Day 8 Report - Castle Rock to Astoria

Total Miles 63.9
Average Speed 12.9mph
Total Ascent 1060m

Today was a day of many firsts / mosts.

- First day I REALLY didn't want to get on my bike
- First time in Oregon state!
- First time I had 2 lunches (will explain later - do I need to explain?!)
- Most climbing in a day so far
- First beaver road-kill (I've also seen a couple of racoon and some deer)
- First Puncture (don't mention the "p" word!) - actually it was last night directly after blogging so not as bad as en route.

The first puncture - when I came out of the library my front wheel was flat. Not a big deal as I put in a new inner tube. The only slight irritation is that I only have a hand pump and you can't get the same pressure which means it takes more effort to cycle and there is a slight danger of the tyre being damaged on the sides where there is less protection. A young lad (Shawn) who had been studying in the library offered the use of his biger pump but unfortunately it only fitted a different type of valve - thanks for trying! After looking at my blog last night Shawn emailed to own up to being the phantom library hummer!

So what of today? It had been billed as a steep climb day so I passed up on the conti breakfast at my motel and got a good ol' country style breakfast at Hatties. Country style indeed as they had country music playing on their speakers. I've no idea what artist it was - (I think it was a radio station with a mix) but I really enjoyed it. I might get stick from the young and hip but I like country music - deal with it!

I was ready for a battle against some really steep climbs but they never actually materialised. Don't get me wrong there were some tough climbs in there. But they were more long and gradual than the brutal 20-30%ers I was expecting after the warning in the map. So feeling quite pleased that I'd avoided the walk of shame (walking my bike up a hill!) I wheeled into Cathlamet on my way to get the short ferry to Oregon. I'd just missed one of the hourly sailings so dropped into a cafe for refreshment - the bagels looked tempting so a jalopeno bagel with cream cheese was lunch #1 at midday.

By the way, Cathlamet is a lovely wee historic town - the cafe lady saidwith pride that there are no red light stops in the whole county!

I got the ferry at 1 and it took 15 minutes to get to Oregon but I couldn't leave the ferry town of West Port without partaking of Lunch #2 - Buffalo Burger with potato salad.

I've been burning something like 3000 extra calories a day so I'm actually entitled to 2 breakfasts and dinners as well! But that's just not possible in the time available.

So here I am in Astoria and I've finished map #1. For the first time I allowed myself a look at map 2 last night and it looks much harder terrain. They have an elevation profile that looks like a earthquake readout. Just as well I didn't look at it until I was stronger and ready for the challenge. The other thing it says in the notes is that this coast is liable to get fog - on these days clearly cycling is a no-no. So I need a new plan. I can't do just my 50 miles a day and expect everything to go well. I will need to make hay while the sun shines and get some miles in the bag.

So from now on I'm planning on averaging around 60-70 miles a day so I can take the odd day off later if required - or if I fancy a well earned rest.

Lewis and Clark note- It seems Oregon are quite proud of these pair two and have trails and a national park in their name.

Must run as the Astoria library is about to close - I'm using one of their PCs for this today.

Just before I do - On some of the more major roads there are rumble strips like we have at home on motorways. Only they also have them in the middle of the road too. My first time on one of these I was minding my own business in the hard shoulder when I hear a really loud noise. What's that??? It sounded exactly like the pods in the pod racing scene of Star Wars episode 1. Have I got Anakin skywalker on my tail - or even worse the alien chap that looks like a dog who steers with his feet?!?

But no, it was a courteous lorry giving me a wide berth and going over the central rumble strip - I had to laugh at myself once again.