Pannier People

Day 5 - Sisters - rest day

Howdy doody a day off in Sisters y'all. Was this place created in a factory for wild west towns? The town planners went crazy with their wooden shop fronts and boardwalks to give it that 'real' America look. We've done 4 days of cycling now and it's time for rest day number 1. These rest days are not necessarily spaced equally throughout. The next one after this is in 8 days time. Won't go into details but it involves our appointment with Idaho's biggest rodeo on 4^th July. Anyway, last night we stayed in the city park, but tonight we've treated ourselves to a motel. Woo hoo, such luxury. There's a television so Matt can catch up with Deadliest Catch. And we ate. We ate pancakes and waffles for breakfast, doritos and cookies for lunch and burgers for dinner. And before you say anything, we are cycling over 70 miles tomorrow, half of which is uphill, plus when in Rome, and all that. 

I'm quite surprised that so far we are feeling pretty good and haven't completely collapsed halfway up a mountain.  The climbs are getting easier on the thighs.  Fingers crossed it will keep this way.  I'm not about to get complacent though and have no doubt that the next few weeks will be really tough.  The saddle sore factor did increase a bit yesterday.  Out of 10 it went from a 2 to a 4.  We have worked out a scale where 10 is indescribable pain.  Let's hope we don't get a 10.

On a more positive note, here's a chipmunk we met at the city park campsite. The little critters are everywhere and I'm quite fond of them....

We've also just uploaded a lot of photos so if you're interested in seeing those, click on the photo button the navigation bar at the top.

Sarah

Day 4 – McKenzie Bridge to Sisters

53 miles

We woke up in the Forestry Service campsite and got the tent down in quick order, our system by now coming into a semblance of order. So we left pretty early with only a brief stop in McKenzie Bridge village (read shop) to stock up on nanas and nut bars plus a one pint (16 fl. oz.) of Coke.

The big climb for today was to go up the Santiam pass with around 4000 ft of climbing. The man in the shop told us it was 35 miles uphill, and he was right. Quite a strange experience to be going uphill for that long, but the incline was quite gradual only getting quite steep over the last 12 miles or so.

Part way through we came across a ginger man who had clearly some time ago been turned a kind of deep chestnut colour by the sun. It could be that his freckles had coalesced into a giant monofreckle making his extraordinary complexion. He was a few days away from finishing the transamerica, having started in Virginia in April. He was looking pretty good on it.

We exchanged pleasantries and a couple of stories, although I am ashamed to admit we never got his name, and he told us two things with a look in his eye that showed he meant it, they were:

1.The Appalachian mountains are harder than the Rockies as there is way more up and down in the Appalachians. The Ozarks in Missouri he amusingly called simply 'annoying' as they were small but a bit too big to get up the next one on the speed of the downhill from the slope before.

2.The stories about the mad dogs in Kentucky are all true. He was chased down many roads by dogs that apparently are grown by the slope-shouldered Kentucky folk for raccoon hunting – bred to bark at the slighted disturbance. Some of them he menacingly refered to as “pit bull type animals”. He hefted a can of aerosol in our direction and advised us on getting some pepper spray, although he himself had never actually used his.

He told us the story of something that happeded to him that bears repeating. One dog came out of the yard of the house it was defending and chased him down the street. The kids came out and tried to get it back by shouting, to no avail, so after a short pause the father came out, pulled out a handgun and fired it into the air (!) whereupon the dog returned to its master. Looking forward to it.

We've both got amazing tans that start at the ankles and go up to around the knees, and again at the wrists which finish at the elbows. Sarah also has a kind of patterned effect on the back of her hands that come from the crochet stitching of her gloves. We'll let it develop a little and come back to you with photographs.

Matt

Day 3 Coburg to MacKenzie Bridge

54 miles

Long gentle climbs were the order of the day as we head towards the Cascade Mountains. The Cascades run from Washington State down through Oregon, then California. The scenery is still very green with tall pine trees all around, but the terrain seems to be getting a little drier and not so lush as the first few days. We stopped at a few little hamlets along the way to grab a cold drink. Most places feature a family owned gas station and a general store which sells everything you can get in a can, plus a large selection of beef jerky products. Matt finally succumbed to the jerky today. I could see he'd been eyeing them up for a while.

The weather is still great. From speaking to people it sounds like Oregon can get really rainy, but all we've had is clear blue skies. The factor 50 is keeping the sun from us though, apart from the edges of my shorts which I seem to not cover very well. Matt is sporting a pretty good farmer tan (brown arms only up to t-shirt line and then paler as before). He wears it well though.

