Vuelta Pacifica: Stage 5

Today was a momentous day! We crossed the state line into California! It was wonderful. Chris and Tony bid good riddance to Oregon and on to Trinidad we went!

After a brief celebration, we were off! There were A LOT of hills today. It was difficult! We were able to stop and take a picture with Paul Bunyan and Babe in the Redwoods.

I pooped out at about 55 miles and had Brookie and Andy come and pick us up. Chris, Tony, Kara, and Jesse didn't think that the ride was difficult enough today, so they stayed on the highway and did a lot more hills than everyone else! Those overachievers. We got to our camp in Patrick's Point State Park and Andy made a delicious curry dinner! If you can ever convince him to make it for you, do! It is absolutely wonderful. It's a gift. We also had amazing scones! Kara didn't tell us that she was a pro at making scones, but I'm glad that she finally let us in on her secret! The food always tastes so good when you're camping.

Vuelta Pacifica: Stage 4

Today, we started off from Bullard's Beach State Park in Bandon, OR and headed off to Brookings. This is a picture from Face Rock. After a really good warm up hill, Jesse got hungry and decided that a burrito sounded good! So we stopped by a Mexican restaurant and got one for him. I think that he was one of the few in our group that could eat an entire burrito and hop right back on his bike! Amazing.

After lunch, Andy and I took our turn to go and get the truck from Bandon and making dinner. I'll be honest, I was glad to take a break for the second half of the day! And we were able to get some good pictures, too!

These troopers hung in there and suffered up the big hill at the end of the ride. We ended up at a really pretty camp site at Harris Beach State Park and had some delicious burritos! That was twice in one day for Jesse! Not bad...

Vuelta Pacifica: Stage 3

Well our second day got off to a smooth start. We started off in Florence and rode to lunch. Right before lunch, Tony's rear derailleur broke. Brookie was nice enough to lend Tony her bike so he could complete the day's ride. When the support crew was driving through Coos Bay, they had some great luck and came up behind the owner of Moe's Bike Shop! Evan followed him to the shop and he was nice enough to fix it on a Sunday! Tony was back in business. Then we had to cross a ridiculously windy bridge. We walked our bikes across the sidewalk and I was worried my bike was going to blow into traffic a few times even though both of my hands were on the handlebars! After the bridge, we rode through Charleston. When Andy and I got to the place that we needed to turn to the Seven Devils Road, we decided to take a scenic detour to Sunset Bay State Park. The unintentional detour was well worth it...I wanted to add a few more miles to the ride, because I thought that 83 miles was kind of short. After seeing Sunset Bay, and adding four miles onto our ride, we went back to a delightful stretch of road called the Seven Devils. I had the understanding prior to hitting those hills that there were three big climbs, so I was prepared for a lot of pain on three hills and then a nice smooth decline into camp. That did not happen. It turns out that the map we purchased only gives an idea of the elevation gain. The reason that the road is called the Seven Devils is because there are seven RIDICULOUS hills. Of course, I didn't figure that out until we were done climbing the sixth hill and I saw some spraypaint that said 6th devil. At least at that point, I knew that we only had one hill left instead of turning corners and seeing another treachorous hill. The highest percent incline that we reached was 14%. Painful. After we called our support vehicles to make sure we weren't lost, we finally found camp! Brookie and Andy were nice enough to bring us caffeine for the last mile. We set up camp at Bullard's Beach State Park in Charleston. We were excited to finish Stage 3!

Vuelta Pacifica: Stage 2

Today the real ride began. Andy woke up early to go pick up Jesse who lives in Portland and met us back at the hotel for the continental breakfast. Our group was definitely the topic of conversation among our fellow hotel mates. I don't think many have ever seen so much spandex at one time. I think I saw one lady shield her child's eyes. Needless to say, we were all looking good. I've always thought that waffles and Lycra were a good combination.

From Portland, we had to drive down to the starting line in Lincoln City where a crowd had assembled to witness the historic event... or maybe they were there for the kite festival.

Everyone took a little time getting there bikes and minds ready for the task ahead of us. But finally we were off...at the crack of 11.

And it only took about 5 minutes until our first bathroom break. We knew from that moment we would traveling at a record breaking pace. From there it was 30 miles to lunch, waiting for us in Newport. We ate in the shade at Yaquina Beach State park where once again, no one could take their eyes off all the spandex. As soon as the food was on the table it was a free for all! It was like feeding a school of fish. Flashes of tights and cycling gloves and the ham sandwiches were gone.

After lunch everyone stopped for a moment to work on their cycling tans and warm up a little. It was cold when you stopped pedaling!

But soon we were back on the road.

The peleton crossed the bridge out of Newport and we were on our way to the last stop of the day by the Devil's Churn.

Then it was onward to camp at Harbor Vista Campground...for all of us but Chris who didn't think that 76 miles was enough for one day. So he just kept going...and going...until he found some nice locals to tell him he overshot the campground and needed to turn around. Andy, Andy, Kara, Brooke and I didn't have enough either. So after a quick spagetti dinner made by chef Kara we went back to Lincoln City to get the other truck. We were very happy to be in camp and those foam pads made the nicest bed I have ever slept on! Not even Evan's snoring could keep us awake.

A successful end to Stage 2!

Vuelta Pacifica 2009 Stage 1

Today one of the world's biggest cycling events started. Most of you are probably thinking that it is a few weeks too early for the Tour de France, but that is not the event we are speaking of. We are of course talking about the Vuelta Pacifica. The majority of our road warriors loaded up in two trucks and headed north to Portland to begin our biking adventure down the coast to San Fransisco.



The first stage was rather uneventful until we entered the state of Oregon where we had a slight hiccup on the way when one of the trailer tires lost its tread, but luckily the tire didn't blow while we were driving. After the boys got that fixed, we were off again!
With a quick stop and some big time help from the best Les Schwab employee in the entire United States...or maybe the Universe, we headed on to Portland. We arrived just in time to pick up the road warriors traveling to Portland by plane and get take out from the Olive Garden next to our hotel. Stage one was a big success.