Sunday, July 7

Today we rode in the vans from Portland to Astoria where we started our adventure. It was a bit of a rough start for Bill as he found his front wheel in a “hole” in the boardwalk before he completed the first mile and he damaged the wheel so much that he could not ride. He spent the day in Astoria with Jim, one of the guides, looking for an open bicycle shop that would have a replacement wheel. There isn’t much open on Sunday, but they found a mountain bike shop that had a used road bike wheel in their storage that he was able to purchase. So, he had a slow start, but is ready to ride tomorrow.

The rest of the group rode out to the Pacific coast where we enjoyed a picnic lunch before dipping our rear wheel in the surf and then riding back to town.

Our hotel in Astoria is a curious boutique hotel. Because Bill didn’t ride, he checked in early and was able to get a room with a bathroom. Many of the others are sharing a hall bathroom and shower. I guess it is a bit like being back in the college dorm. Every room has one of these mounted by the door…we didn’t even have one on the wall in college and we took tests with No 2 pencils.

We can’t wait to see what the adventure has in store for us tomorrow.