Day 35: August 15th, 2010 (Route: Astoria, OR to Cape Lookout Campground, OR)

Day 35: August 15th, 2010 (Route: Astoria, OR to Cape Lookout Campground, OR)

Technical Data:

Distance, miles: 79.76
Ride Time: 5:48:06
Work, kJ: 3485
Average Power, watts: 163
Normalized Power, watts: 204
Average Speed, mph: 13.44

Forecast: Cool and cloudy, winds

The last three days of rest have been wonderful, to be honest I actually wasted a couple of days just sleeping and eating! I woke this morning thinking one more rest day but mentally I was really not wanting to sit around or even hike around, I wanted to ride and to start my journey South. I have seen so many things this past month by moving destination to destination that sittle idle kind of has me going crazy. I actually didn't write at all when I was recovering which is what I really wanted to do, however I took the time to visit with locals, see the sights and just really take a few days off from pedaling and writing. One more rest day was on the schedule but I'm feeling good and to waste another day sitting and eating isn't what I had in mind, I always do better mentally moving from place to place.

I woke and the German that I talked to last night was still in his tent, sleeping I'm presuming. The other cyclist had rolled out and I'm not sure at what time. I'm pushing on today I'm thinking! Getting things together is always a chore after you have taken a few days off from the routine, I was thinking it would be easier to just hang out and enjoy the day, however with the gloominess of the weather I was ready to push south and hopefully hit sunshine sooner than later! I look at the map and pick out a destination with a fair amount of distance in it as I want to slow myself a little, but still have a good ride. Riding my bike brings me such great joy and I don't think those who have told me to slow truly understand this!

I love to ride my bike!!!

I choose Cape Lookout just south of Tillamook for my destination of choice today, I figure I'll take my time down the coast and drop into the coastal cities and check them out, then to the Cheese Factory in Tillamook and eventually hit the camp site. I've heard the campsites (hiker/biker) are wonderful along the coast so I plan on staying at them along the way. The one last night was great, the beach was amazing and the ship wreck was pretty cool too, add a seal basking in the sun and you have a perfect morning! Getting things ready for departure this morning was a task, I have put off patching tires and other small chores I should have done over the last three days but failed to as I was too busy sleeping!

I continue with chores, repatching tubes (I've a lot of flats), washing dishes from lasts nights dinner, and shower and quick shave. My clothes are still not dry from doing laudry by hand yesterday, I figured I could save a couple bucks by doing my laundry in the shower, however the ability to dry clothes outside her when the clouds come in is virtually impossible. I'll have to back up all my wet clothes and take them with until I see some sunshine. Again, this place is an amazing place and if the entire US could live here I'm sure they would, if and only if it was sunny all the time. I guess its a give and take, clouds may just keep the entire population from living on this coast.

I get everything packed up and bike lined out and head for a shower. The showers at this site were great, even had heated flooring! I thought this a little over kill, however it does get cold up here so having heated floors makes a lot of since, I enjoyed them nonetheless. Back to my bike and ready to take off and another flat, I'm thinking I'm never going to get out of here. Maybe I was supposed to take another day of rest, I figure I'll work my way down the coast resting. I have plans to hang out with a friend in Florence next Friday exploring and just enjoying the day so I'm really in no hurry as its less than 200 miles there and I have 5 days to get there. I like this though as it is forcing me to slow my pace a little. Not on the bike but on the days! I really don't like riding less than 50 miles, even 80 at that as I don't seem to be getting warm until after 40+ miles and then the legs really feel like riding! Must be all the training I did when prepping for Ironman I guess.

Patch the tube and find the culprit in the tire, another small wire that I didn't find earlier. Next time around I'm going to run a touring bike with much more durable tires, and possibly paniers so I don't have to worry about the sway when heading downhill. Plust I'm going to go much lighter and possibly faster, possibly slower depending if I can find someone to tour with me!

And I'm off, destination south of Tillamook where the whale watching is supposed to be pretty good, however I'm not sure they are running right now so I'll have to wait and see. The clouds are thick, so thick the UV light is having trouble penetrating through. No need for sunblock today, true the blue UV light will seep in however I'm feeling pretty good about not wearing any today. If I see the light my skin will thank me for doing so! Rolling out of camp I know I need to get to a bike store as I'm down to just patches for punctures, out of spare tubes. All the spares I had are full of punctures that were not patchable so I had to pitch them. I'm thinking bike shop 10 miles away in Seaside, OR, where I can pick up some tubes and see if they have a quick release BoB skewer as mine is bent, it was bent when I borrowed it and has worked its way to more bent!

