It was a saturday when I woke up this morning. The day of the week didn't mean very much to me, but it was nice for Jim and Heather. It meant they were able to sleep in and then spend the rest of the day preparing the house for the move out date, next week. They also had a little more time to lounge around in the morning and weren't in such a rush to be out the door. The morning started with a couple of huge waffles and a cup of coffee for a caffeine boost. I had everything packed up and was about to head towards Portland. It was around 8:00 in the morning and I thought I could make it to Beaverton, just south of Portland, fairly early. Before I left Jim was kind enough to make sure my bike was ready for the road. He had experience working on bikes at a bike shop and was able to show me a few things before I left on my way. Well it was now around 10 and now I felt much more confident before I set out on the road. Everything was running smooth and my body had had a day to recover before I set out. What I didn't think too much about was the wind. I knew it was going to be against me, but I didn't think that it would affect me so much as it did. I was peddalling about as hard as I could and was going nowhere. After only about 40 miles, half way, I had to take a rest in a cafe because I was physically exhausted. The sun made it feel about 90 degrees outside, but as soon as I started to ride it was so windy that it felt about 20 degrees cooler. I was going strong into the wind and the sweat was continually blowing straight off of me. The scenary was mostly farmland and it made me feel a little more like I was in Iowa. The one big difference was that after a lot of farmland in each direction, I was able to see mountains in the distance. One thing that I was not used to in Iowa's terrain. The road I was on was mostly flat and if the wind would have been at my back it would have made for the easiest ride on the trip. The coastal wind obviously had different plans for my trip ahead. The one thing that kept me going was that I knew I would have a nice place to stay ahead and I wouldn't have to worry about setting up camp. I saw many riders out for the day and they were all riding in the opposite direction as me. I knew they were going to have to eventually turn around, but the fact that I wasn't able to have the same feeling as they did really made my entire ride more difficult. When I had taken training rides it was mostly half of the time I had the wind and the other half I was against it. Now it was a full out battle all day against some of the strongest winds I had been up against. When I approached the suburbs of Portland it was fairly obvious. The roads with no traffic that I had enjoyed so much had now turned into busy roads with on ramps and off ramps. I was able to enjoy the right side of the road and was then surprised as I saw my own bike lane. It was such a large place to be in and they had a designated bike lane for which I was able to use. I followed the directions that I was given by my upcoming host and was able to find the house fairly easy. The hosts, Terry and Mary Owen, had gone to church and wouldn't return to their home until 6:30 pm. I thought that I would have arrived before then but the wind had done a number on me and it wasn't until around 7 that I made it to their home. Their home was absolutely beautiful. They had a spare room set aside for me and a shower with a towel beside it. Everything was set up and ready for me to use. I hopped in the shower and was out fairly quick because everyone was hungry and we were going to go out to eat. We headed towards a nice Mexican restaraunt and I felt like my stomach was completely empty and could have shoveled in anything in sight. With chips and salsa that came out before the meal, I couldn't stop snacking on them. I was able to hear from Terry that he was a fairly avid cyclist. He had been involved with the cycle across Oregon more than a half dozen times and had also done a few tours by himself or with his son. He had been a phycisist major and had been involved in quite a few large programs at a couple of local universities. His wife, Mary, was awonderful ladie and had been involved in the real estate business. They had both recently retired and were enjoying the benefits of having free time. It was great to be able to spend the evening chatting with them and even after the meal they continued to show me the greatest hospitality. They drove me around and gave me a tour of where I would want to head out of town the next day. Then we went back to their house and they gave me a map along the Oregon coast that looked very helpful. It showed all sorts of great sites to see along the coast and showed routes to take off of highway 101 to get closer to the coast. Along with those great things it also showed the elevation changes along the route. They also gave me a map of the Portlandarea and dircted to a nice route to leave on and get to where I needed to go. I couldn't have been happier with all of the great accomodations they had blessed me with. It was starting to get fairly late and my body was exhausted from the ride. It felt great to call it a night and be able to let my body rest for a few hours.
Daily mileage: 80.0 miles
Average Speed: 11.6 mph
Total mileage: 2,205.1 miles
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