May 24th, 88 miles to Waldport


A wet day of cycling along the coast. I came through many small coastal towns today: Pacific City, Neskowin, Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Newport, etc. Weather forecast said “showers” and I had three periods of such showers today. First from mile 5 to mile 30, next from mile 55 to mile 65 around last from mile 75 to mile 88. Also had consistent winds from the south (head winds).

One advantage of being further north is there are long days and I was on the road before 6am. Town of Tillamook was still asleep as I cycled through. I planned to stop at convenience store for muffin but was through town before I knew it. Fortunately, a little south of town at 5 miles there was nice place to stop. After I finished my mini-breakfast and got back on the road it started to rain.

Highway 101 didn’t have much traffic and there was a reasonable shoulder. At 12.5 miles I turned from the highway though to take the back route via Sand Lake. This was nice quiet road and came into Pacific City at 24 miles from back way. At some points the rain started coming down heavier and local utility workers remarked as I came past their job site. At 28 miles I rejoined the 101. Here it went along the coast with some nice overlooks as shown in photo above. Still had reasonable shoulder and not too much traffic.

Just past Neskowin at 36 miles the road started a good climb and a few miles later came to 752 feet at top of the hill. Unfortunately on the downhill was cold since I wasn’t exercising as hard. A few miles later was able to warm up. Just past this, a road came in from Corvallis and 101 became much busier the last miles into Lincoln City.

Stopped in Lincoln City for a brunch at 45 miles. The sun came out and I could actually see my shadow! It also became a little warmer. The city sprawled for a while and took a bit to get through it. After this went south and along town of Depoe Bay. Not much further at mile 61 was a sign to the right indicating the Oregon Coast Bike Route went to right via Otter Crest.


The Otter Crest Road was a great little road. Fairly quickly it became a one-way road with cars on left and bikes on the right. It climbed up the hill with ocean down below. Perhaps climbed up to 500ft or so with some good views to sea below. Eventually came back to 101 and then were the last miles into Newport at mile 72. Was tempting to stop in Newport, but figured I could go just a bit further.

Just south of main business district in Newport was a large and high bridge. This one had a push button for bicyclists. When pushed a sign with flashing light indicated cyclists were on the bridge. It was still slow with headwind but nice to have extra sign on this bridge. After crossing the bridge, the road had some shorter hills on it. Perhaps combination of hills, headwinds and end of a longer day meant I was happy to arrive into Waldport and finished for the day.

Garmin“>Garmin

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