The ride to Seaside was good, just trying to warm up the legs and flush all the recovery out of them. They were stiff and it did take some time to get going, however I was still thinking one pedal stroke at a time and I'll be there. Rolling into Seaside, OR I remember the main street, Broadway takes me straight to the beach so I head that way before hitting up the bike shop. I take a right, headed West and there are thousands of people, I feel like I'm in downtown Chicago in rush hour! So many people all flocked to this little town for one of the largest volleyball tourneys in the states. I figure since I'm in no hurry to get to camp tonight and I'm "touring" now I'll stop and see some volleyball (okay - girls in bikini's sure was a deterant!) I watched for a little while and listend as there was a lot of ex-professional and old olympic volleyball players there, however this is a foreign world to me so I just people watched and took in the views.

Heading off the main strip I head to the bike shop where I'm able to pick up some tubes, but no skewer. I'll have to wait for that at a shop further south. The main problem with the skewer is that it is bent on the side I need to tighten and came loose the other day, I can't seem to get it tight using my fingers so it needs to be replaced! Before I left the gal said I could pick one up in Eugene, the good thing is my friend is coming to Florence from Eugene so I have a couple options. #1 Ride to Eugene inland off my route #2 Ask my friend if she doesn't mind picking it up for me - Either or I wouldn't mind riding into Eugene as this would give me more time to hang out and see the city which would be cool too.

Heading South out of Seaside I get the thought in my head of, "what the" - the wind is blowing from the South? I thought it "Always" blew from the NW I kept thinking. I quickly had to adjust my thoughts as I have had so much fun riding into the wind even though I was a little tired and cranky at times, however I figure its all for the training right? I have been asked what am I training for or are you training for something on this trip and my answer from the beginning was, "I'm trianing for lower insurance premiums and what ever adventure comes up next" so I'm going to stick with that for an answer!

Not too much further to go, less than 50 miles or so as today is going to be a much shorter day compared to all the others so I'm going to site see and just enjoy the day, ok the clouds! Kinda odd all this fog, just different as I'm accustomed to living in an environment with blue skys and clouds 15,000 feet up! Riding out of Seaside there are a lot of little towns pieced together along 101 heading to Tillamook. I stop and take pictures of the signs and pretty much just piddle my way down south. I stopped and took a picture of the famous Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach and just really enjoyed all the seaside homes looking out onto to the Pacific Ocean, man what it must be like to vacation here in the summer in a place of your own or even just a rental. The views are so amazing and the beaches so clean, makes me want to get back to work. The I think 2-4 weeks of vacation when I love to travel so much, how will that work?

Legs are starting to wake up now and I'm really enjoying the time I have right now, thinking about all the other things in my life that I should be doing but I'm not, I'm postponing them to ensure I'm revived when I return, able to give 100% of myself to whatever it is God has for me in the next chapter. Roads are okay, full of chat and debree from all the motorist. Cruising now and "whooooo" a motor home buzzes by me, they failed to put up there step going into there "home on wheels". I could feel it so close when it passed at 50+ mph, I hell at them for not giving me three feet. I wonder how many people know of this "law" they passed, I'm not sure if all the states have passed it, however this person sure didn't know of it! I pointed and yelled as I think I did get there attention because they did stop and put the step back in place when traveling, I saw them in the next town and when they passed again it was out of sight and they actually got over this time. I often wonder if drivers turn into differnt people when they are behind the wheel of a vehicle, thinking man another bicycle. I wonder if they think the bicycle is pedaling itself as they really don't seem to care about human life when they buzz you at high speeds. On top of that I wonder if they understand physics at all and what the wind does to us light cyclist as we are pedaling down the road, being sucked into the wind currents when people pass at high speeds???

I feeling pretty good, stomach still full of all the goodies I ate over the three days of rest and I'm thinking just ride and burn as many calories today as possible to empty your stomach, I felt so gross when I got on the bike. I can sure tell the difference from fresh organic food vs. packaged food which I endulged myself with the last couple of days. Not a good feeling, I kept thinking of a kitchen with fresh fruit, veggies, meat, and that ever so fresh glass of cold milk! Again, thinking I don't want this to ever end, however I know when it does I won't take anything for granted! You learn to cope with so much less when you're on the road, you have no other choice. I wonder what else I'll give up when I return to the working world and plug myself back into society. Will it be my car, will I bike every where? Will it be chocolate, nope don't see that happening? I'm sure things will have changed within me, the maturing will be evident upon my return I'm certain of that as I feel like I have grown (aka matured) so much. I never want to grow up as I never want to lose the kid inside! What if we all gave up something in our lives, would we be better off? So many thoughts going through my head on the bike today, so fresh and not warn down from all the previous days. Recharged and fully functioning! Love it...

