Tour De La Dead V2

60 Miles

I woke up around 7:30 and began packing my things. The other bike tourists were also getting ready to depart. I had planned to have breakfast with Francois, but unfortunately, some critter—likely a squirrel or raccoon—had raided my food bag overnight. Lesson learned: I won’t be leaving it outside again. After saying goodbye to the other bikers, I set off alone.

Throughout the journey, I’ve been dealing with issues with my front rack—it’s been loose, causing the front panniers to rub against my spokes and make an annoying noise, especially when I turn my handlebars too quickly. Today, the left pannier was rubbing again. Luckily, one of the Canadian riders caught up to me and tried to help fix the issue. We attempted to secure the front rack with zip ties to prevent it from tilting, but unfortunately, it didn’t solve the problem completely.

Despite these challenges, there were some rewarding downhills to balance out the major hills I climbed. Eventually, I reached Reedsport, where I opted for McDonald's for lunch. As a former runner, I never thought I'd eat at McDonald's, but burning 4000-5000 calories a day requires serious fuel.

Continuing along Highway 101, I soon caught sight of the bridge leading into North Bend/Coos Bay. It was a long and somewhat nerve-wracking ride across, but it brought me directly into North Bend. I decided to stay at SunBay State Park, about 8 miles from where I was.

On the way to the park, I met Stuart, who’s biking from Seattle to San Diego, covering an impressive 70-80 miles a day. Despite another mishap with my front rack falling off, I managed to fix it and reach camp, where I met up with my new Canadian friends. After catching up with some folks back home, I finally went to bed.