FDOC-Day 7-No Rain, No Flats, Three Big Climbs

Ah, it was so nice being in the yurt last night as the rain pitter-pattered on the roof. The rain had quit by morning, and we were up and at ‘em for another day, continuing south on the Oregon Coast. Sue and I rolled out about 8:30, and Matt was just 15 minutes behind. Right out of the gate we had a 2 1/2 mile climb up to Cape Lookout. 

Go Sue Go!

It’s not an easy climb, and even though it was shorter than our last climb of the day, it had some 10-11% grades. It being first thing in the morning doesn’t help. 

A nice view at Anderson’s Viewpoint on the way up gave a bit of a break. 

It took me exactly one hour from when I started my Garmin at the yurt, to get to the top of the climb. Just as I pulled off at the turn up to the trailhead parking, Matt was nearly at the top. 

While my average was 3.6mph, Matt’s was 6…nearly double mine. 

Sue was not that far behind, even though she had to walk the steeper bits. 

Here comes Sue!

I walked down to meet Sue, and take her bike for her. She said she wanted to ride, but was in too hard of a gear. I told her to get on, and I would give her a power boost (push from behind) so she could shift into an easier gear. 

Sue making it to the top. 

Of course, the descent was a blast. Matt andAue caught up to me on Sand Lake Rd as I was taking off my rain jacket (it wasn’t raining, I had just had it on for a bit more warmth under my hi-vis jacket. 

We continued on to Cape Kiwanda. Matt arrived first. Just as I arrived, a young woman came over asking the usual questions. Her name was Anna, and she lives in Vancouver (my home town). She is getting into cycling, and was very interested in touring. 

After a bit, we went over to Stimulus Coffee and Bakery. We had some treats, then headed back out on the road. Before we left, I went down to the beach to take a photo (even though I have many from here). 

A paño of the beach. 

There were a ton of surfers out. I’ve never seen so many at one time here. 

Climb number two was not too difficult. At the view point at the top, we met Mary and John from Georgia (originally Ohio…Mary anyway. John was definitely from Georgia). They, too, were quite curious about the whole touring thing. They were driving down the Coast. 

Our new friends, Mary and John. Nice couple. 

Another descent brought us to Neskowin. We stopped to use the public restrooms, then headed toward Slab Creek Rd for our last major climb of the day, up and over Cascade Head. It’s a long one, but only occasionally steeper. Sue did an amazing job! I couldn’t even catch her, until almost the top where she took a break. 

I thoroughly enjoyed that descent too. When we got to Otis, I plugged Devil’s Lake State Park into my Garmin. It actually routed us a different way than I’ve gone before into Lincoln City. We had to backtrack .6 of a mile to Three Rocks Rd. That took us to 101 on a nice quiet backroad. We skipped Hwy 118 altogether, which was awesome, because that is a sketchy section. There were still a couple of short hairy parts in Lincoln City, but skipping that other part made it not so bad. 

We stopped at Safeway for some resupply. Matt is doing the same thing I used to do…buying too much food, then having to figure out where to put it. 

Another 1.7 miles on 101, and we turned off to the Park. They have made some improvements to the H/B site since I was last here. They fenced off the site from the road (to keep transients from hanging out without paying), and they made a path up from the registration booth. There is also a code for the showers. 

There are two young women here, Anna and Fiona. Fiona is from Michigan, and Anna is from Utah. They started in Bellingham on the 16th, with plans to do the Coast to California. However, they have been less enamored with the traffic, so tomorrow they are taking a bus to Bend, to then pick up the Sierra Cascades Route, going south. I’m afraid they will find that there is traffic everywhere, but maybe not as much as the Coast. The Sierra Cascades Route in Oregon is pretty good. They will find, though, depending how far south into California, that they have to go on I-5 for about 8 miles (there’s no other road). 

Tomorrow is a relatively short day at 30 miles to South Beach. It’s time to do full-scale laundry, so we’ll stop in Newport for that. There’s only one major climb, so the day shouldn’t be too difficult. 

FDOC Day 6-Thwarted Getting to Cape Meares

Believe it or not, it wasn’t raining again this morning!!! Sue was not feeling it this morning (probably dehydration on top of fatigue). I suggested she take the bus to Tillamook, and meet us at the Cheese Factory. That turned out to be a perfect plan. Matt wasn’t quite ready at the stated departure time of 8:00. I rolled out at 8:15. He said he had another 7 minutes. I think he left a wee bit later than that because it took him just under an hour to catch me (just as I was coming I to Rockaway). My average was 9.1 coming into Rickaway. Matt flew by me, so had to have been going much faster. 

Crossing the Nehalem River near Wheeler. 

I stopped in Rockaway at the restroom, then continued on. 

