orleans. We agreed to meet in the Pelican Pub (came highly recommended by other cyclists on Twitter) after I pitched my tent.

Set up camp and went to the pub. Spent pretty much all afternoon there swapping stories and gazing out over the beach. I also went for a quick paddle in the waves, just to check I wasnt imaging it!

Having a well deserved pint (or 5)

The large rock I saw earlier was right in front of us, and as the fog rolled in it did a neat disappearing act! Also spent some time chatting to a few surfers before heading back the short distance to the campsite and getting ready for the evening. Feel like a few more beers to celebrate making it from one coast to the other!

Going...

...going...

...gone!

Although I havent officially finished yet, I still feel huge pride in having cycled from one coast to another. Right now I feel like a football team who has won the league, but still has a couple of games left before the trophy is presented!

Decided to take a day off tomorrow as its only $5 to camp each night and I want to spend all of tomorrow lying by the beach, and maybe doing a few coastal walks.

Day 81: The Shortest Day

Day 81

Corvallis to Monmouth 20miles

A pretty easy day today! Sometimes I'll do 20miles before breakfast, today I stopped at the point.

I had a choice today of either doing a ride of about 50miles to a very small town, or a 20mile ride to a larger town, which in my experience will have more facilities (especially decent sized supermarkets). So decided to do the easy ride today, and then to do the longer ride tomorrow.

So I didnt leave Corvallis until about 10.30, and by about 12:30 I was in Monmouth, and that included stopping for a late breakfast!

Easily the shortest day of the entire trip. But thats not a problem at this stage. The whole idea of doing the bigger days during previous weeks has been to ensure that I could take it a bit easy towards the end. Since I had a planned finishing date in mind, I didnt want to be in a position where I was under pressure near the end to get to the finish. If I had to do something like 400miles in the last week then it would have been possible, but may not have been much fun. Pretty much ever since I did 110miles to get to Rawlins, I have been at least 5 days ahead of where I needed to be, sometimes as many as 7. And when I still had a month or so do a 5day buffer was nice to have. But when I get down to the last week, I dont really need quite as many days to spare. So I can eat into a bit with a few shorter ones.

Tomorrow should hopefully be a hugely importantly day, as my plan is to reach the coast, at the aptly named Pacific City. Stay tuned to see if I make it!

Day 80: Back on the road again

Day 80

Eugene to Corvallis 44miles

Possibly my latest ever start today – didnt get on the road until nearly 10am! Felt good to be honest.

After a couple of days where I hadnt really ridden anywhere, today was a nice easy re-introduction to the world of cycle touring.

The first part of the ride, leaving Eugene, was a little stop-start. Whilst within the city, the road was clearly quite a main one (although very empty on a Sunday morning), so there were sets of traffic lights at almost every intersection. Once I got a few miles down the road though it went down to a single lane and then it was plain sailing.

And today's ride was pretty darn easy! For almost the entire way the road was dead flat. We're talking Kansas-esque here. In fact it was actually on the gentlest of downhill grades all the way. It dropped around 1metre a mile, so not exactly steep. And in fact by the time I reached Corvallis I was actually at the lowest elevation since the first few days – currently around 65metres above sea level. Although I will climb slightly tomorrow.

Despite not setting off till 10, I arrived in Corvallis by 1pm. Probably for the first time on the entire trip I started from, and arrived in, a town with a population of at least 50,000 people. Corvallis is another college town, this time it's Oregon State University. And just like the University of Oregon, they also have a less than scary name for their sports team. And this one comes with added immature snickering. Here we have the Oregon State Beavers! Go Beavers! I guess it actually makes sense – the American beaver is the official state mammal of Oregon (all states have lots of 'official' things like birds, rocks, trees, fish etc.), so when it came to naming the team was on obvious choice. If only they were able to see into the future... I also saw a sign for the BeaverBus today – which sounded great fun!

Went and had a look round campus, but it was pretty quiet. I guess in a couple of weeks it will be heaving with lots of eager beavers as the new year starts.

It was good to get back on the bike after a couple of days off. Im now less than 200miles from Astoria, so it's starting to feel really, really close. Just have to decide how close to get to the coast tomorrow.

Apologies for the lack of photos recently – I'll try and take some nice ones tomorrow. Once I hit the coast I'm sure I'll be taking loads!

Day 79: Its the final countdown!

Day 79

0 miles

Dont worry, Im not going to subject you to the popular 80s soft rock anthem. But today does indeed represent the start of the final 10 days of the trip. I really didnt know whether I would make it this far when I set off all those weeks ago in Virginia.

When I leave Eugene I will also be starting out using the very last map section of the trip. Eleven have come and gone, and now only one remains. I like this particular map for a number of reasons.

