coast of oregon video

 

Photos from several days

July 24--Day 10 of Bike Adventure

July 24 Crescent City to Eureka, CA (85 miles)

The morning started out slow. All but 4 of the riders headed out right after devotions. The four remaining riders: Blake, Carmen, Jenn, and Mike. Mike and Jenn are the sweeps today. Blake discovered he had a flat before leaving. He and Mike changed the tube. Carmen headed out on her and returned 5 minutes later. She did not know which way to go. She and Blake headed out together, and returned a few minutes later because Blake had an other flat tire. Finally, we're off.

Morning climb through Redwoods State Park outside Crescent City. The fog had yet to lift in the forest and the early morning sun shown through the tree branches, which gave the trees a magical quality.

The first rest stop was at the end of this segment of the ride. The climb and descent was a total of about 8 miles. I wish I had been able to get out of the van to take some photos as we traveled through the Redwood Forest. I'm glad that I'll have another opportunity south of Eureka, when I'll be back on my bicycle.

There was a herd of elk along side the road. We stopped to take a few photos. The were on the left side and the ocean was on the ride. The elk seemed to be tame. Three of them were right up against the road and they did not move when walked up to take photos. Most of the elk were young. There were two with small sets of antlers. One the elk was calling to the other elk. The elk's call sounded like a porpoise or a whale than like a land mammal.

Yurok Tribe—Native American

Stone Lagoon Station Humbolt State Park

Our second rest stop of the day.

As we approached the rest stop there were cars parked everywhere and a large group of people on the hillside. As we got closer we could see that some of the folks were wearing some type of Native American headdress. I asked the folks directing the traffic if I could walk up to observe the ritual. They said I could as long as I did not take photos or video.

The group watching consisted mostly of Native Americans, and a few non-Native Americans. A young tribal member was speaking when I reached the group. He was explaining that the group would be climbing to the top of the hill, which would take about 2 hours. The ritual would continue on the top of the hill and then there would be a communal meal for all those gathered at the top. Tomorrow they would continue walking toward their destination Redwoods. The entire journey would take roughly two days. After he finished the speaking the young men performing the ritual made several tonal calls, joined hands and rhythmically moved forward and backward. Throughout the ritual different members would sing out with a tonal call, sometimes short and other times longer. The leader of the group, or at least the young men I believed to be the leader he was in the center of the line. He would crouch down move forward then back and then to the right and then to the left. Periodically the men would stomp their right foot hard on the ground, and at one point they all jumped up together. The entire segment of the ritual I witnessed went on for 10 minutes or more. At the conclusion of the segment, a tribal elder stood up to explain the ritual.

He started off by thanking God for the opportunity to witness such a beautiful ritual. He said this is the first time in 150 years the ritual has been performed. The ritual began on the other side of the lagoon. The men performing the ritual came across the lagoon in canoes, part of the ritual was performed in the canoes. During the ritual those engaged in it lift up praise to God and give God thanks for the blessings received through the abundance in nature, and they push down to the ground all that is evil and bad. The stomping is symbolic of driving the evil into the ground. The purpose of the ritual is to restore goodness to the earth, to restore balance between humanity and nature, and remained humanity of how fragile the ecosystem is. It appears that some of the young Native American women are also part of this ritual, since there was an equal number of them wearing grass skirts and handmade woven skull caps.

The third rest stop was along the ocean at mile 65ish. It was a beautiful location, which was good since it turned into a three hour rest stop. It was so long that I fell asleep at one point woke up and we were still there. In my groggy sleep state, I said, “this looks just like our last rest stop.” I thought we had driven off and stopped somewhere else. The last riders, Carmen, Blake, and the sweeps were way behind the other riders. Jenn got a flat about 2 miles before the last rest stop, which really delayed her and Mike.

I was getting worried with such a long rest stop because I needed to be at the bike shop by 5:30 PM to drop my bike off. Made it to the bike shop. My bicycle is now in the able hands of the bike mechanic at Revolution Bicycle Repair in Arcata, CA. The bike shop is a Giant dealer. They had a number of Giant road bikes, sadly no Advanced Defys, but several of Composite Defys, otherwise the mechanic could have cannibalized the Advanced Defy to repair my bike.

