Katie MacDonald - Bike the US for MS
Day 5 - Aug. 10 - Astoria - Rest dayFirst rest day of the trip! First stop was laundry. It was a short walk to the gas station that had a laundromat, and 43 beers on tap, which was an interesting addition. After that I walked down to the bike shop to look around, and then grabbed lunch with Andrea at the Wet Dog Cafe. We met Sully there, and Michael joined us slightly later. Andrea and I split two burgers, which were really good. On the way out, we met up with Sarah, Alison, and Ryan, who were on their way to get lunch, so we joined them and went to Fort George Brewery. Our waiter, John, was great, and we had a lot of fun. After the brewery, I headed back to the church to work on the blog, and then met up with Sarah at the Safeway to grab food for dinner. We ate our food outside, while a bunch of people cleaned their bikes. We ended the night by watching Goonies as a team, which was filmed in Astoria, and celebrated Richard's 72nd birthday. Back on the road tomorrow! Also, big thanks to Kevin for his donation today! Day 6 - Aug. 11 - Astoria to Tillamook - 70.9miOregon is so beautiful. I woke up at 5:15am to people moving around and getting packed up, which was a full hour earlier than when I planned to wake up. I was not overly thrilled about this. We left the church as a big group at 6:45, and headed out of Astoria. The group got a little split up, but the group I was with ended up taking an accidental shortcut. It was cool to ride with Matt, Jeff, and some other guys that I had never ridden with before. We had an incredible descent on Lewis and Clarke Road, which took us right into Seaside for rest stop one. The van wasn't there yet, but a Northern Tier alumni had set out a whole spread of donuts, bananas, bagels, and coffee. We also got to see the ocean for the first time on the trip. As soon as we headed out, we came across a huge volleyball tournament- the beach had 151 courts, and it looked like they were all being used. We got to Cannon Beach as a group, and then it split up so that I was with Melissa and Sharon as we checked out Haystack Rock on the beach. We rode together most of the way to rest stop two. This stretch had some of the best views of the trip so far, and we stopped a lot to take photos. On the biggest climb of the day, Melissa and I got a bit behind Sharon, and rode with Richard for a bit. After rest stop two, it was mostly flat with some rolling hills, but we were absolutely crushing it in terms of speed. We were going 16-20mph the rest of the way to camp. I stopped to take a few photos and got behind, but ended up riding with Rob, Fay, Shannon, and a couple others. We are camping behind the Tillamook YMCA tonight, but we didn't have access to showers right away so we headed to the brewery for a late lunch. After lunch I stopped to get wifi at the library, and then chilled at camp until the showers opened at 4:45. After this, Melissa and I went to the fair to see the Ford-n-Pig race, which apparently involves racing old fords around a dirt track, while periodically stopping to catch a piglet. Unfortunately we missed it by about 2 minutes, but we're able to grab ice cream and walk around for a little bit. After the fair, we biked out to the cheese factory to meet up with Sarah and Kelly for a cheese tasting. The place was super cool, and I picked up a few postcards that I'll eventually send out. All this riding around added approximately 8 extra miles to our day, but it was well worth it. Back at camp, Richard ended up answering a FaceTime call on Amanda's phone which she had left behind when she went for dinner. It was pretty funny way to end the night. Day 7 - Aug. 12 - Tillamook to Lincoln City - 64.6miHad a surprisingly good sleep last night, and didn't get woken up until my alarm went off at 6:15am. I headed out with Melissa and Sharon, but we stopped 2mi in, because the turn we were supposed to make had a "Road Closed in 6.2 miles" sign. We called the route leaders to give them a heads up, and then ended up flagging down a few cars to ask what the road was like ahead. All three said that we could easily walk our bikes through, so we decided to go for it. This ended up being a really great decision, because the ride was beautiful. We were along the water, and it was so still it looked like glass. The turn onto the road with the closure brought us to a fairly big climb, on which the rest stop van passed us to check out the closure. James biked out to make sure it was safe, and then we followed suit. The road wasn't too bad, only one section that we had to walk through, and a couple gravel sections. The decent brought us right into rest stop one, where we met up with the van again. After the rest stop, I rode with Sarah, and we took on the next big climb, about 800ft. There was a beautiful overlook about halfway up, and we stopped to take pictures. The descent was great, and we rode with some of the guys for a bit, before falling back. At rest stop two, we grabbed lunch at the Pelican Brewery in Pacific City, which was delicious and had a great view. I rode by myself after lunch, and ended up making a wrong turn onto a street that had the exact same name as the street I was supposed to turn on. I corrected this mistake pretty quickly, and got into the correct road, which took us off Highway 101. The day ended up being ~5 miles longer than expected, and the highway was pretty busy which didn't make for great riding. Finally made it to camp though, which is a