Bike Oregon Adventure

Two days after returning from the Bay Area, we packed our bikes in the tricked out Ford Van -- Tom has put in a couch/bench (with storage underneath) that converts into a full-size bed(as my daughter said, "what, you can't sleep in a motel?") and we headed off to Astoria, Oregon for a three-day Bike Oregon trip that included some 2,000 other bicyclists. We arrived on Friday afternoon at Ft. Stevens, which sits on a spit of land that reaches out to the Columbia River on one side and the Ocean on the other. Soon after checking in, we got our dinner and settled in for a night of music (four great local bands played until 10 p.m.) There were plenty of families and kids were winding their way on bikes through the diners, people were dancing, and the weather cooperated with sunshine and perfect temperature. The next day we headed out on (what we thought was a leisure) ride of 40 miles. Some people went more than 60 miles. Everyone, including a father pulling behind him his three daughters, passed us up -- "on your left, on your left....". Of course we did have heavy all-terrain bikes with wheels two or so inches thick, still... Given our slow, labored speed, I thought -- seriously, we aren't young, we could have a coronary!" We completed the course and enjoyed dinner and wine and music and lots of camaraderie that night. But instead of heading out on a 60-mile course across the Columbia River on a narrow 4-mile bridge with the other couple of thousand people, we drove across and camped in Fort Canby on the Washington side, enjoying the beautiful beach (called Wakiki Beach for a reason) and the park that extends from the southern most point of land up quite a ways to Long Beach. We ate the Pelicano restaurant in Ilwaco that night (we brought no provisions, or utensils for that matter) and the staff and chef/owner were friendly and the food good (I highly recommend it if you are in Ilawco). The next day we biked around the park, hiked one of the Lewis & Clark trails, then headed up Long Beach and over to the park beyond Oysterville on Willapa Bay. We enjoyed Willapa Bay, and lingered so long, that we stayed the night on the other side of Willapa Bay in a campground. On the way out we purchased the best fresh Oysters and clams from a family-owned producer and when we got home invited our neighbors Bonnie and Byron to eat them with us, wanting to share our bounty.

I would highly recommend Bike Oregon and hope to do this again next year. We now know that we will need to train throughout this year to not only prepare us for Bike Oregon's weekend ride next year but for our bike trip in Croatia. (We have friends who tuned us into this bike trip and promptly signed up for Croatia 2009.)