1. It is, as mentioned, the last map. Which means I'm getting near the end.
2. It is also the shortest map section of all of them. At 234 miles (plus a few more to get out of Eugene) it doesnt seem too daunting. I realise that this map being short hasnt affected the entire route (if this one was longer, a previous one would have been shorter) but from a purely psychological point of view, it seems like this last leg will be over quicker
3. It has a maximum elevation of just 800ft! And I reckon around 50% of the route is below 300ft from here on in. Its nice to know that even when I do have small hill, it cant go on for too long since there is nothing that high left to go over.

So that is what I have to look forward to from tomorrow.

Today was another relaxed day in Eugene. Started out watching the cricket for a bit, and then headed over to the Saturday market. It was good having a look round. The problem with only having a bike is that I cant really buy anything as I dont have the space for it, and dont want to carry anything too heavy! There were quite a lot of 'alternative' stalls there. Lots of tie-dye on sale. Often by people who I have to say had questionable standards of personal hygiene! By all means grow your hair and wear funny clothes, but would if really kill you to take a shower once in a while!

Although I did manage get myself a very nice slice of cheesecake as a bit of treat for lunch!

Spent rest of the afternoon looking round some more shops, and then doing a bit of route planning for the next few days. Reckon it will be 3 days till I hit the coast. I really cant wait now!

Go Ducks!

Day 78

0 miles (although maybe about 8 riding round town)

Always nice to wake up on a rest day! Had a quick bit of breakfast and then spent a bit of time watching some cricket.

About 10am I packed up and left my room and headed for the hostel I was planning on staying in. Actually worked out well, as I was able to put my stuff straight into a room and then head out for the day. The hostel seems to be right in the middle of Eugene's “hippy district”. Lots of people wearing tie-dye clothes around. I feel like I stick out a bit, what with my short hair, clean shaven features and smart clothes (well, as smart as someone doing a cycle tour can look!).

After orientating myself, I set off for a day of looking round. Decided to stop by the university first of all, and have a look round campus. Eugene is another very bike friendly place, so I took mine with me today to get around a bit quicker than walking. Although I should be resting, a few leisurely and unladen miles wont be a problem. And I have tomorrow to rest as well!

The campus was very nice. Had a look at Hayward Field, a very famous athletics track. The founder of Nike was a track athlete at the University, so there is quite a big Nike presence. However, one thing about the University of Oregon sports that isnt that impressive is their team name. All US universities have a nickname for their teams. So in Charlottesville they had the University of Virginia Cavaliers. Not too bad, their soldiers. Little bit scary. In Missoula there were the Montana Grizzlies. Thats more like it – no one would want to face a grizzly bear. The team sounds intimidating even before they step on the pitch. Sadly for Oregon, they are called the Ducks! It doesnt really strike fear into your opponents hearts. You half expect them to come waddling on to the pitch, whilst making quaking noises!

Had a look round the museum of natural history on campus, and then set off to ride some of the bike paths along the river. Probably did 5 or 6 miles along the very scenic paths in total. Nice way to spend a bit of time.

So a pretty relaxing day. Might go look round some shops tomorrow. There is a big market on saturdays which is worth looking at apparently.

Tonight probably head out with people from the hostel hopefully. Maybe hit some local bars.

One thing I feel that needs pointing out is the quality of the beer in the US. The attitude in the UK is very much that American beer is weak, tasteless rubbish. Mainly because we only really get Budweiser, which is, well, weak, tasteless rubbish!

But lots of the slightly bigger towns have a great array of fantastic microbrewery type places. Producing and selling great tasting beers. Last night I went to the Steelhead brewpub and had a few Raging Red Rhinos, a great tasting amber ale. Best beer out here has to be Fat Tire though – I really hope I can get that in the UK. I'll definitely be bringing some back with me.  

Day 77: One last big push

Day 77

Sisters to Eugene 94miles

It's good to see that I've still got it when required!

An extremely pleasing, and enjoyable day of riding today. Set off from Sisters at about 7.45. I knew that I was hoping to make it to Eugene today, although it was a long day of riding.

The first part of the day was the climb up to McKenzie Pass. My last ever high mountain pass of the entire trip! The majority of the ride was very pleasant, climbing up through a vast forest. None of it was too steep, but it was quite long.

The weird bit came as I approached the top. The forest suddenly stopped, and in it's place was something almost other-worldly. The whole area was a vast field of ancient lava flows. No trees, very sparse and with lots of strange rock formations. It felt like I was cycling on the moon or something!

Mount Washington

Belknap Crater: Directly under the Earth's moon...  now!