banquet hall for the night. Apparently some neighbour called the cops to report transient when they saw people setting up tents in the back, but Jen explained what we were doing, and that we had permission. Jan, who lives right behind the hall, opened up her house to us to shower, which was so incredible of her. Fred and Donna also showed up and provided dinner and wine for everyone! After dinner, I went over to the Rusty Truck brewery with Sully, Michael, Brian, Sarah, and Kurt, which was a fun way to end the night. Day 8 - Aug. 13 - Lincoln City to Florence - 73.8miJan invited the whole team to come and grab breakfast at her house before we headed out this morning, and a few of us took her up on the offer. They had prepared bacon, potatoes and toast for us, and we had a great time chatting over breakfast. It was really cold, and drizzling rain all morning, and I rode with Claire, Melissa, Sharon, and Shannon. I didn’t think I’d need to put my booties (waterproof shoe covers) on, but this turned out to be a mistake as the rain picked up a little bit, and my shoes became puddles. In Depoe Bay, we stopped at the bridge to see if we could spot any whales, as the sign welcoming us to town proclaimed that it was the whale watching capital. We ended up seeing a couple from the bridge, and then some more really close to shore a little further down the road. It was really incredible to see, and definitely a highlight of the trip so far. Rest stop one included a trip to the bakery across the street, which had incredible cinnamon buns, and by rest stop two the sun was shining in full force. I grabbed a really good breakfast sandwich at the second stop, and relaxed in the sun, wringing out my socks so that my feet would be a little drier. I rode the rest of the way to camp alone. We are staying at an RV park at the marina tonight, and Florence seems to be a really cute town. A big group of us had dinner at the Zebra Bar, which was a relatively fancy place, but most of us were wearing sweatpants. That’s about as classy as you get one a bike trip. Back at camp, Sarah and Kelly were commenting on my Roots sweatpants, which turned into a conversation about beavers being the national animal of Canada, which then turned into us watching How I Met Your Mother clips on YouTube. Big thank you to Gemini, Stef, Charlie, and Olivia Waghmare for their generous donation today! You guys are awesome :) Day 9 - Aug. 14 - Florence to Coos Bay - 47.4miToday was Alison and Ryan's last day of the trip, so a big group of us went out for breakfast together. Sarah and I split cinnamon roll pancakes which were delicious, and we all just had a great time chatting. We all left from breakfast as a group, but got split up pretty quickly, so I rode with Shannon and Sarah into rest stop one. There were a few climbs, but nothing too bad. I left rests stop one with Sarah, and we had a short climb almost right away. At a scenic lookout near the top, we met a man named Gou, who is cycling from Alaska to Panama, and is currently on day 26. We got some photos, and then enjoyed a nice descent. We rode with Michael and Shannon for a few miles after this. It was a great afternoon, mostly trending downhill, and we had a nice tailwind towards the end. In the last 10 miles or so, we were riding at about 20mph. Coming into North Bend, we had to bike over a bridge, and had two people yell at us to get off the road, and someone else honked at us. Coming into camp, there were two short but really steep hills that knocked the wind out of us. Our tents were soaked from the dew this morning, so we pulled them out as soon as we got to camp. Then we hitched a ride to the showers with an awesome lady named Janice, and her two dogs. Later that night, we took a taxi into town for dinner, which consisted of poutine at the brewery, followed by pad Thai at the Thai restaurant. After dinner, we said goodbye to Alison and Ryan, and then headed back to the church, where Sarah, Kurt, Michael, and I played hearts for a bit before going to sleep. Day 10 - Aug. 15 - Coos Bay to Humbug State Park - 64.2miThe church provided a pancake breakfast for us this morning which was so generous of them. It was cold and foggy when we first woke up, but by the time we were ready to go, it was sunny. Our first hill of the day was on Seven Devils Road - named for the seven hills along the road. Michael said he remembered them pretty easy, but the first hill was pretty steep. Sarah's chain dropped on the first bit, but we eventually got through them all. First rest stop was in a gravel parking lot near the water, where I finished my leftover pad thai. There were some incredible views right out of the rest stop, of giant rocks in the water. Rest stop two came about pretty quick, and happened to be at a market claiming they had world-famous hot dogs. Naturally we had to see if they lived up to the hype, and I have to say that it was a pretty good hot dog. Approximately 6 miles before camp, we stopped in Port Ordford to grab food at a place Michael recommended called Redfish. The view from this place was incredible. The 6 miles following the restaurant were some of the best of the trip, and we stopped to take lots of photos. Camp tonight is in Humbug State park, which is right near the water. I cooked soup for dinner, which was not as good as I hoped it would be. After eating, a bunch of us walked down to the water for the sunset, which was really beautiful. Photos don't do it justice. Overall a pretty amazing day.
