Day 2 Sandlake Campground to Newport, OR (62.2 miles / 114 total*)

5:18 AM May 22, 2010

Yesterday was exhausting. My body wasn’t ready for a 60 mile day but Newport seemed like a good town to end up in, per bike map I carry around. Thankfully there was an amazing tail wind.

First the big news, I accomplished a trifecta of breweries: Pelican Pub & Brewery, McMenamin Brewery, and Rogue Brewery. Before I started I talked myself into this ride by deciding I would stop at all of the breweries I rode past. Turns out there are a lot of breweries in Oregon and I may have to cut back as it takes up a lot of time and wears on the body.  I arrived at Pelican Pub & Brewery around 9AM, surprisingly, they served breakfast.

Now the highlight, the highlight of the ride was on Old Highway 101 between Neskowin and Lincoln City. There’s some climbing but it was nearly deserted except for a few cars.

Last night when I checked into a motel, I thought it was funny to be offered a room with a view of the Pacific as I’ve had a view all day.

The most frustrating part of yesterday was the lack of cell phone service. I truly thought I was going to go 24 hours with no service. Luckily Newport has plenty of service.

A word on the cars. Compared to Southern California the cars are very accommodating to bicyclists. As cars pass they will move as far away as they can even if it means going into the wrong lane. Even lumber truck drivers seem to have gotten a bad rap as they are some of the nicest. Many of the cars coming from the opposite direction well wave. There must be a law that school bus drivers have to wave.

It seems that everyone had kids here when they were young. Everyone I’ve had conversations with that is my age seems to have a 11 or 16 year old kid.

One final note before I start getting everything packed up, the sun came out yesterday. A nice surprise.

Trivia: Depoe Bay is know for being the __________ harbor in the world. The answer to yesterday’s question was correct, it was a pile of oysters by anonymous.

Towns I passed through:
Sandlake (pop. 25)
Pacific City (pop. 1027)
Oretown (pop. 25)
Newskowin (pop. 269)
Otis (pop. 25)
Lincoln City (pop. 7437)
Gleneden Beach (pop. 500)
Lincoln Beach (pop. 2,078)
Depoe Bay (pop. 1,174)
Otter Rock (pop. unknown)
Newport (pop. 9,532)

Towns I’ve rode through yesterday:
Rockaway Beach (pop.1,267)
Garibaldi (pop. 879)
Bay City (pop. 899)
Tillamook (pop. 4,352)
Oceanside (pop. 326)
Netarts (pop. 744)
Sandlake (pop. 25)

 

 

* The total number of miles may not tie to the sum of all individual rides as there are a number of off route side trips that I take.