Day 7, Finished!: Vernonia → Astoria

The final day of the ride began with mist so thick I couldn’t wear my glasses. I generally try to wear my sunglasses all the time to protect my precious eyeballs from, not only the sun but wind, bugs, dust, flying bits of gravel and other such dangers. However, it was decidedly much safer to go san-glasses as when I had them on it they would get so steamy and streaky from my body heat and the mist, respectively, that everything would be dark and mottled. After lunch, in the small town appropriately named Mist, things cleared up and we had a lovely ride along the Nehalem (sp?) River to the mouth of the Columbia in Astoria. The transition from woodsy timber beachy coastal was quite lovely and there were oodles of lovely vistas along the way.

I have to admit, however petty this may be, that one of the highlights for me had to be the brief subjugation of male macho-ness I was able to affect. Remember how I’ve been riding in the Sierras all summer? Well, that makes me exceptionally strong on the uphill when compared to my ability on the flats. As a result, quite often people will pass me on the flats or the very base of a hill only to have me cruise right by them on the uphill (I mentioned this before but it is critical information for this little vignette.)

So, there we were just approaching a hill when this guy passes me. He kept looking back and I realized he was with a group of 4 or 5 and in taking the lead of the pace line he’d rather dropped everyone so there was me sort of caught up in the middle of this group. Just as the hill starts to get serious (the point where I start passing people) another guy in his group rides up to me and says something along the lines of, “Hey, let’s go real fast and pass this guy up here, okay?” The point being that I was a “girl”, complete with streamers on my bike, and that would “embarrass” his macho friend. As I was already about to do what he suggested I went ahead and did it, but I was a trifle bit irked at being a pawn in their rather sexist-macho display. On the flat the same guy who’d spoken to me said something along the lines of, “Hey thanks, that was great,” and then the pace line proceeded to move along.

After a minute or so I realized that though they’d pulled ahead of me, we were really going at the same pace and since there was a pretty stiff head wind I crept up and tacked on to the back of their line without them really realizing it (I know, not great etiquette, forgive me.) After a mile or two there was another hill and just after hitting it their line fell apart and they all started to slow down. It was with immense satisfaction that I very forcefully passed them all amid many comments of surprise from the macho-boys. I continued with a faster pace all the way up (even though it rather winded me!) and they weren’t even anywhere close when I reached the top. The downside is that they then had to then assert their macho-ness and so picked the pace up on the flats. Where I’d snuck on before, there really wasn’t a chance of it now and I was left to battle the wind without the benefit of a pace line. It was most definitely worth it though!.

Another highlight that must be mentioned was the final final climb of the ride. After 420 or so miles of riding we ended with a 1.6 mile, 700 foot climb to the base of the Astoria Column – an old lighthouse that looks out over the surrounding ocean, river and gorgeousness. It is quite the breathtaking culmination of a kick-ass journey across the state. Breathtaking for the view and breathtaking because the grade of the climb is a killer! From there is was a mere mile or two downhill to the finish line (and VICTORY!) at the waterfront.