Reached the church around 5 PM. Need to shower and be ready for dinner at a church member's home by 6 PM. Showering at the local high school. The first group headed to the shower. They were gone forever. When they returned, we learned that there is only one shower room functioning at the school, which means taking turns—all girls and then all boys. The girl's shower room was the functioning shower room. We boys went first and then the women.

Back to the church and off to the family's home cooking us dinner. It was nice walk to their house, although a little on the chilly side. It was good that I took my jacket with me. I was part of the first group to arrive, and although it is tradition to let the sweeps eat first it was already 7 PM. We went ahead and served ourselves, homemade beef stew and rolls. I sat out on the back patio with 8 or so others. We kept sitting there after we finished eating. Sandy, the wife, came out and told us to look further into the backyard. There was a fenced in area beyond there yard. Inside the fenced area were “wild goats.” The goats do not really belong to anyone, in fact people come by and drop off goats. The person the owns the land “uses” the goats to the keep the grassed “mowed.” Sandy set up croquet for those who wanted to play. I thought about playing, but the yard was not really suited for croquet and I was getting cold, northern California is not all that warm. Finished my ice cream and went inside to sit with the rest of the group. The husband and wife are sort of hippies who belong to a Pentecostal Fundamentalist church, which is an interesting mix. I checked out their dvd collection. They had movies like Carrie and Live Free or Die Harder and a bunch of religious dvds.

Jason, Andrew, Hannah, and I played a few hands of Spades after dinner. The couple lent us a few movies. One of the movies we borrowed was the last Batman movie in prep for tomorrow's visit to the cinema to see the new Batman movie.

I was only able to stay awake for an hour of Batman. I was tired from all the van riding/waiting. The infection on my leg appears to be clearing up and if all goes as planned I'll have my bike back by the end of the day tomorrow.

Photos of the Pacific at Port Orford

July 21--Day Seven of riding

I was able to sleep in, the entire group was able to sleep in, due to the shorter ride distance today--57 miles.  Many folks reading this may think that 57 miles is not a short riding day, but when one is riding an average of 75 miles a day, with days approaching a 100 miles, 57 miles is short in that context.

Breakfast was light also, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, and coffee.  A quick sweep of the church to check for lost and found, and then into the van.  I'm vanning it because of my derailleur issue. No fun,riding in the van and the derailleur issue.

Andrew and Pete volunteered to be sweeps today.  Andrew is the fastest rider in the group, or at least the person who rides the fastest each day.  He often gets to the church, where we'll be staying 45 minutes before the main portion of the group.  It will be a test of patience for both of them since they enjoy riding fast.

Burgess and I did a good thing by chalking a section of road that had loose gravel.  The section was on a downhill and people were moving fast when they approached the section in the road.  The riders thanked us at the rest stop.

Andrew had to get off his bike due to a very sore ankle.  Sue took over for him as the second sweep.  Andrew lent his bike to Burgess.  This is the first time Burgess has ridden a bike on this trip.  He is doing an intership for college and acting as the communications director.

The second rest stop was in the little borough of Langlois, at the Langlois market.  This market is an old school general store. They sold everything from firewood to organic meats and there was a deli with fresh made hamburgers, chicken patties, garden burgers, and the store's "famous" hot dogs. Over the deli hung a sign stating that they have sold 615,000 of their hot dogs.  I ordered one of their hamburgers with the works and their homemade mustard. This hamburger was one of the best hamburgers I have ever had.  It was juicy, delicious, and perfectly prepared.  It made the van ride a little bit better.

We reached Port Orford, OR around 1:30 PM.  Port Orford is a town of 1,000 right on the water.  A group of us walked down to the beach.  Port Orford is a very windy town.  It was freezing at the overlook, but once we walked down to the beach we were sheltered a bit from the wind.  The sand was warm and soft.  I went into the water up to my ankles. The water was cold, like the Atlantic Ocean along the Maine coast.

