Sep
25
2009
by Mr Cubes
Coos Bay to Humbug Mountain (57.9 miles)
Total Miles: 3,090.1
Having spent my rest day in Coos Bay sorting through my gear to see what either needed replacing or discarding, I felt quite a bit lighter. I hadn’t worn my cleated cycling shoes for awhile and decided they were no longer an essential item. Hopefully I won’t be regretting that anytime soon.
The Oregon Pacific Coast Bicycle Route had taken a diversion before Coos Bay, so I was now left to my own devices. Sticking alongside Highway 101 seemed the safe bet as this road takes me all the way to San Diego. For some reason there was a road running parallel to the highway here with absolutely no traffic whatsoever, so I was happy to take that for the first few miles. I also noticed here that my cycle computer was no longer matching up with the mile post markers, due to my changing the front inner tube from a 26x2.0” to 26x1.5”. I’d forgotten that I needed to make this adjustment in the computer so after noting that I was clocking 1.05 miles to every one mile post I was able to make the adjustment at the end of the day. No cheating here!
The small tourist town of Bandon was where I had planned to spend my lunch break, but the wind was quite strong here making a picnic an uncomfortable affair. I looked in several of the souvenir shops for a US Flag sticker for the bike, but still nothing which seemed quite surprising – Canadian ones were available everywhere. Instead I just cycled on, munching on my lunch of cheese and ham jalapeno rolls as I went. Hopes were again raised when I entered Curry County, but this turned out to be it’s official name rather than an accolade. Shame.
After the official bike route rejoined the highway I overtook a Canadian cyclist called Bryan who seemed to be struggling in the heat and admitted to stopping every few minutes to pretend to look at his guidebook. A technique I had also adopted in the mountains of Canada. The strong wind is now at my back and I’m managing speeds of 25mph on the flat, so before too long I make it to the rest area of Battle Rock. An interesting history is displayed about the area, where in 1850 Captain William Tichenor hid out on the small island whilst waging war against the native Indians. He succeeded in 1851 making Port Orford the oldest recorded town on the Oregon coast.
After a short little coastal ride which gave great views out to the ocean, I was at the bottom of Humbug Mountain and Humbug Mountain State Park. The hiker/biker section was empty, but soon filled up as first Bryan, then others reached their daily target. I went for a quick hike up the mountain, but after a couple of miles was starting to worry about the light and unnecessary damage to my legs so turned back.
This is a spectacular part of the coastline and I’d enjoyed my day’s riding. No major hills for once today, though my elevation maps showed that would only last till the morning…