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Before I get to my daily updates, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who donated to my Pacific Coast ride. Thank you so so much to my amazing family, Janice, John & Tracey, Soo Jung, Austin, the McKennas, Jane & Brian, Jay, Lauren, Paul, Steve, Allison, Shirley, Val, Alex, and Nick. Your support means the world to me, and I wouldn't be able to do this ride without you. Day 1 - Aug. 6 - Seattle to Shelton - 43.9 miSharon’s alarm was set for 7:15am, but I woke up in the Edgewater Hotel at 6:45 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I showered, packed up the room, then headed out to the trailer to put everything in my cubby. I was worried it wouldn’t fit, but thankfully it did. After I got my bike out of the room, we hung out around the trailer until 8:20, and then headed down to the water for the tire tip - the exact same beach where I ended the Northern Tier last summer. Soo Jung surprised me and showed up for the tire dip, and it was great to see her. We got some photos, and then headed out to start the Pac Coast. We rode 1.5mi down the waterfront to the ferry terminal, and waited about an hour to catch the 10am ferry to Bremerton. The ferry ride was fun, and we got some great views of Seattle from the water. After the ferry, it was an easy 15mi to the first rest stop in Belfair. After the rest stop, things got a bit hillier. The first climb we encountered was 0.5mi, and 12-15% grade - ouch. I rode with Sharon, Shannon, and Melissa for most of the day, and it was a good group. When we got to town, we stopped for food at Denny’s, and then went grocery shopping so we’d have food for dinner. I didn’t eat enough today, so I was starving by the time we finally got a meal. After that, it was a quick two miles to camp at Donna’s house. Sharon, Shannon, and I set up our tents outside, and then spent the evening chilling in the house and down by the trailer. We also got in a FaceTime with Catherine, which was awesome. Day one, done! Day 2 - Aug. 7 - Shelton to Centralia - 64.3miWoke up before my alarm again this morning, to dogs barking and other cyclists packing up. We had a goal of being in the road by 7:30, but ended up heading out early at 7:15am. It was a little chilly and quite foggy this morning, and I was slow moving, so I got dropped pretty quickly when we started climbing. At rest stop one, I grabbed breakfast at a diner in Elma with Sarah, Kurt, Eddie, and Michael. After rest stop one, it really started to heat up. We also came across a road closure, but the construction guys let us walk our bikes around the giant hole in the road. Rode alone again until rest stop two, but got some good podcast time in. I rode with Sarah for the last 10mi, and the road had a wide shoulder so we were able to chat. Camp tonight is at Immanual Lutheran Church, and they provided us with a taco bar for dinner, followed by cookies and ice cream bars for dessert. After dinner, a few of us had a yoga/stretching session led by Jen, which was really nice. Day 3 - Aug. 8 - Centralia to Castle Rock - 41.5miToday was a pretty chill day. We woke up at 6:45am, and were treated to a lovely breakfast set out by Scott and Roberta from the church. Most of the ladies hit the road together at 8am, but ended up splitting into smaller groups. I rode with Andrea, Sarah, and Amanda for most of the morning, and we had a great ride. We took it nice and easy, and got to chat along the way. Incredibly foggy again this morning. There were a couple small climbs, but the 16% grade downhill made it all worth it. It was so steep it looked like a wall from the bottom, and I hit a top speed of 42mph. Rest stop one was across from a gas station, so I got a bag of Doritos, and we hung out for a bit. Eddie and Alison joined our group after the rest stop. At one point we hit construction, and had to ride on the left side of the road, following a pilot car. In Toledo, Sarah and I got ahead of the group, and rode together for the rest of the day. Most of the second half of the day was along a nice river, and we stopped to take a few photos. We are camping tonight, at Toutle River RV Resort. The facilities here are incredible, but the one flaw is that there is an incredibly loud train that goes by at least once an hour. We spent the afternoon hanging out by the poor with some cider, and then ended up ordering pizza because there are no restaurants nearby. Tomorrow we enter Oregon, which is very exciting, and then we have a rest day the following day. Calling it a night a bit early at 9:30pm, because I don't think I am going to sleep very well with that train going by. Day 4 - Aug. 9 - Castle Rock, WA to Astoria, OR - 73.8miWoke up this morning to Sharon saying "Katie, we are literally the last ones here". Stuck my head out my tent, and sure enough only a few tents were remaining, including Sarah, Sharon, and I. Surprisingly, I slept pretty well last night, and only woke up to the train twice. As we were getting ready, I noticed that Sarah and I had different maps, with different routes for the day. We talked to the route leaders, and it turns out I had an older map for some reason. We followed Sarah's map to rest stop one, and only made one wrong turn, which Sarah caught almost immediately. In Castle Rock, there was a bike path with some cute minion road posts. Rest stop one was on the side of the road, about 20mi in to the day. We rode with Kurt and Eddie for a little while after the rest stop, but couldn't keep up once we got to the first climb. This section of the ride was beautiful, with the Colombia river to our left, and cliffs to our right. There were a few more climbs as we approach rest stop two, but nothing too horrible. The whole team was at rest stop two, because we all wanted to get on the ferry to Oregon at the same time. I got some chicken fingers and a Twix bar for a quick lunch, and then we rode as a team to the ferry. As we were