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!
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! 
3 comments:
How many unintentional detours were on this ride? First Chris, now you. I'm glad the devils are behind you.
I agree, 83 miles just isn't enough. Glad you were able to squeeze a few more in before the hills.
I think the picture of Andy looks like I would have after only 3 miles! Way to go you guys! I'm impressed.... regular miles, and extra miles included!
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