Wednesday, September 5, 2012

"More Bark than Bike"

Wednesday Sept 5, 2012 Florence to Bandon Oregon

Today's title refers to a road we travelled today called Seven Devils Road. This refers to the 7 devilish hills on this road.  My late grandmother Lily used to call the pain in her leg a devil.  She used to say that there was a devil in her knee (otherwise known as arthritis) and that this devil was banging on her knee from the inside.  Naturally, when I heard about a road with 7 devils, I was scared, but...these devils were definitely more bark than bike.  Other than the first hill, this road was no big deal, as a matter of fact, it was the highlight of the day.  It turned out to be a bunch of rolling hills where you could ride down and the momentum would carry you up most of the way to the next hill.

As far as scenery today, the best way I can describe it is to say "FOG" and "CLOUD".  We basically saw nothing today as the entire ride was cloudy and mostly cold.  Not memorable at all, unfortunately.  We didn't take a picture all day.  Sorry...no visuals to go with these words...boring.

One funny thing that happened today occurred just before the first SAG in the town of Umpqua (town motto..."No, we're not a typo"...; oh wait, runner-up town motto... "Buy a Consonant") Mark and I stopped at a bakery/coffee shop for a snack and to warm up.  We ordered and paid for 2 hot chocolates and 1 square.  While we were eating the square (really good Bourbon square, around 1000 calories for sure) the counter person was, or so we thought, making our hot chocolates.  We finished the square and she hadn't even started the hot chocolates...she was definitely not in a hurry.  We said we had to leave without them and she promised us they would be "free" the next time we came in.  I said you mean the "free" ones we just paid for?  She didn't think I was very funny. Yes, things move at a different pace out here on the Oregon coast.

We arrived after 77 miles today in the town of Bandon, Oregon.  It's a cute little town on the Pacific coast and before dinner, Mark and I went to the harbor (note the American spelling) and sat outside at a cute little place and had a local beer called Lagunitas IPA.  It tasted GOOD.  After a bit of time we were joined by some other riders; Mose from Michigan, Russ from North Carolina, Jeff from Conneticut, Joe from Georgia and Gary from Conneticut.  Some guy at the bar had caught too many crabs (only 2 hours before) and he gave us one so we sat there and ate cold crab and it was GOOD.  Then we went to dinner.  I feel like I ate all day long today (probably because I ate all day long today) but I guess I earned it.

I'm putting my Garmin stats here for your perusal but I have to say I'm a little pissed off. I'm riding the same hills and distance as the guys on this trip. Today, my Garmin showed I burned 1297 calories in 5 hours and 36 minutes.  Joe Schroeder and Baltimore Mark's Garmin's showed they burned over 4000 doing the same ride.  How is that possible or fair to women everywhere???  I protested by eating all day long today.  My sacrifice is that I didn't go to Dairy Queen.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/219305131

Another thing that's going on is that the ring finger on my left hand is numb from the road vibration or because I'm holding onto the handlebars too tight. I've decided that the only cure for this is to buy something for this finger when we get to San Francisco.  One of the other riders named Barb Soley just had to confirm this, and yes, I told her that my ring finger will get "fixed", if you know what I mean! Any suggestions for what we could possibly buy would be greatly appreciated.  Feel free to email or call with your suggestions.

Tomorrow is a fairly benign day (only 57 miles, I can't believe I just said that).  We end up in Gold Beach and I will write again from there.  Maybe there's something Gold to buy for this finger problem in Gold Beach. Mark...get that credit card warmed up!





No comments:

Post a Comment