Day 5: Rough roads, no shoulders, big hills

When I started this blog I told myself I would blog about pretty much everything, even the rough days.  I didn't say "bad days" because I don't believe any day that I am alive is a bad day.  I do have days that are rough or more challenging than others.  Today seemed to be one of those days.  We all have good days and bad days, so it shouldn't be too shocking.  We just have to accept it and move on to the next good day.

The fog on the calm water this morning was beautiful!

This morning I wasn't feeling too well when I got up at 7 to get back out on the road.  I decided I would go back to sleep for a little while and hope to feel better when I got up.  I did feel a little better when I got up at 10, but still not 100%. I finally hit the road at 12 noon.  I think it's a combination of things.  I haven't put my body through all day/everyday physical activity like this in a very long time. I am also eating differently than my body is used to.  I have to eat a ton of food when I ride all day because I burn off the calories so quickly.  These are both things I am sure I will get used to.  There is always an adjustment period for anything new that we try.  I will adjust.

Here is a link to a short video of the beautiful morning:

https://youtu.be/XK66IKNOUNE

Anyway, back to my day and today's ride. Today I rode from North Bend Oregon to Bandon Oregon for a total of 32 miles. You know I've been using a GPS app called Ride With GPS to track my rides and to give me directions when I need them.  The screen shots I post on here are screen shots from Ride With GPS.  Well today the app decided it would be funny to play some jokes on me!  Right out of the gate this morning the GPS tells me to take a left where I should have taken a right.  I went about 2 miles down the road before it decided to let me know I was going the wrong way.  When I turned around and headed back I was heading north into a very strong wind.  I finally got back on track, but the GPS app gave me wrong directions getting through North Bend and Coos Bay.  Also, every once in a while it would randomly say "turn left, then turn right". I knew this couldn't be correct because if I would have taken a left I would have ridden off the road into the bushes!  HAHA very funny GPS voice!  It's not April Fool's day!

One other thing that was a little frustrating was that the towns of North Bend, Coos Bay, Barview, and Charleston all seem to not have any shoulders and haven't repaired their roads in many years.  This made for a very bumpy ride for almost 10 miles and also put me in the lane with the cars for most of that 10 miles.  But I pushed through it and made it to The Seven Devil's!  What in the world are The Seven Devil's?  I'm glad you asked!  They are seven steep hill climbs that bicycle riders have been proud to conquer for years.  So much so that they renamed the road Seven Devil's Road.  It was the most brutal climbing I have done so far and I loved it!  It was the highlight of my day!  I love chugging up a hill so I can shoot down the other side.  Well today I got to do it seven times over an 8 mile stretch!  It was up one a hill then down a little, then up again, and then down a little, and then up again....over and over...seven times!  Well I think I counted 14 hills but I'll go with their Seven Devil's.  I took this picture from the highest point after I had climbed all seven.

 You can't see it very well in this picture but the view was awesome!

The elevation graph shows The Seven Devil's

 The clouds were really pretty today too

After climbing all Seven Devil's I was pretty tired, and since I got such a late start it was already getting pretty late in the day.  Because of those hills it took me 5 hours of riding to go 32 miles! That's pretty slow! So tonight I will be staying in Bandon Oregon and tomorrow I will have a better morning and get on the road earlier.  I am going to shoot for around 45-50 miles tomorrow.  This weekend might be kind of difficult for finding open camp sites because of the 4th of July holiday.  It's looking like I will cross over into California around the 4th of July!  That will be exciting!