Note: Since we are running out of time, we’ll be both writing/editing each posts (so the poster-name is a bit meaningless now).

The morning in Astoria was a laundry-day morning… which sounds a bit boring at first, but in the end it was quite fun.

While waiting for the laundry to wash and dry, we met the first (about same age) fellow bikers. Without too much hesitation we said “hi”, and both groups shared food and stories for a bit. Since we were tired, and less keen on hurrying up to our next destination, our lazy pace made it such that we ended up finishing our changing, eating and packing just about the same time as the newly arrived group of cyclists did.

All four of them (three guys and one girl) were really nice and friendly, so we decided to ride together for a bit, since we were heading to the same direction (i.e. over the bridge). We thought it would be a nice change to have a larger group of six riding on the highway (we felt a bit more sheltered).

The ride took us uphill right away, and with a head-wind for a while, but as soon as we got to the ocean, the spectacular Oregon beaches appeared before us.

From time to time the group would spread a bit, and we would take breaks to wait for the rest of the crowd. We are not sure right now, but we believe all four of them were reading the Dune saga books (by Frank Herbert), and thus Corey (very motivated) would go extra miles to check all the libraries on the way to see if they had the next Dune-book they wanted to read. It seems Mr Herbert was inspired by the Oregon dunes to write that saga, so they were the perfect books for the trip.

At some point we decided to part ways since our group of friends wanted to check out some more libraries, and we had talked about having beers together that night to share some more stories. Michel and Gilbert became the get-the-booze team that had to sprint to get to the store before it closed at Manzanita, and the other team would join us soon after. The rest of the road till the campsite had incredible views, and the tail wind was just awesome. At times we would gear up while riding uphill because the wind would push us so hard that riding uphill became a piece of cake.

We got to the store on time (Team#1 – mission complete!) SMS’d the other team, and then headed to the campsite. We went to see the sunset, and although a bit windy and cold, it was awesome (the pictures speak for themselves).

It turns out that due to the very bad reception, Team#2 didn’t get our SMS, so “just in case”, they also bought extra beer (which ended up being a Good Thing(TM)) and food (also good of course!). They arrived about two hours after us, just in time for us to make a nice fire.

Distance covered:  65km

Total distance so far: 790km

4 Responses to “Meeting our first cyclist friends”

1. serge says:

   July 27, 2009 at 9:47 am

   Nice pictures. Will they make it to santa barbara!!! I think so. Diane and i are leaving for san francisco tomorrow and hope to meet up

   Serge
2. Diane says:

   July 27, 2009 at 9:59 am

   Michel and Gilbert… you guys rock! You are a total inspiration. I hitchicked that road from Vancouver to California over 30 years ago, and your pictures bring back tons of memories.

   Have a safe trips… and hamburgers everywhere, beware of Gilbert…
3. Tommi Martini says:

   July 27, 2009 at 1:01 pm

   You guys are cruising down the coast! I just might use your site as beta when I ride north! I´m glad you met other cyclists on your trip…they´re always keen to share stories, especially about food! Nothing gives you a better appetite.
   • Gilbert says:

     July 27, 2009 at 1:37 pm

     Definitely. We learned from them that Quinoa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa) is very healthy to eat and bring along on the trips (to be cooked like rice), and they were also carrying with them boiled eggs, which was an awesome idea we didn’t have for some reason (I was craving eggs all the time and the cold sandwiches were starting to look less interesting).
     Michel showed them how to make jam, it’s nice to exchange that info, always useful (and usually delicious).
     Later in Oregon we had head wind, so it means that you may also get tail wind when riding south to north.