Sealing the Deal on a Long Day

We are 1/4 of the way to Mexico!  Great time to Donate to Kids with Cancer??  Click HERE!

Cumulative distance: 454 miles

Total Elevation Gain: 20,500 (Mt. Everest Base Camp 17,600)

Sketchy GPS tracker: Click HERE. (It worked today!)

Tomorrow's Route Profile: Click HERE

Today's Vlog post: Click HERE

There is that feeling each morning when I wake up and I consider the day in front of me; the number of miles that need to be ridden, the weather conditions, the hills, the jobs that need to be done to pack up and get the bikes ready to go; and I get a bit overwhelmed by the size of the task.  Today I felt it more than most.  Having arrived at the coast with mainly a straight shot south, I really expected every day to be strong tailwinds and fast miles.  So when I looked at the weather report last night and saw a strong headwind AGAIN, it took--for lack of a better phrase--the wind out of my sails.  And all the while, I have to keep many of my thoughts to myself to keep Katelyn from getting discouraged.  With that being said, we have completed yet another hard day on the road.

I decided to make this day into three separate rides that eventually turned into four.  Instead of eating breakfast first, we had an energy bar and rode rolling hills 23 miles into the town of Yachats where we found this very "Oregonian" type place to eat--it had a super hippy feel to it and we felt like we should be giving peace signs to everyone in there.  We are still wondering if the sausage we ate was tofu or not.  Anyway, not our favorite meal of the trip.  On the way there, we stopped at Sea Lion Rock Beach and ditched the bikes and went tidepooling a bit, so we actually didn't get to breakfast until 12:30 or so.  We were then going to push on to Florence for lunch--27 miles up the road--but then we had seen the sign for the Sea Lion Caves.  Um, you have to stop when you see an attraction like that in your path!  So that was only 15 more miles and was at the top of the biggest climb.  So just like that, we would be knocking out 38 miles and yet we hadn't pedaled more than 15 miles in a row without some sort of long break.

The Sea Lion Cave has been an attraction since 1932.  It is the largest sea cave in the world and is a shelter for animals in the winter months.   It was a nice break and we enjoyed the scenery both above and below ground.  I think I have some of the footage in the Vlog post above.

So now we were only 12 miles from Florence and then another 22 away from Reedsport and just like that, the day didn't feel so long anymore.  We ate dinner in Florence and had from 5:30 until dark to make it the last stretch, and what would you know but the wind turned around and was now blowing with us!  That meant we could have a couple more fun stops, like the ones we took to play in the sand dunes.  

So what did we learn today?  Even on what is a super long day, there are a lot of hours to work with and if you break up the monotony of riding with other activities, even a high mileage day can feel less daunting.  Plus, you get to do a lot more when you are looking for reasons to stop instead of reasons not to.

Ok, for tomorrow:  we are DONE with the 70+ mile days and only have 53 tomorrow.  There are some hills but nothing we haven't dealt with already.  Also, we have NW winds in the forecast so we are hoping for the best.  Also, we will be off the 101 for a good portion of the ride so hopefully a low traffic day.  See you in Bandon, OR!

Traveling through dunes country--we were short on time and really wanted to take a side trip to play in the sand.  Luckily, we didn't have to travel far

cool statue at the Sea Lion Caves

So these guys have to time the waves right to get out of the water onto the rock.  We were cheering for a couple of them that just couldn't "seal the deal" and get up the rock ledge! 

So they say that this lighthouse is the most photographed one world.  So I took a picture. 

72 miles and a headwind on a hilly day?  She can take a break if she wants!

Hey! A cliff and the ocean! Let's take a picture! (Again)

Inside Sea Lion Cave

Just following the signs

Snuck in a picture from yesterday, but this was how we felt arriving at Newport after 81 miles! 

Today was all about the sea lions in all their many colors 

We are at a point where we forget we are wearing our helmets.  People on the beach  must have thought  we were trying to protect ourselves from rogue waves or something

A tidepool isn't complete without a starfish!

great day to visit Seal Rock Beach! 

Seal caves, tide pools and the Green Lightning Laundromat.  I guess we hit all the hot spots today!

So, we bought some detergent and Katelyn wanted to put it in herself.  "How much of it should I use Dad?"  I told her to use all of it.  This is what she did.  Clearly this was her first time to a laundromat and I had to teach her to open the box and pour it into the machine!

Not the most miles we have ridden, but it was certainly the longest day  between hotels.