We found a dead seal washed up on the beach.  Several of us took photos of the dead seal, and then we headed over to the wharf to see about going deep sea fishing on our day off.  Most of the boats are commercial fishing boats, but some appear to be charter boats.  One of the locals informed us that it was going to be very windy on Sunday, and therefore not a good day for fishing on the open water. We walked around the wharf and then went into the little gift shop/restaurant.  The young women we spoke with is a recent college grad from Port Orford working at the gift shop/restaurant for the summer with her younger sister. The woman studied political science and plans on attending George Washington Univeristy in DC.  She's going to travel for a year before going to GW.

Back at the American Legion,where we are staying in Port Orford, Jason, Andrew, Hannah, and I started a game of spades.  We played until dinner, then resumed our game after dinner.  The game continued on the back deck of the Redfish restaurant.  The deck overlooks the ocean. It was very windy.  We had to use our cell phones to hold the cards down.  The restaurant closed at 9 PM, so we moved the card game to another local establishment in Port Orford. Jason and Hannah won, but not without a fight from Andrew and I.

July 20--Day six of riding

July 20—Day six of riding (98 mile ride) 42.7 miles

Up early to cook breakfast for the crew. We need to leave early to cover our 98 miles before it gets dark. Breakfast was great! Everyone got enough to eat and they enjoyed the potatoes.

I volunteered to one of the sweeps today. Tom T is the other sweep. The sweeps responsibility is to ride at the back of the group to make sure no one falls behind and also to be available to assist riders who need help. Part of the reason I volunteered was to ensure a slower pace for myself after only riding 20 miles yesterday. The good news my friction issue is much better. I applied some diaper rash paste and took additional precautions.

Tom and I stayed around the church a little longer to give everyone a chance to get out ahead of us. The ride began in a heavy midst, which turned into rain. The fist 25 miles were in the rain and it was cold. There was a good headwind as well. Not fun. Tom and I rode very slow. We came across the fist members of our group at a little over mile 14. One rider Jim had a flat. His second one of the day. There were two other riders helping him. They headed out when we arrived and we stayed to help him get rolling again.

Back on the road. Stopping even for a few minutes caused one to get cold. Tom and I reached the first rest stop at mile 25. My front derailleur is not functioning at 100% due to the rain and road scum. I cleaned my derailleur off and that seemed to help a bit, but not completely. The first rest stop had a special treat, a little bakery that made fresh baked muffins, scones, and cookies. It also had hot chocolate, tea, and coffee. I purchased a Marionberry muffin and a hot chocolate. Tom and I stayed inside the bakery to warm up while we ate our muffins and drank our hot chocolates.

Quick trip to the restroom to check on things. Looking good. Time to hit the road for the next 20 miles. The rain has stopped, which is a blessing. Now, if it warm up. Lots of beautiful coastline riding with majestic views of the rocky coast and the lush green hillsides. At mile 36 or so, there was a long climb right along the coast. I ran the handlebar camera all the way up and all the way down. There were sweeping vistas of the Oregon coast on the descent.

I controlled my speed for two reasons: no shoulder to speak of and my brakes were still wet from the first 25 miles. The long descent led to a flat straight and then a shortish climb. Going up the hill Tom was in front of me. I was pedaling when I heard a loud snapping noise and then my pedals stopped. I looked down to see my chain off the front chainring. I thought I had simply thrown my chain. I quickly unclipped my feet before falling over and then I looked back to see if there was a problem at the rear of my bike. When I looked back I did not see my rear derailleur, which is never good. I looked straight down and to my horror I saw my derailleur lodged in my rear wheel. Neither Tom nor I had cell coverage, so when flagged down a motorist. It turned out the motorist we flagged down had been at the bakery earlier in the morning and had spoken with Sher, one of the riders.

The motorist took off to let the van driver know my bike was inoperable and that I would need a ride. While Tom and I were waiting for the van, we took the derailleur out of my rear wheel. It took us 4 or 5 minutes to get the derailleur untangled. The derailleur was completely destroyed, a couple of spokes were bent and my chain was bent. I took some pictures of my trashed derailleur and rear wheel. I took the photos with the warranty in mind, assuming Giant would want photo proof of the major bike failure. The van arrived. I loaded my bike into the trailer and we had to the rest stop, which was about 2 ½ miles away. Each person that came into the rest stop had to look at my bike, hear the story about what happened and a few took photos.

