BAC Seattle to San Francisco

20100708 – South Bend, WA to Astoria, OR

Because of the heat, I went to bed shirtless last night and slept on top of the covers. At 1:15, I had to get up and close my window. Cold air was blowing in. When I got up at 6:20, the sky was covered with high fog. It looked just like the Bay Area.

Breakfast was at 7:00 at Chen’s. It was part of our room rate and included one pancake, one egg and either coffee or juice. The pancake was plate-size so I ordered it. It filled me up temporarily.

I left a little after 8:00 with my arm warmers under my cycling jacket. I felt slightly chilled but I warmed up soon. The first few miles of the ride were flat. Along some mud flats, I thought that it had started to sprinkle, but I soon realized that I was being hit by no-seeums. I kept my mouth closed on this stretch. This happened later in the ride, too.

After a while I caught up with Ron Guidotti. We rode together for several miles, stopping once at the turn to the Longbeach Peninsula to eat bananas. We encountered some short rollers along the way. On the last roller, I got really hungry and dropped back. I eventually stopped to eat an energy bar. Ron was way ahead of me at this point, so he wasn’t aware that I stopped and he rightly rode on.

Feeling much better, I continued on to Ilwaco where I saw a coffee shop with some bicycle in front. Miriam, Betty and Marlene were inside eating lunch. I got a cup of coffee and joined them with my PB&J sandwich. Rich joined us too.

I rode on to the highlight of the day – the Astoria Megler bridge. The bridge is around four miles long. From the Washington side, it start with a slight uphill and then levels off until about 1/4 mile from Astoria. For cyclists, there is a two-foot shoulder to ride on. If cars are careful, they can pass with 3-4 feet clearance.  Today, there was construction near the beginning which closed one lane for about 100 yards. This was a blessing in disguise because there were several gaps of no traffic. I was nervous when traffic passed me because there was nowhere to go if a car came too close or a wind gust blew me into traffic.The shoulder was fairly clean, so trash was not an obstacle. At the Astoria end, the bridge slopes up at 5-6% angle. This slowed me down a lot and made me cringe when the last block of traffic passed me. I made it to the end and to the Lamplighter Motel safely just before 1:00.

Here is a link to today's route.

After checking in and putting my bags into my room, I rode into town to a bike shop. I wanted to find a large saddle bag to replace my rear rack and mini pannier. I couldn’t find one so I rode around town looking at shops and restaurants. I ran into Annamaria and Linda at the boardwalk (Check out the sign). We rode back to the motel together. By this time, the sun was breaking through the fog.

My room is a typical slightly old motel room. It is clean, has hot water, free wifi and a box of tissues. What else do you need? Oh, a good queen-size bed.

Happy Hour was at 5:30. Afterwards, I went I went to a nearby fish restaurant and had clam chowder, halibut fish and chips and a yummy local IPA. Martha and Ken Neville joined me.

It’s nearing 8:30 and I am ready to sign off.