Newport Loop..

This last Sunday, the day before classes would start I pedaled out towards the Oregon Coast. The route I chose was to head out on hwy 20 and come back on Hwy 34. Nothing too huge, just a good Sunday afternoon ride ~130 miles. With that route in mind, I hit the sack the night before and was on the road a little after 10:00 the next day. I was excited, the Oregon coast is a destination I’ve really wanted to ride to for quite some time.

Riding out of Corvallis the weather was perfect, maybe a tad cold but otherwise perfect, clear sky, clean roads, and with the wind in my helmet I spun down hwy 20 towards the coast. A little after noon the traffic began to pickup on hwy at first it wasn’t all that bad, RV’s. Then a few miles out of Toledo, Oregon the shoulder of the hwy shrunk down to nearly nothing. Now at this point I hit upon what I’d like to suggest is the First Law of Passing Motorists, The larger the vehicle, the closer they will pass.

Bcw = ((Wl – Wv) / Wc) - 1
Rpd = Bcw - (Wv/Wl) * Bcw + Df
Wl: width of lane
Wv: width of vehical
Wc: width of cyclist
Df: amount a unique driver will move to the left. I would suggest that Df scales inversely with the size of the vehicle.

While climbing the final hill before Newport, I noticed my rear tire was running rather low. I thought, if I could make it to the Newport before it went flat that would be a preferable spot to fix the wheel. I moved my weight as far forward as I could and continued on.

Corvallis, had been sunny, but the coast was overcast, not to surprising. After replacing the tire, changing an inner tube, and grabbing a bite of quiche, I headed down the coast to Waldport to catch hwy 34 back to Corvallis. The route down 101 was something like 17 miles in itself wouldn’t take long but when combined with a tail wind felt nearly instantaneous. From Waldport I grabbed Hwy 34, a slightly longer alternative to 20, taking me back to Corvallis via Alesa. For anyone riding out to the coast, I highly recommend 34 over 20, 34 was a much better road over all.

The one mistake I’d made on leaving the coast was not taking quite enough water for the ride back. About 10 miles from Alesa, I flatted again, this time on the front, joy. After replacing the inner tube, I was back on the road and soon in Alesa, where I stopped at a mini-mart, to re-hydrate (1 can coke, 1 bottle Ice Tea, one bottle water).

After Alesa, it was over a climb by the cutoff to Mary’s peak and then finally back home.

Recovery: 2 scoops of hammer whey in milk.