June 21, 2004
ROUTE: Astoria to St Helens OR
DISTANCE: 68 Miles
WINDS: Light but behind us most of the day.
WEATHER: It was cool and overcast at departure but got toasty as the day wore on.
TERRAIN: Hilly in spots...two significant climbs and the obligatory downhills that followed
TOTAL CLIMBING: 3170 feet
TOTAL CLIMBING: 3170 feet
Our morning started early...well, rather early...5:00 wake up for a 6:00 breakfast and a 6:30 photo. Since there was a movie crew in town filming "Ring 2," the motel decided to pawn us off into 2 places, with the riders all staying at one motel and the staff at another. It made for some creative logistics and a short ride to breakfast, but we all got there on time and got fed and still had time for the group photo before getting on the road. It didn't take long, though, for riders to hit the road after this shot was taken under the Astoria bridge. By the time I rewound my camera, I was looking at an empty sidewalk.
I rode with Mark in the van most of the early morning to make sure everyone was moving along well, and since I was available, I got to fix several minor breakdowns before I got to ride. We had the usual flat tires, but we also had a broken spoke already and one bent derailleur hanger...seems Judith's bike had this "Artie Johnson" day as it kept falling over on the derailleur side. Didn't take long for her shifting to go haywire, but we were able to get it all straightened out and her bike was fine after that. Maybe it was trying to tell her something...maybe it didn't want to go. We convinced it otherwise.
The ride today took us along hwy 30 all the way to St Helens. It as a fairly busy state road but usually it had a nice shoulder to ride on and plenty of beautiful scenery to keep everyone entertained...even a glimpse of Mt St Helens at one point. It is hard to imagine the devastation that must have been here when she blew her top years ago. We never saw any signs of it today...maybe when we get on the other side we might. That will have to wait until tomorrow. Most of our route took us along the Columbia River and the several times we popped out for a view, it was gorgeous. The thing I like about this area is that everyone up here is used to seeing cyclists and seems to give them room...even the logging trucks. I got several friendly waves from them throughout the day...at least they seemed friendly.
The best news of the day was that we got everyone in safely on the first day...one down and only 49 more to go. I think everyone was in before 2:00 so they had time to relax and get to know one another before going to dinner at the Village Restaurant next door to the motel. We had the usual small problems at the mechanics' van: squeaky drive trains, loose screws, and minor adjustments to derailleurs, but all in all it was a pretty easy day...a good warm up for what's to come in a day or two when we hit the high desert and some long days. See you tomorrow. "
HEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY:
- "Were these hills in the brochure?"
- "Are we there yet?"
- "The porta-potty is next to the propane tank. Is that an onomatopoeia? Naw that's alliteration." [Hey the combined brainpower on this tour with its engineers, school teachers, doctors (3 plus an RN), lawyers, journalists, graduate students, professors, singers, and artists, is way over the top!]
- Judith Gustafson making change for a $20 and then wondering why I was giving her money when I handed her the $20 bill.
- I guess I get a duh too...and so does Barbara...I ask people to turn off their cell phones during rap to cut down on interruptions. I went through the motions to turn mine off, but evidently I didn't push the button down long enough. Barbara thought to turn hers off just as I was starting rap and as she was reaching for the off switch, our daughter called her...riiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. She has one of those rings that keeps playing a sonata until she picks up...fumble, fumble, drop, fumble. By the time we all razzed Barbara for interrupting rap, I was ready to continue. You guessed it...since Barbara hung up on our daughter, our daughter tried to call me...riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing! I'll never live that one down.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY:
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| How convenient...drive through cigarette stand. Only in Oregon I think. |
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| Gerard receives the full service at the second SAG... sorry Gerard, don't expect this after today. :-) |
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| I don't know why Lewis and Clark had so much trouble finding the way to the ocean...their route is clearly marked with signs. I think they should have gotten a new guide...or maybe they should have used MapQuest rather than Sacagawea. |
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| Laundry day already? |
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| Mark was hired especially for his packing skills... every bag has it's place...every place has a bag. |
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Word has it that all of these guys...Chuck, Gerard, and Stephen... graduated from medical school. After the tough ride, they sat on this bench to watch the mechanics work on bikes...but the van was parked between them and the work going on. They sat there throughout the work time before they decided to move to another bench to contemplate petunias, which was a much better view than the side of the red van. It really doesn't take much to entertain or amuse a group of doctors after a tough day. |
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Susan, our new staff SAG person, also has special skills that would make Martha Stewart roll over in her grave... if Martha was, well, you know. Here Susan shows off her artful center piece--pussy toes in a raisin box-- to an admiring Bill at the first SAG. |
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