Today we met a Dutch couple also cycling the route, the same direction as us. They are in their 60s and only going so far as Colorado, but they are sporting some intriguing retro panniers which indicate they may have been cycle touring since before we were born. We shared information about the closure of MacKenzie Pass which is coming up tomorrow and which we learnt from a local bike mechanic who stopped us outside a store to enquire about our trip. Then we kept bumping into them at every other stop. Perhaps in a few weeks we will all be life long friends.

Tonight's campsite is another basic one (no Rvs!) with just an old fashioned pump for water and an honesty box for the pitch fee ($14). We are camped right alongside the MacKenzie river. We followed it pretty much the whole day today, it's good for white water rafting and there are a series of rapids 10 ft away from us now.

We hoped to find a diner in MacKenzie Bridge, but alas no, just another general store with the obligatory truck with dog in the back combo parked outside. The owner told us he likes to watch soccer so he and Matt chatted about Chelsea football club whilst we paid. For dinner we treated ourselves to a can of 'Trail Chilli' and some sweetcorn (also from a can) to go with our pasta. It was surprisingly tasty.

Matt has just built a fire and is looking rather pleased with himself. Now we're going to play some cards.

Sarah

Day 2 Triangle Lake to Coburg

45 miles

We awoke at dawn at the idyllic triangle lake campground. Quite what took us until 10am to get going I cannot rightly say, but instant porridge, bicycle maintenance, tent drying, chatting with the campsite lady deciding whether or not to drink the sulphuric water and getting to grips with packing up again so soon all took their toll on the time. The plan was to be on the road at 08:30, let's see how we get on tomorrow!

Campsite lady told us that they don't have troubles with bears as they all stay on the other side of the river (this is the river that is about 2ft deep and 20ft wide) and that there is a family of them over there. My dry bag preparations were not in vain. The big problem for them are the raccoons which get inside the bins and tear everything up.

Once we got on our way it was one steep climb up to the top of the pass (alt. 1000 ft) and then fairly easy cycling into Eugene, which was only made slightly uncomfortable by the heat once we got down into the valley: around 90 degrees in old money, not sure what that is in centigrade.

Actually it is quite nice to see the old colonials sticking faithfully to the imperial system. As I type this I am sitting in a campsite drinking 16 fluid ounces of American lager, and that my friends, is one pint.

I think Sarah has started to get a thing about nut bars. Every time we stop she produces one. I am not sure where they are all coming from, but the worrying thing is that she has them hidden all around her stuff, and doesn't like to discuss it when I bring it up. The current favourites are CLIF bars This has all the hallmarks of a text book case. I will keep you posted. I am more of a trail mix man.

We arrived this afternoon at Eugene Kamping World (Coburg) which is basically an RV park with some space for tents along the back wall. It still has its charms mind you, each pitch has a tap, a table and a barbeque and it has a nice breeze running through the place. More one-pot cooking, tonight it is sausages with avocado, tomato and green pepper.

We are becoming fascinated by Rvs or 'recreational vehicles', and presumably they are for the family who just want to get away from it all, but have all the creature comforts of home with you. But they are more like a National Express coach than a campervan. I am quite intrigued what goes on there , they must have cinema style screens and armchairs or a jacuzzi hot tub, they are that big. And as if they aren't already large enough, we've noticed they have sections which can protude out the walls when they're parked up, presumably for the dog to have his own room. We thought camping was meant to be roughing it a bit, but some of these look bigger than our flat.

Matt

Day 1 Florence to Triangle Lake

46 miles

Here we go we're all ready, and we're finally off... we started the day by cycling a few miles in the opposite direction to our route so we could get to the actual coast. The Pacific ocean coastline here is spectacular and it's a shame we didn't have more time, it's very dramatic with huge cliffs, sand-dunes and vast beaches with roaring waves. We had to leave our bikes just behind the sand-dunes as we couldn't get them over to dip our bike wheels in the water, but we skipped around the shoreline a bit and thought that was good enough!

We've learnt that Oregon is considered to be one of the most bike friendly states in the
US. Well that's what the people of Oregon say anyway! Still, we were quite surprised to see cycle lanes dotted around the towns and when pulling up at traffic lights, we've been getting a few thumbs up signs from drivers. Cool, this is going to be good, we like Oregon. Today's cycling started out on a highway which was fairly busy, but as soon as we turned off at Mapleton there was hardly any other traffic. The scenery is beautiful. Everywhere we look there are fir trees, very tall for miles around. I don't think I've ever been somewhere so green, it's like the saturation mode has been switched up. The weather has been wonderful with blue skies and a light breeze, perfect for cycling. As we cycle along wooden houses dot the roads, dogs come out to bark at us (all friendly so far), butterflies dance in our path and there is always a river to follow. It's idyllic. Everyone stares at our fully loaded bikes but is so friendly. They ask us where we are headed and laugh when we reply Virginia! We make a few short stops to scoff nut bars and have a smoothy at a cafe run by the local hippy commune and eventually arrive at our campsite for the night – Triangle Lake.

