Kiki Bikes Across America

Wednesday, August 5th – 14 mi. east of Roosevelt (mile marker 148), WA to Portland, OR

We woke up at 5:30am when the sun was beginning to rise and it was getting light out – we were starving but thought we could make it to Roosevelt to the store and get something to eat there. Turns out just a few miles down the road and we had to stop because I was starving and had no energy – we hadn’t had real dinner last night and had done 106 miles practically when we went to sleep, so I was pretty hungry. We stopped on the side of the road and got out the bagels and peanut butter and endulged for a few minutes and tried to re-energize ourselves. On the road again and finally about 1 hour and 53 minutes later, I had reached Roosevelt (only 14 miles from our campsite on the side of the road). It took forever because the wind was howling and so strong – it was frustrating to say the least.

Camped on the side of the road because we were too exhausted to continue on.

Once in Roosevelt, I waited up for Chase and watched some guys working on manuevering containers to take off tractor trailers and put them on train cars to be hauled somewhere. It was kind of neat watching how they did it and they were really efficient and fast. It took around 2 minutes and 30 seconds for them to unload/load a train car with two containers (double-decker style).

We met up with three other cyclists, Katie, Adam, and Scott, whom we’d met in Missoula at the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA). They were from North Carolina and were doing the full transamerican ride to Astoria. They’d had a rough morning, getting 5 flats from thorns as they were leaving the campground. They’d also had a cell phone and ipod stolen from the bathroom (they were plugged up and charging), and they were running out of cash and none of the places had working ATMs or would accept Credit or Debit cards… so they were having a rough time and just hoping they’d make it to Portland okay.

They went on ahead of us and we left about 30 minutes later after grabbing a bite to eat – mind you, a very-overpriced bite to eat. This was one of the only places for miles where you could buy anything – milk, gatorade, etc. I bought a quart of chocolate milk (Darigold!!!), a 32 oz. gatorade, and 2 apple danishes for $7.50. Plus I was having to be careful of my cash supply since we knew we may have more places that were cash-only.

Back on the road, Chase was lagging by a good bit and started a little while after me – I just wanted to push through the winds and get to Portland … the winds were excruitiating and not at all pleasant. We were blown left and right and had the headwinds coming right at us… strong, for hours, the entire day! It didn’t seem to let up at all. Finally, I stopped to eat a danish and wait for Chase and he and I had been thinking the same thing – why waste 3 good days trying to pedal our butts off into the late evening/night to try and make up for miles we can’t do as easily or as fast because of the wind. Why not, just hitch-hike and get to Portland so we can see the city before we don’t have any time and it’s time for him to fly home and me to continue my journey along the coast. So we decided we’d try to hitch and we were tired of the wind. It wasn’t like we had to prove anything to anyone that we can bike X number of miles, because we’ve already proven ourselves by getting as far as we did and we could keep going just as easily, but we weren’t willing to waste our precious time. We wanted to see Portland more than to spend ourlast three days biking in the wind of the Columbia River Gorge!

I flagged a pickup truck down at mile marker 123 or so and he gave us a lift about 17 miles up the road and dropped us off at the top of a big hill. From there, we had an additional 9 miles to Biggs where there was an intersection and bridge across the river to the Oregon side. We knew there’d have to be someplace to eat and gas stations there and we’d most likely find another ride from there. We got there and Chase was looking more and more frustrated and pooped from the winds. He was almost as sad looking as the day we hitched from southern Utah (Lake Powell) up to Yellowstone. So we got some food at the gas station and then  I asked a guy who had an empty truck bed if he was going to Portland – he was going through and said he’d give us a ride, so we loaded up the truck with our bikes and then rode all the way to Portland just about – he dropped us off in a suburb, Troutdale, and we rode from there to 122nd Avenue where Josh met up with us and showed us the way back to his place.

We rode the last 20 miles into Portland and to Josh and Alina's.

We got in about 6pm to Josh and Alina’s and then cleaned up, did laundry, and had a yummy dinner that Alina made. She made paella with shrimp and it was pretty yummy:) We then just hung around and then conked out pretty early.

Chase, Alina, and Josh

GPS Stats:
134 miles
05:41 moving time
78.5 max speed
23.5 avg speed

Computer Stats:
50.86 miles
05:31:32 moving time
9.2 avg speed
31.0 max speed