Day 9 - Wednesday, July 4, 2012 - ouch!

We haven't really elaborated on the myriad of pain that affects us each on a daily basis. Just to put things into perspective, this trip hasn't been all mallow and peanut butter. The run down:
- Melissa:
Kneecaps - The tips of my knee caps are in pain with each pedal stroke until the Aleve breaks down and streams through my body, slightly dulling the pain and switching from one knee to other.
Ankle - I sustained an injury from the sand boarding excursion. I had my left foot in the binding and was attempting to skate to the edge of the dune, where I slammed the board into my right ankle (I probably just needed more wax to make the board move more smoothly). So now I have a bruise that aches with each pedal stroke as well. It wouldn't hurt as much if the sand boarding was worth it.
- Mike:
My Achilles heal is my Achilles tendon. Just on the right side, but it HURTS! No amount of ibuprofen seems to help so I've stopped trying. Just hoping it will get better when we have a rest day. My ass is also killing me. I adjust my seat several times a day and think I've found the perfect location..... Until it starts to hurt again. Prostate might be broken. I throw up when climbing hills after lunch. Not a big deal though. Other than those minor things I feel great!
- DJ:
achilles. back. butt. pride. i suggest more than a week's worth of training for anyone considering a similar excursion.
- Z:
I'm feeling pretty good right now. I had all the typical pains of a saddle in the wrong position for the first few days, but applying the intermediate value theorem and playing the game of millimeters I think I've finally found the perfect saddle height.
-ALL:
Sore Quads!!! (Except Melissa.)

We hit the road early without a cloud in the sky. At a market 10miles out, we copped a few flags to show our American pride on our bikes.

We blazed down 101 with the wind at our backs and stopped for lunch in Gold Beach after peddling out 50miles. Along the way we saw wind surfers and a kite boarder taking advantage of the strong winds and waves. Our solid morning made the climbs later in the day that much easier, and we made it to Brookings in good time with a total of 84miles for the day.

We set up camp at the Harris Beach State Park hiker/biker area. From there we made a dinner of quinoa, broccoli, and squash. We had a fire going and made s'mores, perfecting our technique with melting chocolate and adding peanut butter into the equation. We couldn't view the fireworks from camp, but enjoyed the fourth of July sounds in the background as we drank a few beers around the fire with a fellow bike tourer we met a few days ago.

Even with all of our ailments, we're having an amazing time. And we certainly played Phantom Planet's song California in excitement for entering the last state on our journey!

Day 8 - Tuesday, July 3, 2012 - Seven Devils

The morning started with a ten minute conversation about what day of the week it must be. After packing up camp, we hit 101 and set off for the day from Florence.

We weren't anticipating a tough day, but realized we were in trouble after turning on a road called Seven Devils. The initial steep incline could have been an indicator of the horrors that followed. Once we climbed the hill and read the words, "devil #1" on the road, we knew it was going to be a rough afternoon. The only thing that kept us going was the knowledge of the hot tub at our hotel for the night.

We rolled into Bandon after 74miles of riding with blue skies and high winds. Our lodging for the night, the Sunset Motel, had an amazing view of rock formations in the Pacific, and a laundry room within 20 feet of our room.

The hot tub eased our aching bodies and we consumed a delicious meal of whole wheat pasta and veggies. We've been sure to sample the local food in each area, so we finished our meal by sharing a quart of Umpqua mountain blackberry ice cream.

Dinner and the hot tub drained us of our remaining energy, but we mustered up enough to head down to the beach to catch the captivating sunset.

Day 7 - Monday, July 2, 2012 - Rip, ride, and whiskey

We busted out a century ride yesterday, so today could be a casual low mileage day (54miles)...not to mention we also wanted to check out Oregon's sand boarding scene.

A tailwind pushed us into our half way point at lunch, where we all indulged in delicious veggie quinoa burgers on local sourdough bread. We soaked in the sun while let our food digest, and made friends with a dog on the roof of the establishment.

At this point we've seen many other cyclists taking advantage of scenic 101, touring as well.

Upon entering Florence, we pulled right into the Sand Master Park to sand board. Sand boarding has been dubbed as a cross between snowboarding and wakeboarding - but after trying sand boarding, we'd like to think of it as a mega rip off. We had a totally gnarly sand board shop chick help us out - she was pretty stocked about this 80s fad and had us sold on the $16 per board fun we were about to have. Worst $16 ever spent. The board needs to be constantly waxed to move consistently on the steepest of inclines. I can see why this sport never really took off.

We gathered groceries from Safeway and made our way to Jessie M. Honeyman State Park to set up camp. We were selective with our campsite and had an excellent meal followed by dark chocolate s'mores. We enjoyed the fire Mike so diligently created with a cup of whiskey and classic rock on the iPod. Great night.

Day 6 - Sunday, July 1, 2012 - Mr. Blue Sky

We finally caught a glimpse of the sky in Oregon! Although we still had clouds, we were lucky to have a rain free day and catch some sun.

We left Manzanita early after consuming pasta and pie leftovers from the prior night. On our way we stopped at the Tillamook cheese factory. Here we observed the process of cheese making and sampled the dairy - cheese and ice cream. At this point we met a pair from Eureka, CA riding the Oregon coast. We ended up running into them several times throughout the day.

We conquered a mega climb, which took us to an elevation of of about 812 feet. There was a group of paragliders taking off from this point. We were interested in riding tandem with them, but decided abandoning and then retrieving our bikes would be a problem.

Amazing vistas greeted us to our right as we ventured south along the coast. We set up camp at the South Beach State Park for the night. We had an amazing day and clocked our second century at 102 miles. This will give us more time for extra curricular activities tomorrow!

P.s. why am I the only one in this group who knows the song "Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO????!!!

- Melissa

Day 5 - Saturday, June 30, 2012 - Oregon, wet and wild

We started off the day on the 8am ferry from Washington to Oregon. This was also the start of a day of climbs in the rain. We rode through the rain until we reached a logger's diner around 26miles. After eating an enormous amount of breakfast food, we took off and headed to Astoria (location of Goonies film). In Astoria, where people seemed pretty angry at the local Safeway grocery store, we picked up 101, the Oregon Coast Bike Route.

The rain persisted and so did we on the climbs. After 71miles we tried to find shelter in Manzanita. Most hotels had no vacancies in this quaint coastal town on the weekend, but we were able to find a room at the Bunk House. The bunk house was a trailer park/motel/nail salon. We took advantage of the local laundromat and grocery store....cleaned up and made a delicious pasta dinner.