Thursday, June 30, 2011

day eighteen

June 27th
Bullards Beach State Park to Gold Beach
65 miles


Woke up at 6:00, made coffee, breakfast, broke camp.  On the road at 7:30, fastest I've broke camp so far.  Another clear morning so far.  No huge climbs today, according to maps.

Noticed light headwind, 10 miles or so south of Bandon.  Wind appears to have switched from the South.  Not a good sign for the weather.  Pedaled on hoping it was just a fluke but headwind kept getting stronger.

Arrived in Port Orford around 10:30AM.  Very windy now, weather has definitely taken a turn.  Stopped and made some lunch.  Weather deteriorating quickly.  30 or so miles to go still. 

Headed out.  Fog is rolling in, had to turn on lights.  Very hard to make good forward progress.  Making 7-8 MPH on flats instead of 12-15 MPH, very frustrating.

Met a biker a little outside Port Orford, Alex, heading the same direction.  Ended up riding together, taking turns in front breaking up the wind.  First time riding with someone.  Fun to talk, nice guy.  19 year old, going to Western, decided to take a break from college to find out what he wants to do.  Wish I was doing stuff like this when I was 19.  He said he hasn't paid for camping once since he left Seattle, just camping on the side of the road somewhere.  Road for around 20 miles, met up with a different Swedish couple who were heading for South America.  They had so much stuff on their bikes, it was ridiculous - they're doing 20 or so miles a day. 

Chatted for a while and we ended up riding together.  We got off 101 and where able to take some back roads through the trees, which cut down on the wind significantly.  We all stayed together for awhile, but I headed off since they were going painfully slow, probably because they had so much stuff.  I just wanted to get to Gold Beach and get the day over with. 

Arrived in Gold Beach around 2:30 and waited for them to be polite, and at least say later to Alex.  MAJOR wind gusts in Gold Beach, hard to balance bike.  Said bye to the others and found a Subway while I waited to meet Josh.  He showed up around 3:00 and we went to his house and unpacked my stuff.  Started to rain.  Couldn't have timed getting to Gold Beach any better if I tried.  Hung out around town and had a few beers at his dad's house.  Fun to see these guys again, since I haven't been here in 3 years or so.

Weather report says a storm system moving in, leaving tomorrow night.  We both decided I shouldn't ride tomorrow and just hang out - Josh is a logger so he would be rained out too.  Very thankful for a roof over my head tonight!  He had to run some stuff up to the job site in the morning, so I told him I'd go with him - at 3:45 in the morning. 

Went to town and had some more beers, dinner - steak and potatoes.  Went back to the house and hung out, went to bed around 1:00AM.  Getting up so early is going to suck, but it was fun to hang out and not think about riding for once.


cool Salmon wood carving in Bandon marina

Looking South, riding through Bandon still



leaving Bandon, lots of amazing views


in Port Orford, weather moving in

fog coming in

about a mile out of Gold Beach

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