waiting at the ferry, we took lots of pictures with the Washington state sign. It also started to get pretty warm, so everyone was taking off their extra layers. The ferry was a quick ride, and we crossed our first state line! After a quick pit stop at the Shell station, I rode with Andrea and Kaylyn for the next little while, which included our first significant climb - about 600ft. There was a nice overlook at the top, and we stopped to refill our water. After a nice descent, we stopped at a gas station for some more food. Here we met Lynda, a local lady who insisted showing us the songs she had recorded with her singing. She sat in her car with the stereo on full blast so we could hear it from where we were sitting on the sidewalk. After this stop, I rode mostly by myself for the last 15mi. At one point I got stuck behind a line painting truck for 10 minutes or so. The bike path coming into Astoria was a little bumpy, but had a great view and you could hear the sea lions in the water. There was a short steep climb up to the church, which ended the ride. Back at the trailer, I found out that Frank and Mike had collided while riding on the bike path, turns out Frank broke his elbow, and is going to be heading home. It really sucks to lose a teammate like this, especially so early on in the trip. Bummed that he had to leave, but I'm sure he'll be back to ride again next year. After chilling at the trailer for a bit, I made my way down to the aquatic centre for a shower, and then met up with a bunch of people for dinner at Bouy Brewhouse. It's a super cool place right on the water, with a section of glass floor so you can see the water. We had such a good time hanging out here. The bar also has a really cool "pay it forward" wall, where people leave money for other people to claim. We ended up leaving $47 to someone living with MS, who wants to eat or drink there. Really fun night, and looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. Day 8 - March 20 - Woodland Hills to Long Beach - 54.2miLiterally could not have asked for a better morning of biking. We woke up to breakfast made by Greg, and slowly got ready for the day. After saying goodbye to everyone, we headed out for what we thought was going to be a tough climb. Turns out, Topanga State Park was a slow and steady 700ft climb, followed by an incredible 1500ft descent. I kept thinking that we would have to climb up the other side of the canyon, but we just kept going downhill! After Topanga, we went right into Santa Monica. We stopped at the pier to look around, got some pictures, and then Carissa found a balance beam on Muscle Beach and did some really cool tricks. We were on the beach bike path for a while, and ended up going through a movie set. Eventually, it was time for lunch, but we had passed all of the beach restaurants in the tourist area. We kept on going, stomachs growling, and eventually came across a beach cafe that said "Food" in bright red letters on the side of the building. We stopped here, took off our cleats, and ate delicious chicken tacos with our feet in the sand. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, but was mostly city riding and riding on a bike path along the LA river, which had really bad headwinds. Towards the end we switched to google maps, which had us take an elevator to get to a pedestrian overpass, and then led us to the Hertz car rental place so that we could drive out to Joshua Tree for the night. We stopped at In-n-Out for dinner, and then Carissa and I took turns driving, and we got to the park at around 10pm. We took the bikes out of the back, set up our sleeping bags in the trunk, and admired the stars before going to sleep. Rest day tomorrow, and a chance to explore the park! Day 9 - March 21 - Joshua Tree - Rest DayWhat a cool place. We woke up in the car to scenery that had been too dark to see the night before. The trees looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. We organized the car, headed to the visitor's center to buy some stickers, and then drove from our camp site to the official park entrance. We did a few small hikes - Hidden Valley, Barker Dam, Skull Rock, and Keys View - and climbed a bunch of the rocks while we were there. It is really impossible to describe how cool this place is. It's just so different from anywhere I've ever been before. After the park, we grabbed a quick lunch at Jack in the Box, and started the 3 hour drive back to Long Beach. The last hour of the drive was pretty stressful because traffic was awful and we weren't sure if we were going to get back before Hertz closed. Thankfully we made it in time, and then headed over to the hotel to meet up with Eddie. After taking half an hour to get unpacked and ready for dinner, Eddie took us to a place called Islands. We got delicious burgers, chatted about our current trip, and reminisced about the Northern Tier. It was so great to see him and catch up! Thanks so much for everything Eddie! Day 10 - March 22 - Long Beach to Oceanside - 69miWe discovered last night that today was actually a 70mi day, when we had thought that it would be less than 60. We woke up early, and had a goal of being on the road by 8:30. We would have made it out on time, but we ended up talking to someone outside of the Long Beach Cafe for close to 30 min. We ate our food on a bus stop bench, having to improvise due to the lack of utensils, and then hit the road. Today was one of the days I was most looking forward to, as we would be biking past a lot of places that I knew. We got to go along the Huntington Beach bike path for a while, which was nice and flat with a good view. Our first stop was at Sprinkles Cupcakes in Newport, where I got my favourite chocolate marshmallow cupcake, and Carissa tried their new cookie flavoured cupcake. A few miles down the road, we stopped to pick up lunch at Javier's, which we put in our backpacks and biked with for a while before stopping to eat at the beach