The Candian Job - Day Trois

Day three was an intense day of riding. I rode more this day than any other day of the trip (88 miles) and a lot of it was uphill because I was crossing the Coast Range. Unfortunately the first 20 or so miles were backtracking. I decided to go backwards so that I could get onto highway 26 and heading to Seaside instead of going forward towards Tillamook which was in a slightly southernly (and therefore counter productive) direction.

There were a few times during the day when I just didn't think that I was going to make it. Riding over a mountain range on a single speed bicycle in really hot weather was starting to make me crack. If there was a point along the trip where I was really considering giving up it would have been on this day, on this stretch of highway.


I stopped at this park just off the highway that claimed to have the oldest Sitka Spruce tree in the United States: 750 years old. That was one massive, old tree. The picture doesn't really give much scale, but trust me, it was big.



I ended the day in a state campground called Fort Stevens State Park, which was in a little town just a couple miles away from Astoria. It was the biggest campground I have ever seen, something like 250 sites. I stayed in an area officially designated for hikers and bikers. I was amazed that I only had to pay $4 to stay there.

Not long after I first set up camp this older cyclist (I would later learn pretty much all touring cyclists are retired) came over and started chatting with me. This guy had ridden from Los Angeles California, all the way up into the Yukon territory, and was on his way back. Thats one epic quest; especially alone, for someone in their 60s. After talking to him I felt like a real amateur.

By this point I was feeling really filthy too. My body, and all of my gear was disgustingly dirty and sticky. The campsite I was staying at had free showers, but of course I had no towel.

The Candian Job - Day Deux

Got my first flat on the second day. I was just leaving McMinnville and I heard a hissing sound coming from the back of my bike. Luckily it happened just feet from a cemetery, so I just pulled my bike up into the grass, under a tree, and went to work. The groundskeeper was mowing the grass and giving me the funniest look.



I stopped at one point and stole a bunch of grapes from a vineyard. It turns out that they were not ripe--very bitter--so I didn't eat many. But I felt like such a badass for stealing produce.

I rode about 72 miles the second day, which was close to my goal. I ended up camping on an old logging road above an official campground. The campground was really pretty. It was on the bottom of this little gully and there was a stream running through the middle of it. I didn't have any cash to pay for a campsite so I just kept walking until I found a road that was overgrown and hiked up it.

My plan for this day was to end up on highway 26 somewhere in between Forest Grove and Astoria but I ended up on a different highway (it was highway 6 or 8 I think). At the end of the day I was unsure about the route I had taken and was considering back tracking some.

The Candian Job - Day Un

As soon as I got out the door and got onto my bike I realized that I was going to have problems. The first issue I had was my panniers (saddle bags) immediately started to fold in on themselves and get caught in my spokes on the back of the rear wheel (not to mention the front of the bags were clipping my heels as I rode). I had told Matt that I would meet him for breakfast out highway 99, so I somehow hobbled all the way out there riding with basically the heels of my feet and stopping every few blocks to pull the panniers out of the spokes.

Once I finally got to where we were supposed to meet, he convinces me that we should go to this little bar for breakfast instead. But the bar is very blue collar and in an industrial part of town, so when I walk in wearing spandex cycling shorts of course I feel like a complete freak. But the breakfast was pretty good and provided a good amount of energy to start the day.

After breakfast I knew that I was going to have to do something about my bags so I had Matt take me over to Jerry's Hardware so I could buy some doweling, to try to reinforce the backs of the panniers. We spent quite a while doing that and it only seemed to help a little bit. Then I realized that I couldn't find my keys (which only consisted of the house key and the key to my bike lock). So we drove all the way back to the bar looking for them and he ended up spotting them lying in the middle of the street.

So by that point I was starting to think that all this early bad luck might be some kind of sign for me to just stay home but I'm too stubborn of a guy to give up that easily.

After we got done at Jerry's I finally got on my journey under way. Of course the bags were still catching in the spokes so I constantly had to stop and readjust them. It was a really hot day that day too, probably in the low 90's, but I powered through, all the way to Corvallis, before I had to stop for a while. I got a Gatorade at a 7-11 as soon as I got into town, then I found a nice little shady piece of lawn next to a storage unit place and laid down for a nap. I ended up staying there, sleeping, for almost an hour and a hour. Not really what I had in mind when I stopped, but I really needed it. That hot weather was draining me.

I ended up riding about 65 miles that first day. About 20 miles short of my goal, but still not back considering all the problems I had and the fact that I didn't leave Eugene until about 11 am.


I camped that night next to a big field off of the side of highway 99. I was a little worried that the landowner would find me but I wasn't really hurting anything and I was planning to be gone shortly after dawn anyway. That was the only night too that I left my panniers outside of the tent. Some little animals got into my food and ate of bunch of my bread.

The Candian Job (Prologue)

So I had this epic plan a while back to ride my single speed road bicycle from here (Eugene, Oregon) to Victoria, British Columbia. My uncle Scott made a similar voyage on his bike when he was younger, and his stories inspired me to try such a ride after I got my bike in June of this year.

So after I got into decent riding shape and worked it into my work/school schedule, I just went for it. All in all it was an amazing adventure and I've made some great memories. I traveled roughly 475 miles in slightly over 6 days, averaging about 75 miles a day. And now that I'm back I thought I would share some of my stories and photographs with the rest of you.

And again, I would like to thank all of the people who supported and encouraged me before, during and after my trip. I would especially like to thank Phil and Matt for letting me borrow their gear, and Amber for constantly telling me how impressed she was :-)

And for all of you who thought it was a stupid idea, or who thought that I wouldn't make it - piss off. I pedaled my skinny ass almost 500 miles in less than a week on a single speed bike, over a mountain range, through extreme heat and freezing rain, hauling almost 50 pounds of steel bicycle and gear, ALL ALONE into another country. Just try and tell me that I can't do something now...