On the way to the next rest stop, I called Scott at River City Cycles where I purchased the bike. I told him what had happened and asked him about the warranty. He said the manufacture warranty does not cover mechanical failure, although this failure appeared more structural than mechanical. Next, I turned my attention to a local bike shop that sells Giant bikes. I found one in Newport, the town were are staying in for the night.

I called Moe's bike shop. I spoke to Moe's son. He was not sure if his dad had the parts to repair my bike. Arrived at Moe's bike shop at 5 PM. Moe took one look at my bike the part that broke, the derailleur hanger, and informed me that he did not have the part. He said there are 150 derailleur hangers. He called his Giant in-house distributor. Giant would not be able to get the necessary parts to him until Monday, which did not work for me. Moe gave me the phone number to a couple of bike shops in northern California where I'll be on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I called a bike shop in Eureka. The employee I spoke with is going to check to see if he can get all the parts necessary to repair my bike.

July 19th Day Five of riding

  (Estimated distance 75 mile day) Rode 20 miles

The past two days have been long rides 80 plus and then 90 plus. I am looking forward to a shorter day, but I am also dealing with a friction issue. I treated the area before going to bed last night and then again this morning. The area is very sensitive, but I'm hoping I can push through it, especially given the fact that tomorrow is a 98 mile day.

I started out riding with Dan and a two other people at a slower pace. My riding buddy, Hannah, took off with the fast pack this morning, which is fine. I knew that I was not going to be able to ride hard today. The ride started out fairly flat with a few rolling hills, but nothing too tough. Dan and I were riding at a moderate pace between 14 and 17 miles an hour.

Round about 10 miles into the ride, we came to a climb. Our group had grown to about 6 people by this point. The climb started. Dan is a helicopter pilot, in the Army reserves. As we climbed he suggested we sing a cadence, similar to the ones soldiers do on long marches or runs. Dan started us off, and the group followed with the antiphonal response. We went through 3 or 4 cadences before the group spread out too far and our breathing became way too labored from the climb. The road switched back and forth and just when you thought you had reached the summit the climb continued around the next bend.

We climbed for nearly 3 miles. The total altitude was only 800 feet, but on a bike over three miles that is brutal. The ride down was exciting, fast, and equally winding. I kept my speed between 26 and 40. I forgot to mention the climb was through lush forest. At the bottom of the descent, I came upon sand dunes with small pine trees and dune grass. By now, I was a little over 15 miles into the ride and my friction issue was giving me cause for concern.

When I reached the first rest stop at mile 20, I examined the situation more closely and made the decision to ride in the van to at least the next rest stop at mile 40ish. This was not an easy decision, but part of being on sabbatical is learning good self care. I am not on this ride to prove anything to anyone. A couple of other riders jumped in the van at this rest stop. These folks were wiped out after the climb, in fact one person walked up part of the hill.

Riding in the van gave me the opportunity to put my feet up. It also made me realize that I don't really want to have to ride in the van any longer than necessary. The only good thing about the van, aside from the rest for weary legs and back side is the fact it climbs hills much quicker than I do. Speaking of hills, if I had stayed on my bike, I would have had another long climb. At two miles after the 20 mile rest stop another long climb presented itself. The rides in the van with me, who stopped due to fatigue, were very happy to have missed this hill. I dozed sitting up. Turns out not only am I have friction issues, I'm pretty tired. Waking up at 4:30 in the morning to help with breakfast and get ready for the day's ride does not leave much time for quality sleep. Sleeping on church floors is not so conducive to quality sleep either.

One of my van riding companions offered to clear off the back seat of the van for me so I could lay down. I took him up on the offer. I stretched out on the full back seat of the van and slept for about ½ hour. We picked up 1 new van rider at the mile 40ish rest stop and the two folks that joined at mile 20ish got out to finish the ride on their bikes. I decided to stay in the van for the rest of the way. The 40 mile rest stop lasted 2 hours as we waited for all the riders to come through. Two hours is a long time to be waiting around.

Off to the last rest stop at mile 60ish. We stopped at state park senic overlook. It was one of the best rest stops of the entire trip thus far. There were whale watching boats not too far off-shore. Over the course of the hour and a half we were there, we saw a number of whales. I was not able to get any photos of them, but it was cool to see them blow and then crest the water before going under the water again.