in Dana Point. The route today had some beautiful views, but the roads were pretty busy. We were really cruising for a while, and then Carissa got her 4th flat of the trip just outside of the nuclear plant off the highway. Shortly after that we entered Camp Pendleton, a Marine base north of Oceanside. Once we got to Oceanside, we met up with Conrad and walked around a little bit before stopping at a pizza place for a drink. My parents and Ben met up with us here, and we all got to hang out for a bit before attempting to put our bikes in the rental SUV to head up to the hotel in Newport. Turns out there was no way they were going to fit, so my dad asked the Wyndham hotel in Oceanside if then could store them overnight, and they agreed. Such a huge help! We got to the hotel in Newport, and then the five of us went out for a great dinner, complete with my favourite pretzel bread rolls. Day 11 - March 23 - Oceanside to San Diego - 38.4miLast biking day! We got up at 7, and we're out of the hotel by around 8am. My dad drove us to the hotel where we left the bikes, so we were able to set them up fairly quickly, and then head out. Less than 40mi today, so we were in no rush, and wanted to enjoy the last day. We had eaten a quick bowl of cereal at the hotel, but were still hungry so we got a second breakfast at the Buccaneer Cafe in Oceanside. Shortly after the cafe, two cyclists started riding alongside us. They were really great guys who were also into touring, and we ended up talking and riding with them for 5mi. At 11:30, Carissa and I stopped for ice cream at a place called Handel's. They had more flavours than I had ever seen in once place, and all of them were really good. I settled on a Heath Hurricane (like a DQ blizzard) and Carissa got a single scoop that turned out to be 3.5 scoops. Further down the coast we stopped for a bathroom break, only to discover a bunch of baby seals lounging on the beach. Absolutely adorable! The ride down the bike path in Pacific Beach was a bit crowded, and resulted in us going about 2mph. Shortly after that we crossed an intersection and heard someone yell "Carissa!" from one of the cars. Turns out Carissa's friend Michael was on his way home from work and saw our jerseys. What are the odds? At this point we were about 5mi from our end point of Ocean Beach - the same place the Pac Coast officially ends on the supported trip. When we got there, my family was waiting with the camera, champagne, and sprinkles cupcakes. We ditched our bikes, and ran to the ocean for a quick dip. It feels so weird to be finally done! My parents drove us to Michael's house, where we will be crashing for the next two nights. He had a bottle of champagne waiting, and a sign that said "Welcome to San Diego" - so sweet! My parents headed back for the night, and the three of us went out to a celebratory dinner at Cannonball, the restaurant where Michael works. Everyone there was super friendly, and the food was delicious. They even brought us a complimentary cheesecake for dessert! Today was an amazing day, and I am looking forward to exploring San Diego some more tomorrow. Can't believe we head back in two days. Day 12 - March 24 - San Diego - Last DayDay 4 - March 16 - Paso Robles to Arroyo Grande - 48.4miChris left early for work, so we woke up to say goodbye, and then got ready for the day. Both mornings we’ve been here Chris has left us a note and snack for the day - she is so sweet. We ate some bagels that we had picked up yesterday, packed our bags, and then biked to the Enterprise car rental place so that we could drive to Paso Robles. We managed to take apart the bikes enough that we could fit them into the back of a sedan, but it was not easy. About half way through the drive, Carissa realized that we had left our bike shorts in the dryer at Chris’s place, which was not a good realization, but there was nothing we could do at this point. After about 2 hours of driving, we got to Paso Robles, returned the car, and took over the sidewalk of the strip mall while we put our bikes back together. The first 20mi or so were fantastic - I was feeling good, the roads were good, and I was listening to some great music. We stopped for a bathroom break in Santa Margarita, and happened upon an adorable bakery called Just Baked, that had some of the best cookies I’ve ever tasted. There was a bit of a climb out of town, but is was followed by an absolutely incredible descent into San Louis Ospio. It had smooth pavement and a wide shoulder, and I could not stop smiling the entire way down. The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. We stopped in the town of Arroyo Grande to grab dinner, and then there was a bit of a climb into camp. On 4K they call it “host hill”, because there always seems to be a climb right before the end of the day. Tonight we are staying with Laura, who’s contact info we got off of the Adventure Cycling Association maps. Her and her husband Ben run an adorable AirBnb, and also let cyclists camp on their property. Because there was nowhere for us to hang our hammocks, Laura said we could use her tent, which was incredibly kind of her. What we didn’t expect, was that this tent had a queen sized bed in it! The whole property is amazing, and Laura and Ben built it all themselves. They have two bunkhouses that they rent out, two outdoor bathrooms (complete with showers), a fire pit, and a swing-set in the back with an amazing view of the sunset. They also have dogs, cats, chickens, and horses. This place is incredible. We ended up eating dinner in the backyard, then played on the swing-set, showered in the bathroom that is wallpapered with maps, and then hung out by the fire pit. There is another couple staying in one of the AirBnb houses, and they joined us by the fire pit for a while before we called it a night. My shoulder is still hurting, so I’m going to try sleeping with the Icy Hot patch on. This bed is so ridiculously comfy, I don’t