Day 1 Florence to Eugene

If you click on the line below and select the link you can view the route I took and see some photos captured along the way

Day 1 Florence to Eugene


What is the best word to describe the first day of my trip.  Mixed.  I'll explain.

The day started like every day Ive been here on the coast of Oregon.  It was grey and colder than the thermometer was reading. I packed and got ready for the road.  People keep asking what does the bike look like. You learn new words when you dip your toe into something different.  The bike, when outfitted is called a "rig".

The RIG (aka: KERT)

I set out early. I stopped at an ATM machine.  I realized I left my ATM card and "stuff" in my hotel room.  Now it is back from whence I started.   In a frenzy I trash my room looking for my ATM.  Oops!  I forgot that I put my ATM card and "stuff" in a different place on my bike. I had my ATM the entire time right on the bike.  Time penalty 00:30 minutes.

After that it was smooth sailing, well pedaling.  I clicked off the first 18 miles.  As I approached Mapleton, OR I needed to make a route decision. Route 126 from Eugene to Florence is a twisty  busy road.  I did an eyeball analysis on the number of cars that turned up Route 126. 19 out of the first 20 cars (yes, I was eating on the side f the road so counting was easy) went towards Eugene on 126.  I went inside for  good chat with a barista in the coffee shop.  He said 36 is the road to take.  He said you trade imiles for very little traffic.  That was the best advise I got all day.

Why are the results of day "mixed"??  I'm writing this in my hotel room in Eugene.  During the 77 miles yesterday I broke 3 spokes on  my rear wheel.  The first spoke went at approximately the 22 mile mark.  The second went somewhere in the middle of the Coastal Mountains.  If you haven't experienced what happens when you lose a spoke, much less 2, your bike becomes a wobbly mess.  I kept pushing forward minus the 2 spokes.  I actually mastered a place called Low Pass (A MISNOMER OR NAMING IRONY).  I pushed up to the crest and did a 40 MPH wobbly descent into Low Pass, Oregon.  The Coastal Mountains of Oregon are now behind me.

When I say "a spoke was lost" that really means I hear this "clinking" and know something ain't right.  I have to stop, dismount, unpack, get a tool, work the broken spoke out and then repack and head off (more wobbly than before the stop).

So today KERT is in the shop getting spokes and a true wheel.  I'm already getting a time penalty of at least one day.  There are still 2 heavy climbing days ahead of me to conquer the Cascade Mountains.  No worries.  I just have faith that the bike will get healthy and I can start marking miles.

Day 1 was a good day.  I am alive.  I feel preety good.  I met some good members of the species.  The little things.  Here s a view of a piece of beauty known as Triangle Lake in the upper Coastal Mountains of Oregon.  I stopped, chatted with some folks as the sun finally broke out from behind the clouds.

Triangle Lake Oregon