We reached our destination, Newport, OR, around 3:30 pm. We showered at the local Y. We had to pay $2.00 to shower. Sucks that we had to pay for showers. The church has lots of space and couches to sleep. I picked one right away. The is a ping-pong table, air hockey, and pool table. The youth group of the church made dinner for us. Pasta, toasted bread with butter, and salad. It was good and filling. After dinner I headed out with the laundry crew to wash clothes. The laundromat was older than the last one we used but less expensive. Half of us stayed at the laundromat while the other half went to get ice cream at Flashbacks, a local ice cream, malt, burger shop. The design was retro-dinner.

Flashbacks had black licorice ice cream. I have never seen this before. I love black licorice. I sampled it and then ordered a waffle cone full of it. The other riders with me and those already at the ice cream parlor were a little grossed out by my jet black ice cream, which turned my tongue black immediately. I should have had someone take a photo. The ice cream was awesome. I headed back to the laundromat with the others. We relieved the others at the laundromat so they could get ice cream. Laundry done; back to the church to prep breakfast.

We planned a big breakfast: eggs and country potatoes with bacon. We prepared the potatoes, bacon, onions, and garlic. Tomorrow is our first really long ride, 98 miles, and therefore we want a hearty breakfast.

The notion of playing ping-pong, pool or air hockey went out the window after breakfast prep was finished. Before I headed to bed I applied some old school baby paste to prevent/help heal diaper rash, although I am not suffering from diaper rash the friction issue I am having should be helped by the paste.

July 17th Day Three

July17—Day Three on our ride to San Diego 90.3 miles 5 hours and 59 minutes Avg. speed 15.05 mph

Wake up was 4:45 AM. The van needs to be loaded prior to breakfast, which was at 5:30 AM

Our host church Faith Baptist went out of their way to make sure we were well cared for during our stay with them. For breakfast, we had choices of pancakes, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, coffee and orange juice. The first orange juice I've seen on this trip. Hannah my riding partner for the day had me try the “super food” Chia. It's just like the chia of chia pet. You mix the chia seed with water and let stand for about 10 minutes and then stir. It turns into a jell like substance with little or no taste. It is good that I don't have any texture issues. Someone with texture issues would struggle to eat the jell like Chia “super food.”

I'm not exactly sure what time we hit the road this morning, but it was around 6:30 AM. It was pretty cool, but not too cold. A large group of us headed out together. It was clear almost from the outset that the person leading us was a little unsure about the direction we should go after our second turn. We headed straight stopped at an intersection to check the cue sheet. The person we were following started riding in the direction we were heading when another rider appeared behind us telling us we had missed the turned. Our moment of lostness led to an extra mile on the ride at the end of the day. Back on course, we headed out of town South and East toward Naselle our next stopping point. Naselle is near the state line with Oregon. Today's ride had relatively few turns due to long stretches, 20 plus miles, on one road.

I road with Hannah, although we did not stick together as much today as yesterday, since we were in a larger group for a good bit of today's ride, and longer into the ride I was really dragging. She was a swimmer in college and is 25 years younger me, which gives her a huge advantage in recovery time, lung capacity and although she is not a long distance cyclist she is very efficient in her cadence. I'm not sure I was as efficient as Hannah is when I was her age.

My legs were not very strong today. I did pretty well for the first 22 miles, but after the rest stop I struggled to keep up with Hannah and the folks we left the rest stop with. It took about 8 miles for my legs and lungs to get back on track. There were lots of climbs on this ride, which did not help my legs and lungs. Hannah took off on most of the climbs, but I was able to catch up on the back side/descents. I hit 32 mph on a couple of the descents. I am sure I could have gone faster if I had opened up the bike.

The next rest stop was at 44ish miles. I was rolling pretty well when I reached the rest stop. The rest stop was across the street from the general store/post office. The store had a port-a-potty, which was serviced right before I arrived. It was a great port-a-potty, clean, running water, toilet paper and paper towels. I felt better after this rest stop, but a mile or so out there was a hill climb. The climb killed me again. A head/cross winded had kicked up as well. It took 10 miles or so for me to get rolling, but once I did I was fine.

