August 5th:
Our favorite photographer, Don, took some more photos of us this morning as we packed up and got our bikes ready to leave our wonderful host in Tillamook and head to the next town of Lincoln City. He took a lot of photos that I never think about taking myself – photos of us around our bikes as we pump tires, lube chains, or do other bike maintenance before our ride; racking the bikes of the people who are assigned to the vans that day; the huge pile of duffle bags that builds up before they’re packed away in the van; holding hands in dedication circle.
We even had a future 4Ker riding through our dedication circle this morning! What a cutie. Notice in the background of this first photo that Martha, our team physical therapist, is giving Kellie what I believe is an IT band massage – OUCH. I hear it’s painful.
The morning started off cloudy and kind of chilly. I rode with Patrick, Lindsay, Amanda, and Gino. It was on the first climb that I realized many of my gears were not working – by that I mean no matter how hard or how long I pushed the switch on my handlebar to change gears on the back wheel, it didn’t budge. This would be a problem, as we had many long hills to climb before reaching Portland. However, I seemed to have enough to get me by as long as I didn’t lose momentum at any point. If that were the case, I’d just fall over. This poor bike has been through more than it probably ever dreamed of. At times, I even apologize to it, especially as it rattles over gravel or creaks up winding mountain roads. It never asked for this life, but it’s suffered all along the way, right there with me.
The ride was pretty as we rode along some intercostal waters. We even saw some people in the sand bar, possibly looking for oysters, but we’re just guessing.
After a hefty climb at a gear two over from “granny gear” (my cyclist friends will know what I mean) because that’s all my bike could give me, we had a beautiful overlook of the beach!
We climbed a little more before the downhill. Honestly, the downhill was not that rewarding. Had the road been free of potholes, it would have made for a more joyous ride. Instead, I was holding on tightly to my brakes (which also have seen much better days) as I dodged hole after bump after crack, trying desperately to listen to Patrick and Gino far ahead of me doing their best to yell out these obstacles, as the sound of the downhill wind in my ears drowned them out. It was also a rather shady section of the road, so you only saw these holes when you were right up on them, just in time for you to make a split second decision to swerve around. It was more stressful than it was fun. Afterward, we suddenly found ourselves in a land of sand dunes, which was quite the change in scenery from the evergreen-filled mountainside that we’d just departed.
We continued on through beach towns and alongside the ocean for a little while.
There was another pretty outlook after another climb, and we stopped to take pictures. The sun had come out and it was turning into a gorgeous day.
Later, we found ourselves back in the forest.
At the water stop, we talked about a potential detour that could be taken. Our queue sheet called for us to get off the main highway we’d been on and go off to a side street. This would add more miles (not many, maybe 4) so we were given the option of taking that detour or staying on the road. We all though “eh, what the hell?” and decided to take the extra miles on. I’m SO THANKFUL that we did!!!! It was a fairly long climb that was still manageable, and if I’m being honest, I enjoyed the challenge of added gears on my back cassette, when normally I would have likely dropped down a couple more. On this segment, I remember talking to Gino and Patrick about all the towns we’ve been in. They astonished me by their ability to recount every town, from Baltimore all the way to Tillamook. We’d name a town and say a few things about it to jog our memories of the brief time we spent in each place. We’d been so many places!! What an incredible way to spend a summer.
When we got to the host, we headed straight down to the beach, which was walking distance. My group and another hung out there together as we waited for the other groups to arrive. Some teams had spent a very long time at the brewery in Tillamook… so they were running behind.
Later that night, we got the whole team to come to the beach and we made a campfire. We used this time to think of superlatives for each member of the team. One by one, we sent teammates away from the circle so that the rest of us could talk about what that person’s superlative should be. Then, the teammate who was assigned to that individual (we’d drawn names out of a hat earlier) would create a sign on a paper plate to be presented to them on Day 69, which would be our last night before Portland. It was fun to talk about the shenanigans that people had gotten into along the way and give them awards to commemorate the qualities we loved most about them. Overall it was a great night, but it was sort of a haunting reminder that our time together was growing shorter.
Baltimore to Portland with 4K for Cancer 