I continue to ride and nothing really exciting happens on this stretch, I did come across "Hug Point" and thought about how nice it would to embrace someone I love with a hug at this very moment. At a place where it says hug point! I've been without a hug since Cookie at the Wisdom, MT little cafe I dined at a couple weeks ago. So long to have been without touching someone. I have been asked lots on this trip about what its like to be riding alone, do you get lonely. The answer is yes, I think I do get lonely and the rest days are the hardest. The other days I'm working and not letting my mind control my thoughts. I have to ask who doesn't get lonely at times? According to the Bible - God created all creatures to have a partner in live. Adam with Eve and all the animals, et cetera. Maybe not all as there are some loners but is this by choice or design?

Since I have been on this trip, when the feeling of lonliness hits its when I see a couple walking holding hands, or fowl traveling together, maybe my lonely feelings are triggered my jealously. Thinking of having something that God has not provided for me just yet. I know it will happen someday as it has been a desire in my heart for some time and that is his design and I must wait on that and not make the choice. Making the choice would be taking control and I don't want to have control anymore. Many I have talked to that are happily married say that when you know you know so don't rush anything. I'm trying to stick to this advice as it appears it worked for them so I'll continue to put my faith in the Lord on this subject.

Thoughts all over the place today, must be recharged for sure! Continuing the ride into Tillamook I stop at the famous, you must see "Tillamook Cheese Factory", so many friends told me I have to stop so I will and check it out. I figure its just a huge tourist trap to get people to buy more of the "Tillamook" brand name dairy products but what the heck, I'll check it out! I stop and the place is buzzing with tourist, I lock my rig (bike and BoB) up and head inside. I don't like to leave my rig unattended as right now its my life! Imagine losing everything you own. I have friends that have due to natural disasters and starting over again doesn't sound that much fun, but in a way I think I currently am.

The factory wasn't running when I arrived as its 5PM on a Sunday so I check out things, eat the free samples of cheese, okay I went through the line three times I must confess. I just finished riding close to 65 miles and food is what I think about when I get off the bike. The chedder and pepperjack cheese was awesome! I continued to tour the facility and I'm thinking about coming back tomorrow to see if they are running and get a glimpse of the factory in action. I purchase some cheese for mack and cheese tonight, I figure I have all these noodles what better way to spend the evening, ocean side eating some fresh diary from a local factory. (what's 3 bucks right - I've heard this so many times on this trip and I think its a lot when you don't have much!)

Leaving the factory I head due West around the Tillamook Bay which is gorgeous I might add to Cape Lookout State Park where I'm going to call home for tonight and possible the next day. I have four days now until I need to be in Florence so I can piddle! The ride over to the park is close to 11 miles or so and I just enjoy the ride, low traffic with a little climbing and I'm there. Rolling into the park I register with the Park ranger then head to my site! I see the Canadians (Andrew and Nicole) that I saw a couple nights ago. Pretty cool seeing them again, thought they would be long gone, they were a group of four and now they were down to two. They just wanted to spend the time enjoying the sights and I don't blame them! Andrew really thanked me for a quote I mentioned before they rolled out of Ft. Stevens State Park about pacing. He made a comment about being slow and I had to comment, "Everyone has there own pace when cycling, and everyone's journey in life follows a differnt pace as well" - I know this came out different the other day but I think I collected the thought. Sharing dinner and conversation with them was great, youth is so much fun to converse with, so fresh, so adventurous!

After dinner, well before that "Thank You Andrew and Nicole" for the steak and roasted pepper, what a treat for me tonight, just a taste but that's all I needed! And Nicole - ladies never shovel! LOL I thank them and wish them a good night and return to my tent, figure listening to the waves crash along the beach all night will allow for a healthy night of sleeping. The view here is unreal - ones you see in the movies if your not from this area or have never been. So lush green, all the pigments of green you can think of and o' so beautiful! I wouldn't change this for anything right now, I do wish I had a beautiful lady accompaning me though...