The last rest stop was at 71 miles. A bit further out than planned. It was a roadside rest stop with no facilities, aside from the trees and bushes. Hannah and I rode the final 19 miles together. I slowed her down, but she was a great sport. By slowing her down, I mean from 19 miles an hour to 15 miles per hour. We arrived at the Noselle Assembly of God together.

The van/trailer followed us in and we had to immediately unload the trailer, then it was off to the local high school for showers. The showers felt great after 90 miles in the saddle. Now, I'm just waiting for dinner. I'm starving. It's 5 PM and there's another hour to wait until dinner. I feel like I could eat a horse right now, but I know that is not a good plan. I am also looking forward to sleep. I hope I can sleep better than I did last night.

On an aside my crash injuries are almost healed. I do have a few other physical issues that have cropped up. I hope they will not become a problem. My knees are doing well.

July 16th Day two of the ride

July 16—Day two of the ride to San Diego Chehalis, WA Faith Baptist Church hosting

Woke up at 5 AM to help with breakfast, but I got lucky too many people in the small kitchen let me off the breakfast duty detail. The swelling in my ankle went down significantly over the night. My wrist and thumb on the other hand were still stiff and painful.

We had eggs and homemade cinnamon buns for breakfast, an excellent way to start the day. I checked my bike over and noticed a few more cosmetic blemishes on my bike from the crash. I added a little air to my tires and I was set to go.

The ride began straight up hill, the rest of the hill that the church sits on. Oh what fun. I made it to the top without falling off and having to stop at a traffic light until I reached the top. The first 10 miles of the ride was in Tacoma, which was not much fun. Once we reached the bike path, the beautiful portion of the ride started. I rode most of the way today with Hannah. She was an awesome riding partner, good conversationalist and we rode at a similar pace. There was a really beautiful section of the bike path that was tree lined. I took video on the second half of the ride today. I think the video should be nice. I was in the second group of riders today. My pace was faster today than yesterday, which was surprising because of my accident.

I arrived in Centralia just after noon time in the second group of riders. The first group was hanging out at a little cafe/bar on the main street. The group I was riding with stopped and chatted with them and some folks ordered lunch. The rest of us decided to continue riding to the church. We arrived at Faith Baptist church about 12:45 PM. The church had a large lawn with a swing set. Several of us swung on the swings and/or laid on the lawn in the sun. The van arrived about ½ hour later, at which point the van started shuttling people to the city swimming pool for showers. I took a dip in the pool, it was refreshing.

Came back to the church gathered the laundry together for laundry detail and headed to the laundromat with the laundry crew. There were five large garbage bags. The laundromat was pleasant. There was a young couple with a 3 or 4 year old son. He was very cute and very shy. Sher gave him an M&M. His grandmother came by the laundromat and entertained him while his parents finished their laundry. The group laundry cost nearly $40.00 and took about 2 hours.

The church made a wonderful dinner for us. We ate like kings and queens. After dinner some people hung outside to watch the sunset, while others went into town and the rest of us worked on our blogs or read books.

July 15th The ride begins

July 15 40.7 miles 3:17.14 hours/minutes/seconds

Day one of the ride to San Diego. We left Fauntleroy about 1:15 PM. We made a left out of the church parking lot, which meant we had to climb a hill. The first hill was followed by another hill. I was already wondering what I had gotten myself into 5 minutes into the ride. I wsa panting like a dog and my heart rate was way up. Several people passed me going up the second hill, which was a bit disheartening at the outset of the ride. My solace was most of the people passing me by were 20 or more years younger than me. It could be a long ride with people passing me on hill climbs.

Once the road leveled out and we got out of Seattle traffic and on the bike path, I caught up to some of the folks who had initially passed me at the start of the ride. I dropped my cell phone, shortly before we entered the bike path. Of course, I did not have the new plastic protective case on it when I dropped it. The phone came up and the battery went flying. I was able to retrieve all the parts and put it back together. The fall took a nice piece out of the glass front and a piece out of the metal rim around the glass front. I had taken the protective case off to put a new battery and had not put it back on since it was so hard to take off. Lesson learned. The good news is it appears the phone still works.

