Blazing Saddles and Blunders Cape Lookout to Beverly Beach

Captions from top: Greg gazing at the ocean, Huge splashing wave at Boiler Bay, Old Scenic hwy 101 in the Suislaw National Forest, Dani on old hwy 101, Dani on a one lane bridge old hwy 101.

Cape Lookout to Beverly Beach 10/24/09
Day 8 - 75 miles!

Oh, what a day today was. We started off planning 60 miles, by far the most miles we have done in a day on this trip. We got good sleep from our rest day and we were feeling good to go. We conquered the biggest climb on the Oregon coast right off the bat on fresh legs and we felt great. In no time at all we were 20 miles into the day, just cruising right along. The sun was actually out and it was a beautiful day to be riding a bike. After about 20 miles there was another steep climb, but it was up some of the most scenic road we have been on so far. We went off of hwy 101 on the old scenic 101 (a much better choice).

We rode into the Suislaw National Forest and it was beautiful, check out the photos. The beauty made the climb that much easier. Dani was starting to have issues and run out of energy mostly (I think) because her butt was in a lot of pain from her seat and from chaffing. When we reached the top of this climb, the descent was amazing, probably 3 straight miles of downhill and perfect twisty mountain roads with no traffic through an old growth forest. We were both energized after such a great ride, and then... We reached an intersection and both agreed on taking sa left turn. Well, that left turn was wrong. We should have gone straight and it took us 10 total miles out of the way, and on such a long day.

Greg

When we reached the town of Otis, which had taken the extra 10 miles to get to, Greg and I decided to stop at a little place called Pronto Pups. Now, I haven't had a corn dog in over 6 years, and well, we thought we should get some. I know, I know, I don't usually even eat meat. But, it sounded so good and we needed the fuel, so we indulged (SHAME ON US! haha). Greg went all out and got a huge cheddar jalapeno dog. We also had sweet potato fries and a chocolate peanut butter milkshake. Thank goodness we stopped for food because what was supposed to be a 60 mile day ended up being a 75 mile day and we would have really hit a wall if it were not for the food we had there. I was really struggling to get through the last 10 miles with tired legs, but I felt great when we finally got to Beverly Beach. To add insult to our earlier detour, we had to ride all the way through the town of Depoe Bay and back looking for a grocery store.One of the best parts of the day was a beautiful 2 mile detour off 101 that took us along the edge of a cliff looking over the ocean at sunset. It was so nice to be at Beverly Beach. I will say that Oregon must have something about keeping the cyclists far away from the comforts of other campers in their campgrounds. We're always at the furthest possible point in the campground from hot showers, but who can complain for $8. At least we still get hot showers. In fact, I think I shower more now than I have for the past year.

I have to recall a funny conversation we had the other day at Fort Clatsop.
Greg was commenting on how amazing it was that Lewis and Clark made 40 miles in a day, when we were making about the same distance on our bikes on roads. He said, "How do they do that, 40 miles a day?" and I said, "Well, they must get up earlier than we do!"
No matter what time we get up, it seems we can't get out of camp before 10 AM.

Dani