know if I’ll be able to get out of it in the morning. Day 5 - March 17 - Arroyo GrandE to Goleta - 81.7miWoke up this morning after the best sleep we have had so far, and were ready to tackle our longest day of the trip. We got packed up and ready to go a bit faster than usual, and were soon biking through foggy farmland. We stopped for water at a gas station, and chatted with a few local ladies who were really friendly. The fog eventually burned off, and it got really hot. Today was the dreaded Lompoc climb day, and it was really hot by the time we got to the first climb. We had to stop halfway up to change out of our layers that we had put on in the morning. The first climb was steep, but not as long as we had thought it would be, and there was an epic windy descent into Lompoc. There weren’t many cars, so I could take the whole lane and really enjoy it. In Lompoc, we stopped at a bike shop to pump up our tires. The guys at the shop were great, and recommended a sandwich shop for lunch. We left our bikes and the shopped and walked there. It was a cute place, and Carissa and I split a delicious roast beef sandwich. After eating, we walked back to the bike shop, and headed out for the second big climb. This one was way less steep, and was a gradual 1000ft climb. Just over halfway up, I got my first flat tire. Not of the trip, my first flat tire ever. 6,000+ miles of biking experience, and I had managed to avoid getting a flat tire, but there I was on the side of the highway fixing a flat. I ended up accidentally putting the busted tube back in the tire, which made the whole thing take longer than it should have. Eventually I caught up with Carissa, and we made it to the top of the climb. I was running out of water, so I was pretty thirsty by this point, but Carissa gave me some from her extra bottle. The descent wasn't as spectacular as the first one, but still pretty great. We stopped at a rest stop at the bottom for water, and then headed out to do the last segment of the day. The fog had rolled in again, and was so bad that I didn't even notice we were riding right next to the ocean. About 5mi away from camp, Carissa and I got separated, and ended up taking different routes there. When I got to the Christ Lutheran Church, Laurel showed us around and left us to get settled in. She even bought us an amazing chicken dinner and left oatmeal for us to have in the morning! We ate dinner, got cleaned up (somewhat) and then headed down the street to check out the local brewery before heading to bed at 10pm. Long, but good day. Happy to have the longest day of the trip out of the way. Day 6 - March 18 - Goleta to Port Hueneme - 55.1mi We slept in a little bit this morning, and then puttered around for a bit before heading out. We biked through Goleta and got to check out the UCSB campus, which is beautiful. We were on bike paths for most of the morning, and stopped on the Santa Barbara pier to try and find a second breakfast. We didn't find any food that we were in the mood for, but a lovely lady at a tourist shop recommended a grocery store with pastries along our route. We got cinnamon buns, and then biked over to the beach to eat them. We switched maps at this point, and slowly made our way towards Port Hueneme, passing through lots of beautiful towns, and riding on a bike path sandwiched between the 101 and the ocean. At one point, we stopped to take a picture and met Stephen Swift, a cyclist who has been biking for cancer for 5 years and is on his way home. We started pushing our pace a little bit after this break, and were averaging 15mph along the highway. We got to Ventura, and got hot dogs from a cart on the beach as a late lunch. We also met some people from the Toronto area - small world! After the hot dogs we had 13mi left to camp, and stopped for the first DQ of the trip with about 2 miles to go. Camp tonight is Living Hope Church in Port Hueneme. We ordered pizza, and played card games until bed time at 9:30. Day 7 - March 19 - Port Hueneme to Woodland Hills - 49.1miNeither of us wanted to wake up this morning, which resulted in hitting snooze on the alarm several times. When we did get up, we finished eating the pizza, packed up, and headed out. We stopped at a little cafe a couple miles in to fill up our water bottles, and then we were off for the day. We were along the coast for the first half of the day, and it was absolutely beautiful. We saw dolphins swimming in the ocean, and the terrain was mostly rolling hills. We got to Malibu in time for lunch, and ended up getting fried chicken from a grocery store and sitting outside. We were anxious for the second part of the day, which would take us over the Santa Monica mountains. Carissa talked to a local gentleman about routes over the mountains, and he suggested that we take the road from Pepperdine University rather than going through Topanga, because it was much less hilly. Shortly after heading out and starting the climb, the same gentleman passed us in his car, rolled down the window, and shouted out "I told you this was the better route!". The climb was difficult, but the view was so rewarding. Shortly after going through a tunnel, Carissa got her 3rd flat of the trip, so we had to stop and fix it. By 3pm we were at Carissa's cousin's house. Greg and Marie were absolutely fantastic, and so great to hang out with. We threw all our stuff in the laundry, and then spent most of the afternoon chatting, playing with their dogs Reilly and Rosco, and their 7 month old daughter, Larson, who is the sweetest baby. They invited the neighbours over for a BBQ dinner, and we had an awesome time hanging out with everyone in the backyard. We ended the night with a dip in the hot tub, and then headed to bed close to midnight. Sorry for the delay! I was so exhausted after riding on the trip that I only managed to get out bullet points in the evening. The first week back to school has been so crazy that I'm only now getting the time