Day 0 The Adventure Begins!

So let the adventure begin.

Tam and I arrived in Astoria, the beginning point of the ride, on Saturday, and signed in among the early birds. A few riders have been here a couple of days already, and we began to meet those I will spend the next seven weeks with. The variety of riders is amazing, from at least 15 different states (some of that information was not listed for every rider). There is a rider from Perth, Australia (he looks really strong), Tel Aviv, Israel, Tapei, Taiwan, and from The Hague, Netherlands. People have literally come from all over the world to share this trip. Just amazing.

This afternoon, a group of about 11 riders, rode 15 miles to the beach to ceremoniously dip our rear wheels into the Pacific. It felt good to be back on the bike. I've not ridden since packing the bike and shipping it west on June 6.

Tomorrow (Monday) is a 68 mile ride to St. Helen, OR with about 3200 feet of climb.  We'll probably spend the next few days learning who rides at the same pace, who the strong riders are and who are the slower riders.  In 50 days, God willing, we will all dip our front wheels into the Atlantic to mark the end. In between, there will be lots of pedaling, uphill and downhill. 

Today, the skies are cloudy and the temperature is in the mid 60s with a moderate wind, enough that a windbreaker felt good, at least on the first half of the ride. Tomorrow we start riding toward the mountains. The forecasts are calling for a bit of rain over the next few days.

These posts over the next few weeks may seem a bit overdue or a day late, as most who may be reading this are on Eastern Daylight time. We're 3 hours later out here on the Pacific. I know you are all anxious for some pictures, so I'll try that tomorrow.

For now, be well.

Don