Portland, OR to Seaside, OR: You have “hills” in Nebraska right?
So I spent the first part of the morning trying to true my front wheel some more after trying to fix it at the Amtrak station yesterday (it still needs some work). The shipping rate is great if you take your bike by train, but be warned that it may not arrive in the same state you shipped it in. I would be handy with your tools, or know where the nearest bike shop is.
Candice and Jerry (my couch surfing hosts for the night) quizzed me on my route and I had basically all the answers to their questions, I thought. I explained my route, take Burnside to HWY 26 and then to Seaside. It seemed like a reasonable plan. When Candice asked me what I was going to do about the “hill” I basically shrugged it off and said that I can deal with whatever. Well the “hill” she was refering to was actually a very big hill, or small mountain. At the very foot of the incline I suffered my very first clipless zero speed fall. My chain slipped off my smallest chainring and being on an incline my speed quickly dropped to zero, like in 2 seconds. I had no time to unclip and thus, fell. Luckily there were no cars coming, but one friendly bus driver offered that the #20 bus could take me and I could throw my bike on for free. I declined.
I ended up getting to the top of that over 500ft tall hill and proceeded to ride the most difficult 80 miles of my life. On the other side of the “hill” the terrain is fairly level until you get to the real mountains. So that was a breeze. But HWY 26 is a senic Highway, and a very mountainous on at that. Oh and there are no towns once you get into the mountains. That area is mostly state parks. So watch your water. I saw some amazing scenery and went through a few tunnels in the mountains. I reached a maximum altitude of 1642 feet above sea level and a low altitude of right about sea level. I ended the day very tired, sore, and badly needing a shower at a camp ground just outside of Seaside, OR.