to go back and turn the bullet points into blog posts. Hope you enjoy! Day 0 - March 12 - Boston to San FranciscoToday’s the day! I was so nervous about oversleeping because of daylight savings that I set three different alarms. I got up at 5am (which felt like 4am), got ready quickly, and then walked over to Carissa’s to pack up the car and drive to her parent’s house in Framingham. Her mom then drove us to the Logan Express shuttle, and even gave us some chocolate for the flight! When we got there, we discovered that because it is Sunday, the shuttle leaves every hour, not every half hour, so we had to wait until 7am. This ended up being ok, because our flight was delayed 2 hours. Once we got through the super long security line at Logan, we sat down at the gate and met Kathleen, who was also traveling to SF. We got to chatting, and it turns out she works for Google in Cambridge, and we knew some people in common. She was the absolute sweetest lady ever, and offered to drive us to the bike shop in her rental car so that we wouldn’t have to take the subway. After a pretty turbulent flight, we met Kathleen at the gate on the other end, changed out of our sweatpants and into shorts, and headed out to Avenue Cyclery, the shop that our bikes were shipped to. We met Carissa’s friend Anthony (fellow 4K alum and our host for the night) at the shop, as well as her friend Kelsey who happened to be in town as well, and walked our bikes across the street to Golden Gate Park to assemble them. Carissa was a bit nervous about her wheels, so after we got the bikes all built up, we went back to the shop and got them checked out. The guy there said there was no way they would last all the way to San Diego, so Carissa had to buy a new set. After getting the new wheels, we made the short ride to Anthony’s house, and then the three of us headed out to Southern Pacific Brewing for a small send off party. I got to see Soo Jung and Phil, and Carissa got to see her friend Paul. Overall a great night hanging out with everyone, and can’t wait to get started tomorrow! Day 1 - March 13 - San Francisco to Ano Nuevo - 64.6miToday was crazy tough. Definitely high up on my list on hardest days of biking, probably second to the day we got to Montana last summer. There were so many moments today where I was thinking things like “what the hell have I signed myself up for?” and “why do I think this is fun?”. I didn’t get a great sleep last night - probably a mix of jet lag and nerves. We got up at 6am, packed up, got bikes ready, and then rode with Anthony to Crissy Field in the Presidio, which is our official starting point for the trip. It has a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge, and is also the spot where Carissa finished her 4K cross-country trip. After lots of photos and collecting a bag of sand, Anthony took us on a beautiful ride around the Presidio, and then back to our official route. We parted ways in Golden Gate Park, and were on our own for the rest of the day. About an hour or so after leaving the city, we got a call from the KOA that we are staying at tonight, and they informed us that the trees at the park are protected, and that we can’t hammock. This came as a complete surprise, as I had called a month ago, before we made the reservation, to make sure that ham mocking would be ok. This stressed us out, but there was nothing we could really do until we got there. Shortly after the phone call we came upon the toughest climb of the day. There was no shoulder to speak of, and the hill was steep and twisty - not a good combination. We caught our breath at the top, and decided that going through the tunnel was not a safe idea, so we took the Devil’s Slide detour. This turned out to be a good call, and we chatted with some people who have ridden in the area before. The hills didn’t let up, and by the time we got to Half Moon Bay we were starving. This is normally where the supported BTUSFMS trip stops on the night out of SF, but we wanted to make it to Monterey in 2 days instead of 3, so this would only be a lunch stop for us. We stopped at a Subway, but mine came out super spicy, so I ended up running across the parking lot for an egg mcmuffin. While I was gone, Carissa started talking to the family that was also sitting outside the Subway. They were super nice, and were also into cycling. One of the things I love most about bike trips is the number of cool people you meet, and this trip has already lead us to meet some pretty awesome people. There were some more steep climbs after lunch, but the last 10mi were pretty nice. When we got to the KOA, the camp office was closed, so we went to the hotel on the property and talked to the guy at the front desk there about our predicament. He was super understanding and helpful, and gave us a free bag of cookies while he called someone from the camp office to come over and talk to us. They ended up loaning us a tent for the night, which was fantastic. They even threw in access to the hot tub, which is usually only for hotel guests. After we set up the tent and got settled in, we walked over to the restaurant for dinner, and were treated to an absolutely beautiful sunset. After burgers, we wandered over to the hot tub and relaxed for a bit before deciding to call it a night. Day 2 - March 14 - Ano Nuevo to Seaside - 68.8miUp at 6:45am this morning. A bit slow packing up, but we eventually made it out of camp. The first half of the day was beautiful, and we got to ride down a gorgeous descent with cliffs on either side of us. We got to Santa Cruz about 20mi in, which is an adorable city. We stopped at a gas station just past Santa Cruz for Powerade and water, and to apply sunscreen, and then stopped again to grab lunch in Aptos at the Aptos Street BBQ. We weren’t hungry yet because we had snacked when we stopped, but we were worried we wouldn’t be able to find a good lunch place in the next 20mi, so we got the food to go and decided