Can I Get Just One Perfect Day?

October 11, 2015

Day 16: Lincoln City to Washburne Memorial State Park

Today's Distance: 63 miles

Total Distance: 701 miles

Finally some good weather! Because of the storm it will end up taking me 2.5 days to do what I could've done in a day. It's frustrating but I plan to make up for it with a big day. If all goes as planned, I should ride a little over 80 miles today. As I would learn later, nothing ever seems to go exactly as planned when riding a bike from Canada to Mexico...but we'll get to that. About 12 miles south I rode through Depoe Bay, which is apparently the Whale Watching Capital of the Oregon Coast. I don't think it's the right time of year so I just rode on through. Soon after that I started the climb of the last of the 3 Capes, Cape Foulweather. It's known for living up to its name, with 100mph winds not being uncommon, but not today. No, today the weather decided that it's punished me enough. Part way up the climb I stopped at Otter Crest viewpoint, because obviously...but no otters. At the summit, I took in the gorgeous view of the coast and then had a blast riding down the other side. It almost made the uphill part worth it! I know I've said it before, but I never would've thought I'd be bombing down winding roads like this so fast, and actually enjoying myself. I'm no Ricky Bobby.

Another 10 miles or so I hit Newport, OR. I stopped to take a picture to make a dumb joke about my friends meeting me at Mutt Lynch's or something like that and as soon as I started going again I noticed something wrong with my bike. Sooooo is it bad that I've rode almost 700 miles at this point and haven't lubed my chain once? In my defense, I got some bad advice from a guy at REI who said because my bike was new I wouldn't need to bring any lube. It didn't sound right, but I was looking for any reason not to spend anymore money at that point, so I just took it as truth. I tried to get going but my chain was bone dry and I couldn't pedal without thinking I was going to snap my chain completely. This was ok though, I knew there was a good bike shop in town and I planned to stop there any way to ask a question about my gears sticking when I shift. What sucked was that I had to walk my bike 30 blocks into town to get to the shop. But still, it could be way worse. I could be in the middle of nowhere with the sun setting, but instead I'm only 30 blocks from a bike shop, in a bigger than normal Oregon town, and it's only around noon. Staying positive! I got to the bike shop and con mi suerte, it's closed on Sunday! Damn. So much for an 80 mile day (nothing ever goes as planned). I was pretty brought down at that point because I was facing another wasted day, but I shook it off and walked to a hostel that I knew of nearby, hoping there were some cyclists there that might have some lube. No cyclists, no lube, and I found out that Willow never made it to the hostel last night...hopefully she's all good.

Going to the hostel ended up being a good plan because they told me there was a Big 5 about a mile back. It's crazy how a decent sized business like that has no internet footprint whatsoever. I googled and yelped and they didn't come up at all, but they were there, so I walked a mile north. Instead of giving them a marketing lesson, I just bought my chain lube and went on to make my bike operational again. After it was all said and done, I lost about 2 hours. I needed to figure out how far I could make it tonight and realized that I forgot to eat, so I ended up stopping at a fish market that my Uncle recommended. I was in a bad mood at that point but the delicious fish & chips made me much less hangry. A good rule of thumb when traveling: if there's a long line of locals waiting at a local food spot, there is a good chance they got something good. After lunch I reconfigured my route and was off to salvage the rest of the day.

I passed multiple state parks along the way, but the true highlight of my day was right after the town of Yachats. I reached Cape Perpetua right when the sun was starting to set, which in my opinion couldn't have been better timing. It is a cape, so of course there was climbing involved, and a less than optimal shoulder, but what my eyes were seeing made it totally worth it. I started off by going through a natural tunnel made of trees and riding up cliffs with spectacular views of the coast at sunset. It was the perfect hazy mix of trees, ocean, and rocks with a sherbet-orange sky. Yeah, I know I just used "sherbet-orange" in a sentence...just trying to paint the picture haha. Regardless, it was beautiful. I finished up the day by making it to camp right before it went completely dark. Didn't make it as far as I wanted today, but I'm thinking maybe that was for the best.