Day 36: August 16th, 2010 (Recovery Ride Out and Back to Tillamook, OR)

Day 36: August 16th, 2010 (Recovery Ride Out and Back to Tillamook, OR)

Technical Data:
Distance, miles: 26.23
Ride Time: 1:43:59
Work, kJ: 1216
Average Power, watts: 191
Normalized Power, watts: 233 (Recovery Ride, okay maybe not! lol)
Average Speed, mph: 14.82

Woke this morning knowing I was taking an extra day here at the park. I didn't have really anything planned, however I knew I wasn't going to sit around and sleep. So the first thing I do when I get up is say fairwell to my Canadian friends I had dinner with last night, Andrew and Nicole. I sure hope I keep in touch with those two, they were so nice and so adventurous!

So what to do today? I know that I need to capture some electrons for my phone and pc so I might head back into Tillamook today and just hang out at a coffee shop and get caught up on things. I thought about this early then I thought twice, so I headed and took a shower and then took a long walk on the beach! What a great morning!!! Walking the beach I just people watched as there was so many people out walking and riding the beach. There was a couple of guys trying to show off on there mountain bikes, then one tacoed his rear wheel, it was the humor for the day for sure! I just laughed as they were riding around, I laughed becuase I know what its like to have this happen and then what to do? Really nothing can be done, you can straighten it back out which he did then roll on and replace it later. The family was great as they laughed too!

Watching the kids play in the sand, running from the ocean waves was cute this morning. I tried to really get in the moment and just enjoy the day and it was perfect! I do wish the sun was shining though as I haven't really seen it in a couple of days. I really enjoy the warmth of sun on my face in the morning and I'm pretty sure this will be a place to visit for me and not a place to call home as it has a lot of rain and little sunshine. However, one will never know where I will end up, I could grow to love this place for sure as it has what I like for topography. I remember this quote from John Steinbeck when I thought about this while walking on the beach.

"A journey is like marriage.The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it."
- John Steinbeck

Giving up control is so liberating! The journey so far has been so much fun! So today I think I'll hike the 5 mile hike from camp up to the Cape Lookout Point and back. So a ten mile hike on one of my days off! What a way to spend a day off, in a lush green park surrounded by forests and the giant Pacific Ocean! Heading out of the hike I grab some water and really thought about trail running it, however my clothes are still wet from washing them in the shower the other day. It's been 90% humidity for the last couple of days, finally getting to see the true NorthWest weather! Cloudy and rainy all the time! Hike was amazing, huge trees! Trees have to be a couple hundred years old! I'm so greatful to get to see the NW forest before I head to see the Giant Redwoods in California. Gives me a true perspective of things, from the trees in Kansas to Oregon then the Redwoods! I'll get it all then touch it up with the fall foilage on the East Coast to finish up the trip. I have to be so blessed right now to be escaping from society and just enjoying life!

The hike was great, it had lots of climbing which was good as I have been riding my bike for the last 30+ days with no other type of exercise so it felt great to switch things up today! The hike didn't provide much of a view as it was cloudy the entire time with thick fog at times. The one thing it did provide was lots and lots of mud at times, I wish I would have worn my Chacos at this point as the mud between my toes would have been nice. I know this may sound silly, however there is just something about getting muddy every once in a while!

The point I hiked too didn't have much of a view today, I'm sure when its clear its an amazing view, but today I just got to see a lot of H2O floating in the sky and it was thick too! So I just decided to head back to camp! The hike took a little over three hours which I expected. Once returning to camp I debated for about ten minutes before deciding to head into town for some electrons and some food. Before rolling out John (62) another cyclist rolled into camp. I asked him if he wanted anything from the store, he mentioned he wanted a "Sprite" so he gave me a buck, I was thinking you can't get a "Sprite" for a buck these days.

I changed and headed off to the store. I wanted to try and ride every day now, even on rest days as I feel like its the best thing to do so I don't get complacent. I headed out on my little 25 mile round trip trek to Tillamook to pick up some electrons and some food. Right before I hit 131 back into Tillamook a small black bear crossed my path and I thought whooooo, if theres an adolescent where's Mom... I waited for a little bit before I ventured on so did the car it almost got hit by heading the other direction. They rolled down their window and we chatted for just a bit then I headed on to the store. Nothing like a little climb to get over before I drop into Tillamook. I was riding today and not thinking otherwise! I stripped half of the weight out of BoB and really wanted to hit it today.

I can tell by the normalized power numbers I was having some fun today! It was! The ride into Tillamook took close to 40 minutes which I thought wasn't bad for an eleven mile treck to the store over a good series of small climbs (500 feet or less). Once into Tillamook I headed to the Cheese Factory to fill up my bottles with lemonade, I wasn't going to be shy on the free samples either today as I was hungry when I got into Tillamook. Then to Safeway to grab some Sprite and a couple hours worth of electrons for my phone, it was dead and I needed it for the ability to take some pictures. It went out on the way up to the point, I glad it was cloudy as I wouldn't have been able to take any photos any how.

Nothing really exciting happened at the Safeway! I did take the time to connect with some friends and family as I had cell service and had the time. It was good to chat with some people I knew and it helped pass the time when just hanging out at a random Safeway. This was the same Safeway I hit up before heading into Astoria a few days before and the same homeless guy was just hanging out eating some more pastries. I don't think he recognized me this time around, last time we chatted this time no time, he was off.

I hung out for a little bit longer after chatting with friends before riding back. I was going to have some fun and race it a little I thought, then I gthought nope! I'm just going to ride easy and see how it goes. I rode pretty strong though and could really feel the power today without towing BoB fully loaded, o' how I can't wait until I get back to a group ride and see how strong I have gotten.

Back at camp I down the "Box" of cereal and 1/2 gallon of milk I purchased and it was so good! Since this trip started my stomach has been a deep endless pit able to eat about everything in sight. Though on the recovery days in Astoria I did feel full and didn't want to eat anymore processed food! I have been craving some fresh fruit and vegetables along with some fresh fish! I really would like to have some BBQ as well...all these carbohydrates I have been fueling this trip have got to go though, I really want some meat!

Really not much going on at camp, lots of cyclist rolling in tonight, however I have one thing on my mind and that's sleep. Little treck closer to Florence tomorrow will have to do as I am delaying my trip to hang out with a friend of mine on Friday in Florence so I'll have to make sure to slow down and enjoy the sites a long the way. To sleep I go...