Getting closer toTillamook. 

I rolled into Tillamook about 11:30. Both Matt and Sue were waiting. We went in and had some lunch, then did the tour, then had some ice cream before heading back out on the road. 

Making cheese!

Moo…

Next up was Cape Meares. For years, the road has been closed due to a mud slide, but bikes could easily get through. I’ve personally ridden it twice, the most recent being last summer on the Trans Am. 

There was a road closed sign at the turn onto Bayocean Rd, but there’s always been a road closed sign. We worked our way around the Point to where the road turns to go up to Cape Meares. Uh oh…construction trucks. I said to Matt, “That doesn’t look promising.” Indeed, it was not. Turns out, after all these years (I think sometime around 2011), they are finally fixing the road. Apparently, it’s due to open on Sunday. 

So, we had to ride the 6.2 miles back to 131 (aka the Netarts Hwy). Then, Matt got a flat just before we got back to 131. It was about 3:30. We had 8.2 miles to go to Cape Lookout which included one good size climb. After some time thinking, we decided Sue and I would go, as we would be slower. 

We arrived at Cape Lookout at 5:00. We asked if there were any yurts available. There were! We got one! Good thing too, because it’s been raining a bit (of course it has).

Ah…warm and dry!

Tomorrow we head to Devil’s Lake in Lincoln City. It’ll be 43 miles. With a few good climbs. We will finish the 3 Capes Scenic Loop having made it to two out of three. 

FDOC-Day 5-Sunshine While I’m Riding Makes Me Happy!

YES YES YES!!! The sun finally came out! Last night it stormed the whole night. The wind was howling, and it rained torrentially. But, by 6:30, when I woke up, the rain was gone, and so was the wind. Of course, we still put our rain gear on because it couldn’t possibly not rain!

From the top of the berm looking down into the H/B camp. See the sunshine?

Matt spent a fair amount of time reorganizing. He had sent a few things home with Darlynn. We didn’t roll out until 9:45. We need to work on getting an earlier start. 

When we got back out to 101, I made the brave move of removing all my rain gear! I know, you are thinking it must have then immediately started raining. But, it didn’t! In fact, it was really nice!

Even the elk were enjoying the sun!

The wind was not the best, but I really didn’t care because it was SUNNY! We made our way to Seaside. I really needed to pee, so I continued on, while Matt waited for Sue in Gearhart. 

I got to the public restrooms in Seaside, did my business, then waited for Matt and Sue. And waited…and waited. Finally it realized I should check to see if there was a text. There was. They were well into Seaside, actually at the other end of the Prom. I texted I would ride toward them. Fortunately, as I was going along Holladay St., I saw Matt cross the road ahead. When I turned onto the road he was on, I saw Sue too. I rolled up behind them as they got to the statue at the Prom. A woman took our photos. 

The statue. 

The ocean. 

We went back a bit to go to the Ocean Bakery and Café for some lunch. Turns out it was in the Best Western. Nice place for grub. We all had clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. 

While we were eating, Sue was looking at the bus schedule, seeing it she could take a bus to Manzanita. Well, she couldn’t take one from Seaside, but she could take one from Cannon Beach. That was about 7 miles from Seaside…with a good climb in between. But, she had plenty of time before the bus got to CB. 

I rolled into CB after Matt, but before Sue. By the way, I even stopped to take my leg warmers off, and the sleeves of my jacket! It was like it was summer!!! Anyway, I stopped at the bakery in CBthi King Matt would be there. Nope. This time I checked my phone right away. He said he was near the Visitor Center, Public restrooms, and the Market. I looked up where that was, and rode on over. No Matt. Sue rolled up shortly after I got there. I had texted Matt again telling him I was there and where was he? He was at the Mariner Market and the Post Office. Sue and I rode over there, and finally found him. He gave each of us a caramel as a peace offering. It was delicious, and all was forgiven. Sue went back over to the Visitor Center (which was also the bus stop) to inquire about the us to Manzanita. It came shortly after 4:00. It was about 3:15. Matt and I headed out while Sue waited for the bus. For the first time since I’ve been riding down theOregon Coast, I didn’t stop at Julie’s quilt shop to say hi. If you are reading this, Julie, sorry about that. We were just running short on time, and still had many hills to climb. 

I had to stop to take this crappy photo of Haystack Rock…just because. 

I caught up to Matt at Tolavana, then he got ahead again, and waited at the Arch Cape tunnel. 

Matt heading into the tunnel. This is not a fun tunnel because it is uphill. Still, Matt pushed thebutton to activate the lights that let motorists know a cyclist (or 2) is in the tunnel. They are then supposed to only go 30mph. Actually, it wasn’t too bad. There were only a few cars that came up behind us. 

