Portland to San Francisco Bike Trip - Day 1

Day 1 Stats - August 19, 2006

• Portland to Tillamook
• 81.49 miles, 2818 ft. elevation gain
• Ride time 5h 59m, trip time 8h 04m, start time 7:30am
• Average speed 13.5 mph, max 33.4
• Cities visited: Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, North Plains, Banks, Tillamook

Woke up 6am after a restless sleep (nervous and stressed out about the start of the trip). Ate a quick breakfast and loaded up the car, on the road by 7:30am. Luggage, food, and bike stuff for all of us took up a ton of room, wouldn't have been possible with out the Thule roof box (thanks Rich!).

Tried a new route, which I have christened the New Westside Passage, to get from our condo to Hillsboro: Basically, we headed up to Council Crest, then took Hewitt Road, which connects with some newly constructed bike paths. Once we got to Hillsboro, we joined in on the Maggie's Bun route until Highway 6, which we took all the way to Tillamook. Hwy 6 was extremely busy (sometimes up to 1 car a second passed us), but 99% of it has generous 4-6 foot shoulder/bike lane, so except for the noise, it was pretty nice.

Weather was mostly perfect: 65 degrees when we woke up, sunny, breezy and pleasant until about lunch time, when it was starting to get pretty hot (probably 90 degrees) -- this unfortunately coincided with our major climb of the day over the coastal range (elevation ~1500 feet), so we were pretty hot. Luckily, once we dropped down the other side, the breeze blowing in from the ocean kept us nice and cool.

Didn't realize until the early afternoon that this is the same weekend that Ericand I (plus Aimee the first day) started our bike trip across America in 2003 (we rode the other direction on August 17, 2003, from Tillamook to Portland). Riding the same road brought back fond memories of that trip.

Riding with my dad as support-and-gear (SAG) driver is a real luxury compared to my last bike trip.

Arrived in Tillamook around 3:30pm. Stayed in Western Royal Inn ($90/night for dual room suite). Nice enough place, remodelled in 2004.

Ate dinner at Lin's Chinese Restaurant, great food, ample quantities, total $33 for four people. Treated myself to a Dairy Queen Oreo Blizzard for dessert. Walked back to the hotel and lights off, in bed by 9pm!

Bike issues: Preston: Tire nicked, blew a tube (in hotel room, after ride finished!), replaced with backup wheel

Body issues: Preston: Neck a little sore