I have been wanting to try bike touring for years and we had a few open weeks this month so decided to give it a shot. I have done Seattle to Portland, and Seattle to Vancouver but both of those were just 2 day trips. M had no interest in being on a bike that long, but she was interested in doing a long camping trip. The plan was for her drive our car ahead and set up camp each day. It didn’t work out that way… but that was the plan. We looked at the calendar and realized that if I could average 60 miles a day that I could make it from Seattle to San Francisco in a couple of weeks. But this was a classic case of the journey is the destination and I was really just looking forward to riding and camping on the Oregon and California coasts.
It was raining the first morning but I decided start out anyway and was able to make it to my Mother in Law’s house in Olympia. I was pretty wet in the morning but luckily was able to use her washer and dryer that night. The next night, I had a great day of dry riding and made it to this campsite near Vader on the Cowlitz river. This would be the last night and only night of camping on this trip. The next day I really wanted to make it to the coast and planned to do 85 miles to get to Astoria and camp at Fort Stevens. It seemed like it would be flat riding along the Cowlitz and then the Columbia River. It was not. 3600 feet of up and down elevation kicked my butt.
And the forecast was for rain to start in the middle of the night so we decided to get a hotel in Astoria. I also wanted to avoid riding on the Astoria bridge or the Longview bridge because both have narrow shoulders and a lot of traffic. So I took the mini Cathlamet ferry across the river. It worked out great but the elevation on both sides of the ferry was something I hadn’t expected.
The next few days all turned out to be rainy cold and windy. Those 3 things that I don’t like together. I struggled to get miles because my toes were constantly wet and uncomfortable. I did see some good scenery and had some fairly good views of the coast and some wildlife between rain squalls.
The conventional wisdom is that the wind blows from the North to the South from May to September. This was in early May and turned out not to be the case. After struggling for a few days with the cold and rain we saw a forecast of some strong winds from South for the next week or so to go along with some more cold rain. We stayed in a hotel in Lincoln City for a couple of nights hoping that the weather gods would change their mind. But it didn’t… and I decided it just wasn’t that fun to ride in those conditions for that long. I can handle a couple of days riding in the rain and camping in the rain but it isn’t enjoyable for long stretches. So we decided to hang it up and try again to finish the trip another time.
Things I learned –
- I like bike touring (especially not carrying camping gear on my bike).
- I can handle hills. I don’t have the fear of them that I used to.
- After the Vader to Astoria day, I learned I need to look harder at elevation when planning the day.
- Wind, rain and cold together make bike riding not pleasant. And it doesn’t go away in a couple of hours on the coast. It can rain all day- even in May
- Setting up and taking down wet camps is not pleasant for my wife. She pictured the trip as spending most of the day reading her book in a hammock in the sun. When that didn’t happen, she was also not having fun hiding out from the storms in motels.
- Rain gear cannot keep rain out when you are on the bike several hours a day. My booties, rain pants and wind breakers cannot keep you dry all day. For a few miles it works but eventually I will have numb toes.
So, I am going to give this trip another try and ride from Lincoln City to San Francisco. and eventually maybe go all the way to San Diego. But we will do it in July- September. maybe this year… maybe 2023…