We did the climb up Cape Falcon, then down to Oswald West State Park. Matt waited at the top. I told him, unfortunately, we now had to lose all the elevation we had just gained, only to have to regain it. It old him the viewpoint near the top was worth it. 

I got to the viewpoint. No Matt. Then I saw him a couple of pull outs further. 

See the speck of yellow?

I still took this photo of Tilmann. 

Afterall, it’s my favorite viewpoint. 

When we finished the climb, we just had the ice long downhill to Manzanita. This time, I stead of going the highway to Nehalem, then somewhat backtracking to Nehalem Bay State Park, I had Google route us through Manzanita. It was a much better way to go, with less hills. 

We arrived at the park at 5:30 on the nose. The Ranger said, “You must be Sue’s friends.” Yay, Sue made it. Sure enough, she was getting her tent set up in the H/B camp. 

Igor my tent up, and just así was heading to the showers, a squall came through…sigh…more rain… At least it didn’t last too long. Dinner was cooked, and now I’m in my tent. 

Tomorrow we are heading out at 8:00. We have more miles to do than today, and we want to have time to stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory and at Cape Meares. We’ll see how it goes…

Fall Down the Oregon Coast-Day 4- We Finally Make it to Oregon

We thoroughly enjoyed our night at the Best Western! We had gone to dinner at what seemed like the only open place in Long Beach, The Castaway and had delicious fish and chips. Back at the hotel, Sue and Matt had pulled out their tents to dry. Sue put hers in the shower, and Matt draped his over his bike in the boiler room where we parked the bikes. Both tents were dry by morning (Sue’s tent left about a million fir needles in the tub). In fact, pretty much everything was dry. 

Once again, we wanted to get an early start. We had about 57 miles to go to Nehalem Bay, and we wanted get over the Astoria-Megler bridge as early as possible. Sue and Iwere ready to roll, and since Matt is quite speedy, we rolled out a bit ahead of him. I told him we would not cross the bridge without him (somewhat jokingly because we had about 12 or 13 miles to get to the bridge. He would catch us for sure. 

Mouth of the Chinook River as it empties into the Columbia.

It was shortest for us to go back to the cut-off road at the place we had stopped yesterday for coffee (me, hot chocolate), then over to 101. Sue and I rolled through Chinook, and no Matt yet. We continued on toFort Columbia State Park. Oh, did I mention the wind and, of course, the rain? Yeah, same ol’ same ol’, except the wind was quite fierce, and it was a head wind. Because there was more shelter from the wind and rain at Fort Columbia, we decided to wait for Matt there. For a brief moment, the sun came out!

Happy Sun dance!

Bikes were slightly protected under the trees. 

As we were waiting for Matt, we got a text from him, saying he had a flat on the front, and he was at the Chinook County Park fixing it. That wasn’t too far away, so we figured we would see him soon. Time went by, the rain came back, and we were getting cold. I texted Matt to let him know we were going to slow roll toward the bridge. Shortly after we started, he texted he was testing it, and would be on his way soon. It wasn’t too much further to the bridge. The sun managed to make another appearance. 

The bridge in the distance. 

Just as I was about to text Matt that we were going to start across the bridge, I saw him coming. When he caught up, I said, “We’ll talk later, let’s get over the bridge while the sun is shining, and it’s not raining.”

Not too long after we got onto the bridge, it started raining again, and the wind was a ferocious headwind. It was blowing water up through the drain holes on the side of the bridge deck, and making a whistling sound. As I’ve encountered before when crossing this bridge, the traffic came in spurts. Some of the time I could ride in the lane when there were no cars coming from behind, or there were no cars coming from ahead, and the cars behind could go around me. Only got honked at by one asshole. 

Partway up the climb at the other end of the bridge, I passed Sue. She was walking up the steep climb. It’s a long steep climb, and with the added wind and rain (and traffic), it’s a wonder any of us could ride. They are still doing work on the bridge (they were working on it last summer when Doug and I rode over for the Trans Am). When I got to the flagger, he had me wait, and go at the end so I wouldn’t have any cars behind me. He said, “Your buddy is waiting down in the parking lot.” I could see Matt down below. 

Sue showed up not too long after. 

Sue having survived the treacherous bridge crossing!

While Matt and I were waiting for Sue, we talked about what we should do. Matt really needed new tires, well…better tires for the job at hand. He called the bike shop in Astoria. They were moving…today. They thought the shop in Seaside would possibly have them, but we couldn’t call to find out because they are closed Monday and Tuesday. With the delay from Matt’s flat, and the lengthy distance left to go, we decided it would be best to just go to Fort Stevens. In addition to the tire situation, Sue needed to get a sleeping pad because she inadvertently left her’s at home. Yes, the two nights we have camped in our tents, she has slept on the cold hard ground (she’s a tough cookie for sure)! And, we needed to resupply some food. We told all this to Sue when she arrived, and she agreed it was a good idea. 

