Holy cow headwinds batman. Head. Winds. Headwinds headwinds headwinds headwinds. I just road 70 miles at between 10 an 12 mph, working by butt off the whole time. (Normally cruising in the flats should be more like 18mph).
I knew there would be headwinds today. The forecast predicted 15mph N winds, as well smoke from the County Line 2 (Warm Springs) fire to be blown in over the cascades from the East. Both were right, but it was hard to tell if haze in the area was just from the smoke, or if it was also from the winds kicking up dirt from all the barren dirt fields. It turns out that Late August is not the best time to tour the Willamette Valley.
Today was 70 miles, with 5:29 on bike time. I left a bit after 10am, which was silly because I should have left at 6am to beat the wind, but I didn't because leaving for your own house on a bike tour takes FOREVER. I left after 1pm to start my tour last summer.
So far the Willamette Scenic Bikeway is pretty enough, but not that much better than what you see on I-5, at least not in late August anyway. I did miss a big section of it between Coburg and Peoria because I took the wrong road - which saved me 10 miles but also cost me what I must assume was the prettiest biking in Oregon ever. Or not. I don't know. It was friggin windy.
Jefferson is a suburb of Albany or Salem or both, so it's not a great place to stay. It's a town of 3k (too big) without a good sleeping park. I did find one spot down by the river, but it's real near a homeless camp which could cause me trouble and is pretty exposed. Right now I'm in a middle school / public park making dinner and scoping out some baseball dugouts, my favorite stealth camping spots. They should work great provided the football practice currently nearby leaves so I can go set up discretely. I also need to find water, because all the faucets are hooked up to hose spigots. This could be.. interesting...
I should also mention - in a strange coincidence I met another bagger on the road (I forgot his name) who has a mutual friend with Iris and I, and is already setup to stay with at my place tomorrow on his bike tour. We'd never met before, but someone found each other on the road in Jefferson. Crazy.
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