Day 3, Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Tillamook, OR to Lincoln City, OR ( 3,300 feet of climbing )
63.7 miles, 12.6 mph, 5hr 1m 46s
Up at 6:00, 7:00 load luggage, 7:15 breakfast at Pancake House down town, 8:00 on the road. It was 48F when we got up but it warmed up to around 54F when we started our ride. It was very foggy and never really burned off all day. There were short periods of time when the sun came out for a while but it was very chilly all day. I started the day with a long sleeve wicking under my cycling shirt a windbreaker and long cycling tights over my regular cycling shorts. I own long finger gloves, ear warmers, arm warmers and skull cap but didn't bring them as I didn't think I'd need them for a summer ride. I wish I had. Actually, ABB scheduled this ride for this time of year because it usually is warm and no fog. Tonight's temperature is forecast to go down to 45F and warm up to 54F at 6 AM with heavy fog. It is supposed to burn off early and warm up to the mid 70's by mid day. I hope so, because Karen told us at route rap that tomorrow's ride to Florence has lots of great photo opps along the ocean. It is 77 miles (16 miles longer than today's ride). Today's ride took me 5 hours so I anticipate that tomorrow (if it is sunny) will take me about 6.5 or 7 hours.
We had a very difficult 6 - 8% climb for 1 mile at about 8 miles out today and many 'rollers' throughout the day. I was riding with Tom Dunn, and Tom Rudbeck and we stopped for lunch at the Pelican Restaurant in a town called Pacific City. Tom Dunn met another cyclist (Tom Carroll - lots of Toms!) outside the restaurant and invited him to join us and we shared stories (see photo). Tom C. is a temporarily retired lawyer from Washington DC. He had been practicing for 12 years and this past May decided to cycle from DC to Oregon and then down to San Francisco. So far he has been on the road cycling and camping out for 3 months. He mentioned that the highlight for him was the Rocky Mountain National park's 'Trail Ridge Road' from Estes Park to Grand Lake. Apparently this is the highest continuous paved road in the US. It was interesting talking to him about his adventures. As we were leaving, I dropped my camera as I was getting on my bike. The batteries fell out and the lens cover fell off. I was a bit upset with myself but I put it back together and it is working ok so far.
Toward the end of today's ride we went got off Rt 101 on a seldom traveled back road that turned out to be a narrow, winding climb through a heavy forested area. The large moss covered trees, silence (there were no cars), shadows and a moss covered bridge made it seem like we were riding through a medievil forest in England or Scotland. It was spooky! I arrived at our hotel the (Ashley Inn and Suites) at 4:10 PM.
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