Cycling in the rain.

05.10.08

Jessie M. Honeyman SP – Bastendorf Beach SP

93,4 km, Ø 15,5

We (Vera, Uli and I) decided to start a bit earlier and got up at 7am. It didn‘ t even rain while we had breakfast but we weren‘ t on the road ‚till 9:30am. After 30 km we reached Reedsport, a town that seemed to be more dead than alive. We found a nice bakery there where we had some coffee and delicious sticky buns. Back on our bikes it started to rain a bit, later the rain became heavier. At Winchester Bay we took the alternate Route. Unfortunately we missed a road cycling along Salmon Harbor at the Umpqua River and rode to a dead end. It was a beautiful ride though, along sanddunes with hardly any traffic. We had to go back to get on the Lighthouse Road which took us near by the Umpqua Lighthouse. A very steep, winding road lead us back to HWY 101.

Since I was still only wearing my windbreaker I was totally soaked after a nice downhill ride to Lakeside. It was easy riding to the bridge before North Bend. Cyclists weren‘ t allowed on the roadway of the bridge and were supposed to walk their bikes on the small sidewalk. That wasn‘ t much fun because the last part of it was very narrow. I could hardly walk next to my bike – very funny!

In North Bend we had dinner at a Seafood Place and tried to dry our clothes and get warm again. At 6 pm we still had 20 km to cycle to the Campground. It was already getting dark when we got there. The non-hook-up-area was already closed for the season. We asked a ranger where we could pitch our tents and he showed us a nice site we could share for 5 $, hot showers included. What a great deal!!!

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