- Day 1 -1 Week
- Day 1 -12 Hours
- Day 1
- Day 2
- Day 3
- Day 4
- Day 5
- Day 6
- Day 7
- Day 8
- Day 9
- Day 10
- Day 11
- Day 12
- Day 13
- Day 14
- Day 15
- Day 16
- Day 17
- Day 18
- Day 19
- Day 20
- Day 21
- Day 22
- Day 23
- Day 24
- Day 25
- Day 26
- Day 27
- Day 28
- Day 29
- Day 30
- Day 31
- Day 32
- Day 33
- Day 34
- Day 35
- Day 36
- Day 37
- Day 38
- Day 39
- Day 40
- Day 41
- Day 42
- Day 43
- Day 44
- Day 45
- Day 46
- Day 47
- Day 48
- Day 49
- Day 50
- Day 51
- Day 52
- Day 53
- Day 54
- Day 55
- The End
- Retrospective
We woke up and started to get ready. I had to check the maps, double check our reservation, double check where the bike shop was, buy our plane tickets, all while being very aware that today would be the last day of riding. I plugged everything in, checked and rechecked which bag was where. Shortly Jerry was showered and ready to go. We crossed the parking lot to the diner attached to the front of the motel. Inside we sat and told our waitress about our traveling. Everything is starting to feel like, ‘oh this is the last time we’ll…’ It’s not like Jerry and I won’t see each other again, we could even go for a bike ride. However our tour is coming to an end. It is palpable.
During breakfast I looked up the Hood to Coast race. We had heard about this race over the last few days, and last night we could see a runner or tow every few minutes from our window. The whole area seems over run with runners, support teams, and cheerers. It was very interesting to see the excitement and dedication of everyone involved. It is such a large race the logistics of it all feels over whelming. It was nice to have such a thing to sink our teeth in to think about where we were instead of what crop do think that was, I don’t know.
After our last pancakes and oatmeal we head back to the room to finish getting ready and finish the last of all of our logistics. Hotel, check; pane tickets, check; bike shop… I found a shop in the part of town it looked like we wanted to be. Found a hotel there, and a bike shop near by. I emailed the shop and had a few correspondence with their head of repairs. Unfortunately, he worked at a location, no where near we wanted to stay. He suggested I call the location I had looked for originally. When I called they felt… unsure. I couldn’t figure out if they were unsure of if they could do what I was asking or if they were unsure of why I called and not just stopped in. I think we’re fine.
Our last motel to carry the bikes down stairs. Our last motel check out with the bikes. The motel manger came out to check out our bikes and talk to us about out tour. He was very excited by the whole thing. I wonder how many, if any people we inspired to try a bike tour. It’s not something I really every thought about seriously but I always liked riding bikes and when Jerry asked me about the Miami ride I thought why not. So it really could be that easy to be inspired. Knowing something even is a possibility allows it to be a possibility.
We make our way out of town quickly. So quick in fact that we pass a sign telling the people forced to choose right (the way we’re going) Portland 24 miles, or left St Helen 6 miles… 6 miles! How did we go 6 miles already!?! However, we’re moving. The road was two lanes, both ways. Quick but not too much. We saw lots of riders. Not quite like Vancouver but we are still well outside of town. These people, if they are from Portland are all +20 miles outside the city. Lots of people ride up 9W from New York City, and +20 miles isn’t that far for that ride. But across the country we have not seen this many people riding, this far out of town, unless they were touring.
There was a nice blend of large rocky outcrops covered in green trees, moss and medium sized fauna, and industry. There were trucks coming and going from the quarry. Train cars lined up along the road being filled or emptied of various lumber products. There were glimpse of the river and a peak of the encroaching urban areas. It might have been knowing this was the end, but I was almost over whelmed by all the beauty, nature and industry. A tree can be a beautiful sight of what nature has produced, on the other hand streets, bridges and other human built structures and be beautiful in the we need X so we built X. Inevitably we usually really needed Y and so the X we thought we needed is modified to fit Y. I think about the size and shape of the train car would have so effect on the shape and size of the bundles of lumber. Or did the shape and size of lumber adjust the shape and size of the train car?
We ride into town. It is such a nice way to enter a town. Flying in you miss everything but have a wide sweeping idea. Bus and train bring you a a very special part of town. Cycling in to town might bring you across a sleepy neighborhood, or right through the heart of industry. We saw a bit of it all. Passing the train yards full of shipping containers and goods coming and going near and far. A nice, maybe even swanky area of nicer homes and upscale eateries. We snake our way through town.
As we make our way I see we are about to pass the street our bike shop is located. We decide to stop by and have them look at our bikes and double check our panniers can go with… and triple check this will even work. When we enter I recognize they mechanic’s name from my discussion with the head shop guy from the other location’s recommendation of who to speak with. We have a quick chat about who we are and what we’re after. He quickly sets my mind at ease. I was kind of worried after the last phone call.
To the hotel. Our room isn’t ready so we have to strip our bikes in the parking lot and leave our stuff in an office in the lobby. Less then ideal, but better to get started. It was kind of sad to take apart all of the small things added here and there. The GoPro off the handle bars doesn’t make the bike any different really, but it looks completely different. I put Jerry’s saddle on, removing mine. I don’t really spend much time alining it, I know it will feel weird no matter what. Once everything is disassembled we store our stuff in the office and get ready to ride to the shop.
I can not get over how different everything is. I see something and can not take a picture of it. The saddle is 100% different. The Brooks saddle I’d been riding was my first Brooks, and the swankiest saddle I have ever had. This is the touring saddle Jerry had, made for touring but much, much more solid then the Brooks I’ve gotten used to over the last +3 thousand miles. I feel tall and light. The bike rides extremely well. It is an odd feeling, having this completely different bike suddenly. So light, with nothing on the handle bars, no water bottles slogging about.
The shop went very well. As we walked out, toward our hotel I felt separation anxiety. No more riding? I wanted to feel if I would want to not get on the bike, unlike the Miami trip when I wanted one more day when we got there. Today I am ok with not riding tomorrow, but I still would.
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