Cycle Oregon The Weekend Aug 1st - Aug 3rd

Again Warren and I volunteered on Cycle Oregon The Weekend. He drove the SAG van while I did radio communications with my ham radio. My call sign is KD7PEL. This weekend there were 1500 riders doing several routes. They stayed two nights at Fort Stevens State Park. We had fun meeting several riders and spending the weekend together. It was especially nice to be in a car after spending four days on a bike.

Bike Trip July 28th-July 31st

Again, our tires hit the road on anther four day bike ride. We were planning on riding from The Dalles Oregon to Astoria Oregon, about 200 miles, east to west. After planning out the route we noticed that the prevailing wind is west to east. So instead of 200 miles of headwind we reversed the legs.

Day 1: We went from Vancouver WA to Cascade Locks Oregon. We rode about 47 miles today. At first we had to ride surface roads in Vancouver which is always a bit unpredictable. Then we hit highway 14 and made some great time with the tail wind. We made in after several hours of riding but would have made it sooner though we stopped several times to look for geocaches. The picture here is of me and my riding buddies in Vancouver as we started out.














Day 2: We started in Cascade Locks OR and rode to Horsethief Lake State Park WA. This was a fun day for us as our tail wind allowed us to average 14+ miles per hour! Many times we were doing 20-22 mph. Very fast for us as we usually average only 10-12 mph. This picture is of us leaving Cascade Locks.













Day 3: Vancouver WA to LL Stubs State Park OR. This day, I believe, was only 39 miles. We rode MAX (the city transit) and saved ourselves many miles. Our legs were tired from riding the last two days and at least I didn't want to ride many more miles than that. LL Stubs is Oregon's newest State Parks and it has lots of hiking and biking opportunities. On the way one of my riding buddies finally got a flat tire and he broke two spokes. He went with our ride support vehicle back to a bicycle shop. While they were gone, I search and found four geocaches in the park. This picture is of me trying to put up the sun fly.













Day 4: LL Stubs State Park OR to Astoria OR. This day was over 77 miles, the most I have ever ridden in one day. We spent the morning trying to find four or five geocaches, which put us a bit behind schedule. We rode over the coast range and got into Astoria about 6:45pm. We felt surprisingly good after having biked that far. The picture I have here is of us at the Astoria Column after the ride.

Day 6 Saturday June 28th

This is the last day of the ride. We started fairly strong and finished even stronger. Another day with a tail wind! This first picture is of the south end of Willapa Bay. The next picture is of Astoria with Saddle Mountain shrouded in the background with smoke. The third picture is of the Colombia River where I stopped to fix my first flat of the season. The last series of pictures are in Astoria enjoying a cool glass of sparkling apple cider and a celebratory bike lift. All total, 6 days and 323 miles. Up next, I think we are riding part of the Gorge.

Day 3 Wednesday June 25th Part 2

While the big boys rode down the coast, Wendi and the boys went with some friends further south and stayed a couple of night at the beach in some yurts. As you can see from these pics, they had a fantastic time both climbing around in the trees and at the beach getting very wet and sandy. Lastly, a nice warm campfire warmed and dried everyone. Of course the smores were a nice addition.

Day 3 Wednesday June 25th Part 1

Today we went from Bogachiel State Park to Quinault Lake, a total of 65.4 miles. Lots of this ride took place next to the beach though the last third went back inland. This first picture is of a bald eagle on a rock. We saw plenty of these wonderful creatures throughout our week. The second picture is of my buddies looking for a photo op.

Day 2 Tuesday June 24th

Tuesday we rode from Port Angeles to Bogachiel State Park, a total of 70.6 miles; Our longest day with the tallest mountain. This first picture was taken as the sun rose and hit our tent about 5:50am or so. Our tent is so huge it has three separate wings on the inside. We could easily sleep three families in there. Of course it takes a village to put it up but we don't mind. It allows our dogs to have a wing all to themselves. The second picture is of our two dogs, Raini and Bear. They are both well behaved and a joy to have in camp. This third picture is of Lake Crescent. We rode around the south side of the lake. The road here was decent if not very wide. The last picture posted is of one of my riding buddies as he gets off the bike to push the caution button to start the flasher lights. The sign warns bicycle riders that large RVs and log trucks use this eleven mile stretch of rode characterized by blind corners and very narrow roads. After the lake there was a climb up to 1200 feet and what was supposed to be a 30 mile descent though the head wind took the sails out of that excitement pretty quick. Once we made it to Forks, it was pretty short work to make it to the state park.

Day 1 Monday June 23rd

Day 1 went from Port Townsend to Port Angeles for a total of about 46 miles. We got a late start as we spent considerable time at camp getting ready and once we finally arrived at Port Townsend we spent the better part of an hour looking for a Geo Cache. We did find it but we ended up with pretty scratched legs. The ride itself was great. We stayed on Highway 20 until it met up with Highway 101 going up and down several rather large "hills". The highway 101 part went fine as well though there was lots of traffic. We ended up in camp around 4:30 and had a fantastic dinner.

Bike Ride Start

This is me and a couple of buddies starting in Port Townsend Washington on our way, via bike, to Astoria Oregon in six days. Our families did the ride support so we didn't have to carry gear with us.