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Day 53: Rest day in Astoria

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Lewis & Clark statue in Seaside Beach Breakfast today consisted of two eggs, two pieces of toast and a cinnamon bun. Many meals have been about twice what I would normally eat, and I snack between meals. I typically have not had many options on what to eat. Kansas started out with lots of burgers and Mexican food. That transitioned into steaks and prime rib (Friday prime rib nights are popular out west). I will have to cut back on the number of eggs, the number of burgers, French fries, red meat and the amount of sugars I have been consuming when I get back.  After breakfast I bought a book about Lewis & Clark for the flight back, washed my riding clothes at a laundromat, and restocked my food bag for the two days of riding ahead.  For lunch we had a “don’t miss” recommendation for fish and chips at Bowpickers. It was basically a small boat made into a stationary “food truck”. I couldn’t bring myself to eat any more fries, so I had battered fried fish without the chips...
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Day 52: Netarts to Astoria

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78.4 miles, 4342 ft ascent, 6:24 saddle time, max grade about 12% Dipping my front wheel in the Pacific Ocean at the town of Seaside I did it!  I rode my bike from the Atlantic to the Pacific!  All the way across the United States!   The TransAm route goes west to Pacific City, and then goes north along the coast.  You can see from the photo below that the coast in Oregon is totally unlike the east coast.  There were lots of ascents and descents as I made my way over the hills, and there were multiple awesome views of the coast.  I could not take photos of some of them because, going north, I was on the inside lane of a 2-lane road (the famous Rt. 101), and with all the traffic, it was dangerous to cross both lanes to turnouts.   View from Rt. 101 We had a tailwind from the south all day, which was rare and really a nice way to complete the last miles.  We stopped at Grumpy’s Cafe in Rockaway for breakfast.  The host was a little grumpy, but ...
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Day 51: Dallas to Netarts, OR

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67.7 miles, 3461 ft ascent, 6:02 saddle time View of the Pacific from Lookout Point Breakfast today was “Continental” at the Best Western.  Not far out of Dallas we turned west on Rt 22.  It was a two lane highway with wide shoulders, but there was debris all over the shoulders and the cars/trucks were going about 70 mph.  The debris was mostly gravel, pieces of bark from logging trucks, and the remains of blown-apart truck tire retreads.  The pieces of tire tread have in them the remains of the wire that comprises the steel belts.  That wire is extremely stiff and can easily puncture bicycle tires.  So dodging bits of tire, gravel and bark while loud trucks are zooming by was exhausting.  After doing that for 13 miles the highway merged with highway 18 at Valley Junction.  The was definitely NOT an interchange designed with bicycles in mind.  High speed traffic was coming from all directions on exit and entrance ramps.  After making a w...
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Day 50: Eugene to Dallas, OR

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86 miles, 3082 ascent / 2230 descent, 7:10 saddle time, elevations:  start 416, min 180, max 719, finish 321 ft. Wheat field on way to Dalllas, OR The valley we rode through today was rich with agriculture.  There were wheat and corn fields, hay, hazelnut orchards, vineyards, and other crops I did not recognize.   I did not see a lot of irrigation, so this area appears fly gets enough rain to support much of the agriculture.  Hazelnuts much be a BIG crop for this area because I way acres and acres of hazelnut trees.   Hazelnut orchard We were enjoying breakfast too much to get an early start, so we left Emma’s parents house around 0800.  We immediately encountered a headwind of 5 - 10 mph from the NW.  Our route generally went north and west, so we rode into the wind all day long.  It was exhausting.  The wind, combined with long  miles, left me drained by the time I got to Dallas.    I was rather grumpy when I got to the hotel...
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Day 49: McKenzie Bridge to Eugene, OR

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59 miles, 872 ft scent / 1674 ft descent, elevations: start 1253, finish 438 ft.   Flowers on West side of McKenzie pass Once we crossed over the McKenzie Pass the flora changed significantly.  The plants, shrubs and tree looked a lot like home, except for the logged-pole pines and cedars.  I did not take many photos because the scenery was so familiar to me.  As I rode along I saw numerous plants and flowers that are also in Maryland.  In fact, western Oregon (west of the Cascades) is the same climate zone as much of Maryland.   We spent much of the morning riding along the McKenzie River valley out of McKenzie Bridge.  At first there were a LOT of dead pine trees. It was not clear how many were killed by the Pine Beatle, and how many by fire.  I can only imagine what the valley looked like when it was filled with healthy trees.  Fire and the Beatles really change the whole character of the valley. I saw some signs about removing the Leaburg...
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Day 48: Sisters to McKenzie Bridge, OR

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44.7 miles, 2346 ft ascent / 4327 ft descent, 3:38 saddle time, elevations:  start 3219, max 5325, min 1248, finish 12257 ft. Top of McKenzie Pass After getting a quick breakfast sandwich and scone from the Sister’s Coffee Co, we started our ascent to McKenzie Pass.  This was the last pass in my TransAm journey, and the last major climb.  After riding a very gentle uphill grade of 1% for about 2.5 miles, Brian and I started our ascent of 2093 ft in 12.5 miles.  The traffic was light and I was very happy to see this sign… …which meant NO RV’s!  The road was quite narrow in some areas and the shoulders were narrow or nonexistent, so the lack of RV’ allowed me to have a very relaxed climb to the summit. The character of the forest changed gradually as we climbed from sagebrush and cedar trees to the skeletons of trees and a dense shrub covering the ground. The trees were killed by a pine beetle infestation, and burned by a subsequent fire. The road to the summit ru...
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Day 47: Prineville to Sisters, OR

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52 miles, 1656 ascent / 1323 descent, 3:49 saddle time, elevations: start 2852, min 2542, max 3190, finish 3185 ft. The 3 Sisters Today was the first day in a week that I did not ride up over a pass.  Note that the scale in the profile photo at the end of this post is 200 ft per line, while previous ones were 1,000.  I did gain about 330 ft net elevation today, and that will continue tomorrow when I go over the last pass in the entire TransAm, McKenzie Pass. The route out of Prineville was through a valley and followed the Crooked River.  Along the way I got my first glance of the Cascades and Mt. Hood.  There is something primal and visceral about that experience.  I believe it comes from the same place as our fascination with water and fire.   This whole area was immersed by large lava flows repeatedly over millions of years.  You can see the different layers of lava in this photo of a ridge that rises above the river.  The same layers could be ...
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