We are the only others there when we arrive and as there are no showers we bathe in the creek right next to our pitch. We are hot and sweaty so it's the best. Our camping dinner was pure gourmet – pasta with something that dared to call itself pesto and some lentils. Matt bear proofed our site by putting all the food in dry bags (I'm sure a bear could sniff out a dry bag) and we had a great nights sleep, dozing off to the sound of the creek waterfall.

Sarah

San Francisco and northwards

Well, we've just enjoyed two fab days in San Francisco. What a great city, beautiful, breezy, clean, cosmopolitan, and walkable (boy did we walk). The hills are something else though, some are so steep you almost wish they were sponsored by Stannah.

On Friday, we walked up and around the coast via Fisherman's Wharf then back down through Pacific Heights and along Haight Street which is famous for being the centre of the universe in 1967 during the 'summer of love'. It's a lot like Camden, the street is lined with vintage shops, organic delis, bright murals and graffiti, and plenty of crusty hippys hanging out on street corners singing with their dog and a banjo. Some genuinely looked like they still thought it was the 70s, while I suspect others were congregating to give the tourists what they want.

 

That evening we met up with Charlotte and Paul who were holidaying for the week and visiting Tamsin and Mark who live in SF. They arranged an awesome (that superlative has to feature at least once in this post because we've heard it, like, totally, all the time, dude) evening of dinner and karaoke. Nothing prepares you better for a serious cycling trip than drinking cocktails and singing Bon Jovi and other karaoke favourites at the top of your voice for two hours. Hence, yesterday we decided to not walk so far, but instead take the famous cable car back up the wharf and go on a boat trip around the bay getting up close to Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge. Very good.

I am currently writing this on the train which we caught last night in Oakland and is taking us up to Eugene in Oregon, from where we head out to the coast to start cycling tomorrow. It's really great train journey, we have a fab little sleeper cabin with a huge window and have just had a very delicious breakfast in the dining car with a delightful little old lady from Washington state. Very civilised. The view is simply stunning, a lake is just to my left with moutains in the background, and the train is winding through the wilderness at a rather sedate pace. The weather is looking a little moody but I think that is quite fitting for this type of wilderness. I'd be quite happy for it to be sunnier tomorrow though. We are hoping and praying that our bikes have survived this long journey. They are still in their boxes and seem to be ok, but it was a little worrying when at Oakland station, the guard openly admitted that they just chuck everything on. We told this to our little old lady breakfast friend, to which she said that was to be expected, in Oakland anyway.

To end our train journey we shared our table in the dining car with a Hollywood film director and his young son who were on their way to Seattle. Hello Ken and Oliver, nice to have met you.

Tomorrow the cycling begins...

Sarah

Let's not and say we did

One of the conversations that has come up a couple of times is what will we do if we discover that we're just not that keen on cycling and/or get bored on the way over? One solution would seem to be faking to the world that we are still doing the arduous cycle tour, whilst repairing to a hacienda in Baja California and drinking margaritas until hometime.

However, quite literally, that way madness lies as instructively demonstrated by Donald Crowhurst in 1969 when he faked the majority of his trip in the Golden Globe single handed round the world race.

Excited and nervous

We are all packed and ready to go.  Just need to have one more sleep before we fly tomorrow!  Thank you Emily, Hannah, Chloe and Abby for this wonderful card (and Jan, Mark, Debbie and Stu for yours too!).  We think this looks like the most excellent bike you have drawn here and are wondering if it's too late to swap and get this one? 

Happy summer everyone.  Cycling starts Monday, watch this space...

Sarah x

Bicycle about to go into box

Bicycle about to go into box, originally uploaded by mattyboomboom.

Let me tell you this caused some arguments. How many different ways is it possible to tell that the box is not quite big enough? I can't remember, but I am fairly confident that today we tried them all. There are a huge number of online tutorials showing you how easy it is, just to wind you up a little bit more. I hope there is enough bubble wrap and foam around the bicycle. Tomorrow I am going to try to find some 'fragile' stickers.

However, we are basically ready now, so just have a few things to pack up and some checkings.

Matt

Beginner's guide to cycle training - top preparation tips

Just found this gem of a list on another cyclist's blog (very impressive route from Florida to Alaska) and it is very funny.  I am laughing now of course, but won't be when this all becomes very real.  There are 11 points in total, I've just put the first one here, but click on the link to see all...

Step 1: Get a spaghetti-strainer and several small sponges. Soak the sponges in salt-water and paste them to the inside of the spaghetti-strainer. Place the strainer on your head. Find a busy road. Stand by the side of the road and do deep knee-bends for 8 hours. This will acclimatize you to a day's ride.

http://www.cyclingtrip.com/sections/guide/index.htm

Sarah