The bike path was great to ride on. No traffic, aside from other bikes and walkers, and no traffic signals and no hills. It may have been a bit boring, but it was safe. I could ride on such a path all the way to San Diego. At the end of the bike path, it was back to “city” riding, cars and traffic lights. The 15 miles or so of the ride I rode with Al, a member of the church where we stayed in Seattle. He is avid cyclist. After worship several people encourage him to join us. Turns out he had ridden much of the ride we were doing the day before with his wife. Al is a defense attorney. He defends people facing federal prosecution. He has been an attorney for 40 years. His wife was a college professor. She has retired and Al is making plans to retire in the not to distant future. They have grown children and three grand-daughters. Al was a very pleasant riding partner, and he was very caring when I had my crash about 5 miles from the church. My pedal or buckle on my cycling shoe caught a high curb, that was painted black and not very easy to see in the late afternoon soon. I went flying off my bike on the concrete sidewalk. My bike has some cosmetic damage, but is otherwise fine. I too have some cosmetic dings, bumps, scrapes, and a swollen right ankle. I am worried that my ankle and sore wrist might be a problem on tomorrow's 60 mile ride. I am icing the ankle and the wrist with the hope that by morning the swelling will be down on my ankle and the wrist/thumb won't be as stiff.

We are staying at the Urban Church in Tacoma, WA. The church is very large right down and as luck would have it ¾ of the way up a very steep hill with 4 traffic lights. I had to stop at one traffic light. Thankfully I was able to clip out and get around the corner a bit so as to have level ground to start up when the light changed. I did a little cross traffic jay walk with the bike to reach the front door of the church, in order not to have to stop on the hill again.

Right after I arrived at the church a homeless woman, who appeared to have some mental health issues as well came to the front door looking for the jacket she had left at the church earlier in the day. I explained to her that I did not work at the church and did not know if anyone from the church was availabe to look for her jacket. She started to walk up the stairs and then promptly turned around said, “they can keep the coat,” and walked out of the building. One of the other cyclist in out group carried my bike downstairs, while I waited for ice for my ankle and my luggage so I can go to the Y down the street to shower.

The Y was small, but nice. The shower felt good after a rainy, wet, ride that included my crash. After showering, I returned to the church to wait for dinner. The kitchen we had access to was tiny, which made it difficult to prepare dinner. For dinner we had baked potato with chilli. I am on breakfast, laundry and whatever Allen needs us to do.

After dinner several of us played rummy. The funny thing about our rummy game was that myself and Sarah were the only people who knew how to play rummy and I did not do the best job explaining the rules, which for interesting play. Lights out was at 10 PM. I got to sleep on the couch because of my mini accident. I slept much better than the past two nights.

July 13th Bicycle Adventure Orientation

Friday the 13^th! The bicycle group is gathering at Fauntleroy UCC in Seattle. The church houses the local YMCA, which is where we'll be showering tomorrow after our shake down group ride. 15 of us had lunch at a local restaurant down the street from the church. Our waitress was very fun, but a bit overwhelmed by how many of us there were at lunch, and of course we asked for individual checks. She was operating on one leg due to a broken leg. Before we knew she had a broken leg we tried to convince her to join us on our ride. She thought about it for a moment, then she showed us the soft case on her left leg.

We made it back to the church just in time for our first orientation session. We went around the sanctuary introducing ourselves and saying the three things we would take on an island with us knowing that we would survive and had our bicycle and bible. The three things ranged from a cruise ship with a full crew to a kindle to a kayak to a coffeemaker/grinder with a solar panel. The group is diverse as the things we would take on the island. The bikes each rider will be riding are as unique as the riders, although there is a little giant posse, which I'm proud to be a member of. There are several folks riding treks, a couple cannondalee, a fuji, a jamis, a couple of motobacanes, and a mix of other bikes. Most of the bikes are aluminum, but there are a few other carbon fiber bikes.

For the first week, I'm on chore group number 4, which is breakfast, laundry, and whatever else Allen, the group leader needs us to do. Good thing I'm a morning person and I like doing laundry. Laundry duty means doing everyone's laundry.

It's free time now, some folks are at the grocery store shopping, a handful of us are hanging out at the church chatting and working on bike stuff, two guys went for a bike ride, a novel thing to do for people about to ride 1,650 miles, and a group went into Seattle to explore the city. I did my exploring yesterday, which is why I'm here writing my blog.