But with no trees to block the view, the vistas were amazing. Once I reached the top, I took a photo of my last summit, and then had a look around. There was a viewing point which gave a full 360degree view of the area. A great chance to break out the panoramic feature on the camera again!

Wont be seeing anymore of these!

The Sisters mountains

The strange lava fields at the summit

View from the observatory

The full 360degree view from the top

So how did it feel to know that I wont really have another climb of substance to do on the whole trip? Despite sometimes seeming to not enjoy them, there is always a huge amount of satisfaction when you see that sign at the top. Knowing you have achieved another small part of the ride. I think recently I have just found the sheer volume of climbs, almost on a daily basis, to be quite tiring. But having now done them all, I probably feel better about them. If doing this trip was easy, then it wouldn't be a challenge!

And of course, after most climbs, there is the descent. And this one promised to be the motherlode of descents. Around 3,000ft of downhill. Although initially it didnt live up to expectations. Sure there was some downill bits, but around a lot of corners there was a little up-slope to slow my progress. As well as having a negative effect on my enjoyment, there was also the fact that getting to Eugene was a big ask. I didnt need slowing down!

But the true downhill soon revealed itself. There were signs on the road showing when you reached 5,000ft, 4,000ft etc. of elevation. The 5,000ft to 4,000ft bit seemed to take far too long, but after that the fun really began.

It was an superbly twisty road. Loads of hairpin turns and almost constantly downhill. All the time surrounded by huge trees on both sides. The drop from 4,000ft to 3,000ft and then to 2,000ft seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. It was great throwing the bike into each tight turn. The road was very narrow, which was actually a plus point. No vehicles over 35ft in length were allowed on the entire road (including the climb) to there were no RVs or trucks to worry about.

All too soon I was at the bottom and joining highway 126 to Eugene. Thankfully the road followed the McKenzie river pretty much the entire way, so was on a nice gentle downhill grade for pretty much the entire time. Which meant I was able to keep up a good pace (usually above 15mph) to the last 50odd miles didnt take too long.

Before I reached Eugene, I had to go through the city of Springfield. It's pretty much joined to Eugene, but seemed to be like a slightly seedy version of it. Even riding along the main street I went past 3 different strip clubs! One of which had the fantastic slogan of “You wont find these rides at the fairground”!

Soon I was in Eugene and found a place to stay. I was pretty tired by the time I arrived so didnt want to hunt around too much for somewhere to stay. I have decided to have a couple of days off in town, so tomorrow I'm going to transfer over to a hostel. They are a pretty good place to meet people. Ive had a couple of beers, and Im now feeling pretty tired!

But overall it was a great day today. Its nice to know I can still do the big days when required. Im just a tiny little bit annoyed I didnt manage one last ton! But Im now looking forward to a couple of days off. Looks like there is quite a lot to see in town, so will be nice to relax for a couple of days.

Day 76: MMMM, taste those miles

Day 76

Prineville to Sisters 40miles

Simultaneously a small but big today. Small, because I only rode 40miles and it was pretty easy going. But big because I achieved a very important milestone. The title of this entry should give you a clue if you know your Roman numerals.

Yep, today I passed 4,000miles for the trip. This does feel like a pretty important milestone. There wont be a 5,000. There wont even be a 4,500 (unless I get lost somewhere!), so it very much feels like this is now the beginning of the home stretch.

Took the obligatory photo of my odometer. Decided to let my little travelling companion pose with it today!

With less than 100miles to Eugene, and then around 220 from Eugene to Astoria, it really isnt that far now. Realistically, I could probably do that in 5 days (I did 400miles in 5 days back in Kentucky and Illinois), but I have 13 days left, so I can enjoy myself a bit and take it nice and easy.

Today was one of those nice and easy days actually! After all the previous big climbs, I had planned that today would be a shorter, flatter day. It was only 40miles to Sisters, and it was generally very easy going. I didnt even leave Prineville until gone 9.30am as I knew it wouldnt take too long.

For pretty much all of today I was heading towards some very imposing looking, snow covered mountains. I think (if I've understood what people have told me) these mountains are in The Cascades, a mountain range which runs down the country, inland from the Pacific. And they will be the last mountain range I will go over on the entire trip! They certainly made a nice view to be riding towards today. Im just hoping tomorrow's pass doesnt go right over the top of one of them!

It was nice to not really have any hills today. There was one small bit at the very start of the day, and then near the end I had to go down into and back up out of a deep canyon called, erm, Deep Canyon! What an original name. I fully expect to see Wet Lake, Tall Mountain and Dry Desert at some point before I finish! Oh and I saw some reindeer too – obviously doing a bit of warm weather training before their busy period in the winter!