to ride another 10-15mi before eating. Just as we were pulling out of the restaurant, Carissa got the first flat of the trip, which we had to stop and fix. The terrain got hilly leaving Aptos, which was draining. Just before we stopped for lunch, the straps holding the stuff on my front rack came loose, so I had to stop to fix that. By the time I caught up to Carissa, she had found the perfect spot for us to stop for lunch. We sat on a fence to eat, and had a great view of the ocean in the distance. I got the pulled pork with garlic bread, and it was absolutely incredible. After we ate, we started biking through farmland that reminded Carissa of Kansas and me of Indiana. It also got really foggy. We eventually got on a bike path, but the last couple miles were pretty draining - we really just wanted to get to camp. We eventually got to Seaside, which is our stop for the night. We are Couchsurfing tonight, with a lady named Chris. She wasn’t home when we got there, so we let ourselves in, showered, and then walked to Taqueria Zarape for dinner. The food was really good, but mine had a couple spicy peppers hidden in it that got me. We got a frosty on the walk back, and Chris was home when we arrived. She is absolutely lovely, and we told her all about our trip. After she called it a night, Carissa and I played cards for a bit, and then were in bed by 9:30. Rest day tomorrow! Day 3 - March 15 - Monterey - Rest DaySince our rough go on day one, we’ve been worried about how we are going to handle the century on day seven. This morning, we decided to rearrange schedule so that we miss century day, and called around to make changes. We figured that if we skipped the day we had planned to bike down to the Big Sur closure and then back to Monterey, we could split the century day in half. After making the calls, we took an uber into Monterey and got breakfast at Fresh Awakenings. Hands down the best breakfast so far. After this, it was a short walk to the aquarium - the part Carissa was most looking forward too. Chris let us borrow her guest passes, so we were able to get in for free! The aquarium was absolutely amazing, and we got to see all kinds of fish, birds, jellyfish, penguins, otters, and even checked out the touch tank. We spent a few hours there, and then spent some time wandering around town. A guy we met at the aquarium told us that there were some mom and baby otters near the coast guard station, so we stopped by. Sure enough, there were two babies and two moms swimming in the water! Well the mom was swimming at least, the baby appeared to be asleep and was just kind of floating there. Whenever the baby drifted to far away, the mom would swim over, pick it up, and swim it back to where she was searching for food. We grabbed lunch at the fisherman’s warf - the food was meh, but we were right on the water so the view was amazing. We stopped by an ice cream shop that a friend of Carissa’s recommended, and then headed to a Walgreens to pick up some icy hot for my shoulder, and a brace for Carissa’s knee. In the evening, Chris cooked us a delicious chicken curry dinner, and we chatted over some wine. The rest of the night was pretty low key, and we did laundry, played cards, and then headed to bed around 10:30. As of January 23, we are fully funded! Thanks so much to Joe, Joan, Matt, Monica, Craig, Quillan, Linshu, Morgan, and our anonymous donor for your recent contributions, and thanks again to everyone else who donated! We got the maps from Cassie a little while ago, so planning for the trip is well underway. We have figured out what towns we are going to stop in each night, and are now in the midst of finding places to sleep in each of those towns. The planning has been slightly complicated by a mudslide that has closed Route 1 between Big Sur and Ragged Point. At this point it is unclear whether the road will be open again before March, so we are keeping or fingers crossed! Training has also started to pick up. I bought my first bike trainer and signed up for Zwift, a virtual reality game that connects to the trainer and lets you bike through the online world. It's a really fun way to get the miles in, especially when the weather is not conducive to biking outside. Less than 40 days until we get to San Francisco! I am a little bit late in writing this blog post, but I am super excited to announce that this past October I was accepted to be part of the 2017 Bike the US for MS Self-Contained team!
Since September, my friend Carissa (4K for Cancer alum) and I had been talking about doing a self-contained trip over spring break. We looked into a couple of different locations, but eventually settled on the California coast. This coming March, we will be biking from San Francisco to San Diego over the course of 12 days. Doing a ride self-contained means no support van, no organized rest stops, and no route leaders (aka the incredible people who make everything go smoothly on a supported trip). Carissa and I will be doing all of the planning ourselves, and carrying all of our camping gear on our bikes. Though this makes the trip slightly more challenging for us, it means that even more of the money we raise can go directly to ending MS. Thanks so much to everyone who has already donated! As of this morning, we are 47% funded. Shout out to Nada, Joe, Steven, Grammie Mary, Austin, and Emma for their contributions! If you would like to donate, you can do so at this link: biketheusforms.org/cyclists/detail.asp?cid=1072. |
katie macdonald
Summer 2016, I biked 4,295 miles, coast to coast across the USA to raise money and awareness for MS. March 2017, I biked self-contained from San Francisco to San Diego with my friend Carissa. August 2017 I connected the dots and biked from Seattle to San Francisco. Summer 2018 I am heading to the UK! Follow my journey here! Miles biked for MS:
6,800.13
Updated August 27, 2018 Archives
January 2019
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