July 12th Seattle, WA

My full free day in Seattle started with a wonderful home cooked breakfast by my friends Dave and Chris. Dave is a friend from my Key Biscayne days. He's another New Englander. We used to play roller hockey, roller blade, snorkel and other fun stuff on Key Biscayne. Chris is Dave's wife. I am also very happy to say that I was the person who officiated at their wedding on the Cape in MA, a decade ago. They have two wonderful girls. It's been great catching up with them and seeing their life here in Seattle.
After breakfast Dave and I headed to the Coast Guard station where he works as a civil science officer, not sure what his actual title is. He gave me a tour of the research vessel he works on when at sea.

The ship is undergoing renovations in preparation for its next research mission to the Arctic Circle. Dave will be going on part of this mission.

When the tour was done and we successful avoid the Admiral who was on base for a tour of the station and a change of officers, Dave headed to his office at the Station and I headed downtown. I walked along the waterfront bike/walking path to the ferry terminal and then climbed the hill to 1^st street. From there I headed to Pike Place. I wish I lived in a community with such an awesome public market. The fresh fruit and vegetable stands and all the amazing fresh fish/seafood. I did not catch a fish, but I watched as others did and I ate a very over the top fresh baked cinnamon bun with frosting and chocolate chips. The only thing that could have made the cinnamon bun better would have been a great cup of espresso, but I'm off coffee during this bike trek/trip to Southeast Asia.

In Pike Place, I happened upon an artist who make clocks out of recycled bicycle parts. I just might to to order one when I get home in honor of my ride. The clocks were very cool. My limited space will keep me from buying non consumable items along the way, at least for the bike part of my trip.

From Pike Place, I continued on foot to the Space Needle with a stop for lunch at the Virginia Inn along the way. The Space Needle was fun and the sky was clear blue or as clear blue as Seattle gets. I took at great photo of the Space Needle rising out of the clouds on the morning drive into downtown. Sadly, I did not have enough time to visit the garden and museum connected to the Space Needle.

Some really good sushi for dinner, a little laundry and time to write a piece for the blog. Dave and Chris at a dog training school. The Forcucci family has a third child as of three weeks ago a little puppy named Willie. He's very cute and full of energy, like most puppies. Tonight was the first night of dog training school. I think the school is probably as much about training the parents as it is training the dog.

Bicycle Adventure Covered by local newspaper

http://www.herald-mail.com/news/local/hm-hagerstown-pastor-to-ride-for-housing-20120708,0,3983880.story

A good quote for a long bike trek

“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” William Barclay

4th of July Ride

I went for a 31.96 ride today with some members of the Cumberland Valley Cycling Club.  We started from the Weis Market at Longmeadow at 8:30 AM.  Good thing we started at 8:30 because it warmed up by the time we were closing in on the finish around 11 AM.

I rode on my 30 year old Fuji del Rey.  It turned 30 a few weeks ago.  I purchased this bike 1982 shortly after I graduated from high school.  It's been a solid ride all these years and many of the components are original.  I had to ride this bike today because my carbon Giant Advance Defy 2, which is 10 lbs lighter than the Fuji del Rey and a technological marvel, is at the bike shop being disassembled so I can ship it to Seattle, WA.  My Fuji del Rey was somewhat of tech marvel back in 1982 the steel had a special alloy mixed in and the geometry was designed for longer rides.  My Giant Defy is also designed for longer rides, but at 17.58 lbs and STI shifters it flies over the road compared to my Fuji.

I was very slow today on the ride and struggled up most of the hills.  Some of that has to do with the fact that I, like my Fuji del Rey, am 30 years older than when I purchased it.  Not sure if the bike or me has aged better.  I do know that the seat on my Fuji is not nearly as comfortable as the seat on my Giant.  The good news is folks waited for me and I labored up the hills and sometimes across the flatlands.

One week from today, I'll be in Seattle and 4 days later the ride begins. Thank God it will be on my Giant!

Riding the roller while watching the Tour de France

I wanted to take one final ride on my bike before it is boxed up and shipped across the country, 3,000 plus miles, to Seattle where my 1,650 mile ride will start a week from Sunday on July 15th.