Charleston, OR to Bandon, OR - 20 miles
It rained all night long. Hard. By time morning rolled around, the rain had stopped, but everything was soaked outside. Thanks to our cabin, we and all of our belongings were dry and warm. This morning was a little different than others. We waited until "out came the sun and dried up all the rain" before we started riding. With the extra time, we did other activities that more resemble a typical school day at home.
We had planned to ride only 20 miles today because we knew they were going to be tough. Seven Devil's Road was our destination. We left at 1pm and made it up the first devil in no time at all. Someone had even painted "Devil #1" on the road just above the first really steep part -a nice touch. Devils 1 - 3 flew by and we wondered if we overestimated the difficulty. It was tough, but nothing my 8 and 9-year-old couldn't handle. l seriously question the numbering system, however. There were at least 3 or 4 devils included in the official #5 by my standards.
Tan let me know half way up the mountain that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come on this trip because "it's going to cost a lot of money." I had to laugh at his circumventing the true reasons for not wanting to be a touring cyclist on this particular day. By the end of the day, he was singing a different tune. He loves down hill riding so much and he let me know later it was all worth it. In fact, he wouldn't stop chatting with the other bikers who rode into camp this evening about the "awesome hill."
My final thoughts for today are a tribute to my amazing husband. We rode past a weigh station a few days ago and he stopped on the scales just because he was curious. 350 pounds. Subtracting his 215 pounds of body weight, that means that the weight of his bike (which isn't much) plus the gear he's pulling is 135 pounds! For every mile the rest of us ride, I think that entitles him to log at least 1.5 miles. The odometer doesn't show it, but he is working harder than any of us! On top of that, he is our navigator (left, right, straight), our GPS (grocery stores, laundromats, camp sites) and logistics coordinator (we have to go X number of miles each day to make it to a chapel by Sunday, easier day one day because the next day is going to be difficult, etc.). Me? I'm just riding and writing. He is the real brains and muscle of this journey. I'm a lucky gal because he walked into my life 14 years ago! Stephen, please don't delete this paragraph when you post it to the blog. ;) Did I mention that he's also the web master?
