Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Portland to the Coast- on-road- July 2012

A big crew from Minneapolis skipped RAGBRAI in Iowa this summer and flew to Portland for a bike tour of the Oregon coast. I planned the first 4 days along the storied Nestucca River road. The weather was stellar and the route was fantastic.

GPS route- click here

Day 1- "RAGBRAI West" off to a slow start

 
Rolling out of Portland- there is something euphoric about the first few pedal strokes on your self-sufficient bike, especially when you're with a group of 10 fantastic people

Sexy Cheever- not afraid of shotgun country with that protective mullet

It took us most of the day just to get to the foothills of the coast range, so we stayed the night at some kind folks' home outside of Yamhill and enjoyed a big, drunk bonfire


Day 2


 
The Nestucca river road had a detour, which added more miles and more climbing. We peaked out here around 2,800 feet


Check this shit out- I think we saw two cars on this road all day


This way to Stan Beaver


Derailleurs and spokes don't mix- Robert snapped 6 spokes and nearly destroyed his rear derailleur. Luckily he had 4 stainless spokes in the correct length and we had two kevlar Fiber Fix universal spokes to get him rolling again. I'll never do a trip without Fiber Fix spokes





Fianlly over the coast range, we were lucky enough that the Fox grocery (and firearms) store in the town of Beaver was still open

Day 3- To the beach






We finally arrived at the beach just north of Pacific City


Pelican Brewery- a must stop lunch spot. Our slow-n-go day ended being a paltry 25-miler.

 Fiona- check out that happy angry fuck you smile. We don't even know those two guys in the background. Seriously, who were they?

Day 4- Sunny coast ride





Newport is the largest port town on the central Oregon coast. We found some amazing dinner at Local Ocean Seafoods




 I ended this lovely trip in Waldport, as the rest of the group continued south towards California. Robert, Fiona, Brad, Adam, Girl Karl, Cheever, Donnie, Sam, Julie, B.Rose and the four random people that traveled with us- you're the best- let's do it again in 2013