Kiki Bikes Across America

Archive for the ‘Oregon’ Category

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

Tues, August 4th – Walla Walla, WA to 14 mi. east of Roosevelt (mile marker 148), WA

We woke up early, at 4:30am and rolled out about 5:30 from Michael’s house to run to Walmart and buy a few things  - snacks and gatorade and the sort. We left there about 6:30 and headed towards Oregon along the Columbia River. Just as we were leaving College Station (next to Walla Walla), another cyclist (older man on a road bike) passed us and then Chase was going pokey, so I made it my goal to catch the other cyclist ahead and try and pace myself behind him. I was cruising – the pavement was awesome (super smooth and all), and I was doing around 17-23mph or so. Just a short bit later and I caught up to the other cyclist ahead and paced with him for a short while and then slowed up to see if chase would catch up. But then I just waited for him in the next little town.

We kept on after a quick break to refuel and a pit stop and about 10 miles or so until we he started going south along the Columbia River and hit lots of wind. The wind was fierce – I just laughed because it was ridiculous how strong it was. I was being blown all over the shoulder and going about 5mph and thought, this is insane and ridiculous. We’re not going to make any decent progress at this rate. Luckily, after about an hour or so, the wind died down a bit and we were able to ride a little faster. We passed another cyclist going eastbound – Walter, from North Carolina (but originally from Holland).

Crossed into Oregon for a bit today.

Our last 20 or so miles before lunch and we were cruising pretty well – excited to be making progress better than earlier in the morning with the wind and we were ready for lunch! Plus, we saw signs that read “Portland 215″ so we liked seeing that and we were getting excited that in a couple of days we’d be in Portland.

We had lunch at Umatilla – where we’d cross the river into Washington to ride for the remainder of the trip into Portland. We just grabbed some food from Subway and then we filled up water bottles and were on our way. We ran into a group of women cyclists that warned us that there was nothing for 50 or so miles, so we made sure all of our water bottles were full and topped off! Just as we were turning onto Route 14 to head west towards Portland, we saw a sign that said “83 miles, no services” – so it felt like Utah or Kansas where there were such long distances of nothing. From Umatilla to Biggs, there was nothing really – just 1 little store in Paterson that did some sandwiches and had a few things you could buy like chips, drinks, and other snacks. Then in Roosevelt, another 40 miles or so from Paterson, there was a little store near the campground. Overpriced of course, but they had a few things, but no hot meals.

We had stopped at the store in Paterson to get a bite to eat and rest for a while. It was pretty hot out so we were loving the AC inside We rolled back out around 4:30pm and rode until about 6:30pm and had just passed Crow Butte Park when we were both losing energy. We had done 92 miles at this point and the heat wasn’t helping, the wind had picked up, and we were started to feel exhausted. Decidely, we thought it’d be good to turn around and backtrack 8 miles (4 back and then 4 to get back to where we were when the wind/exhaustion hit us) to Crow Butte Park to nap on the grass for a bit. We were hoping to continue riding into the night some and make more miles, something like 120 or so. We got to the park and both fell asleep on park benches within just a couple minutes. I conked out for about 20 minutes and then woke up and decided to roll my sleeping mat out on the ground and rest there. Chase did the same and then about 8:30 the sprinklers popped up so we got up really fast and put everything away and thought we’d go over to the campground area and see if any sites were available. On our way there, we saw 2 long snakes in the grass (like the grass where we’d been resting/sleeping), and then decided we didn’t want to go to the campground knowing there must be plenty more snakes and we weren’t looking forward to seeing anymore. So we rolled back to the bathroom area to fill up on water bottles, change back into our biking clothes, and then continue biking up the road to see if we could make it to Roosevelt in decent time. At to our luck, there was another snake waiting for us outside of the bathroom – slitthering alongside the wall next to the men’s bathroom. That was it – we didn’t want to see anymore snakes…3 snakes in the span of 5 minutes was enough.

Off we went by bike again, leaving CroW Butte Park around 9:30pm and biking ever so slowly (wind and exhausted still) west on Route 14. We made it only 10 miles from Crow Butte Park before we were extremely exhausted and decided to look for the next best place to camp safely on the side of the road. We found a spot at mile marker 148 where there was some gravel on a slope, so we pulled in there and set up a tent and crawled in and conked out about 11:30pm. We’d hoped to have gotten up after a few hours of sleep, but we were so exhausted that we slept until 5:30am when the sun was starting to rise.

GPS Stats:
103.2 miles
09:06 moving time
11.3 avg speed
33.0 max speed

Computer Stats:
105.86 miles
09:07:26 moving time
11.6 avg speed
34.0 max speed

Snake count: 3 live snakes