We rolled on to the official start of the Oregon Coast Bike Route. 

The sign says welcome to the Oregon Coast Bike Route

Heading off to the Young’s Bay bridge to Warrenton, and Fred Meyer. 

At Fred Meyer, Matt called Darlynn to ask if she would consider bringing him the brand new set of Schwalbe Marathon tires he had at home, along with a couple of new tubes. She was happy to do that. It was a better plan than hoping the bike shop in Seaside would have the tires. 

We got our resupply at Fred Meyer, then went over to Big 5 Sporting Goods to see if they had a sleeping pad. They had a reasonably sized closed cell foam pad that was far better than nothing. 

Matt is an official bike tourer now, complete with bag of chips riding on the top of the rear rack!

Shopping chores finished, we headed on to Fort Stevens. At the turn in Hammond, I saw Matt waiting. When I pulled up to him, he pointed out the elk.

See the big guy back there?

First I thought it was a statue. It was not. A woman warned us to stay away from him as he has been charging people. She even offered to keep her car between us and the bull. We told her it was okay, we were going the other way. 

The girls and kids munching on the bushes. 

We ended up seeing two more cows at the entrance to the State Park. In all the times I’ve been here (even camping here when the boys were young), I’ve never seen the elk! 

At Fort Stevens, we inquired about the possibility of a yurt. Alas, there were no yurts available. We called over to the KOA across the street to ask about a cabin. They were ridiculously expensive, and, at the moment, the weather was actually nice! We opted for the Hiker Biker site at $8 per person. 

We got our tents up, and I even managed a shower! When I got back, Darlynn was here with Matt’s new tires. We also realized we could send anything we didn’t want to carry, home with her. I was going to send both my extra shoes and my chair, but in the end, I couldn’t part with my chair. It’s a good thing I didn’t, because, of course it started raining again, so I cooked my dinner in the bathroom, and sat in my chair!

Matt got the tires on, and all should be good now. Even though we are now a day behind, it’s okay, and everything will work out. Now that the dreadful bridge is behind us, and we’ve seen there is still a sun in the sky, we can enjoy a bit more leisurely riding day tomorrow. Oh, I’m sure it will be raining, but we are getting pretty used to it. It would be nice to get a bit more sun (or even just no rain) because then I would be inclined to take more photos. 

Fall Down the OR Coast-Day 2-A Long Day

As I expected, it took more time to pack up and get going. We were rolling at 9:45. I knew it would be a long day because of the unimproved section of the Willapa Hills Trail. However, it seems to be better than it has been. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a fair amount of soul-sucking chunder. 

Once we hit Pluvius Summit, we picked up the pace considerably (slight downhill). We came to my favorite photo spot. 

Only two buffalo at the farm. 

My favorite photo spot!

Sue riding through. 

We made it to the two new trestles. 

Most awesome!


We stopped for a snack, then pushed on. Eventually, we opted to go on the highway to Menlo. It was much faster. 

We took a good break at the Menlo Store, ate some food, and filled up on water. We decided to stay on the highway…until we saw a big hill. We went back to the trail. It was much better by then. 

Soon, we came to the paved part of the trail into Raymond. Then, we headed through South Bend, and in to Bruceport Co Park. I predicted we would arrive at 6:00pm. It was 5:58. 

The rain has continued, not as bad as we thought it would be, but still all day in the rain gear. Here at Bruceport, we are staying in the group camp shelter. And…it’s pouring. Tomorrow is not going to be much better…we’ve heard. 

This is Now “Rain Fall Down the WA Coast”-Day 3

We haven’t even made it to Oregon yet! Today was yet another full day of riding in the rain. I have set a new personal record of wearing my rain gear the most days in a row (yes, I have ridden in rain more than three days in a row, but not all rain all day). I’m becoming quite used to wearing full rain gear. Am I staying dry? Well, not fully, but as well as can be expected. 

In truth, it wasn’t raining this morning when we got up. 

This is one of a total of three photos I took today. This was the view of the Willapa Bay from the campground. 

Due to setting my tent up in the shelter, it was about 98% dry this morning. Speaking of my tent, I can’t remember if I mentioned that I am testing the 1 person version of the Big Agnes Bikepacking tent. So far, it’s a doable option. It would be nice if it wasn’t raining ALL THE TIME, as the 1-person means I only have one vestibule to pile wet stuff under. I find it has a reasonable amount of space inside. The gear loft and pockets really increase the space. All my clothes that I wear to ride fit in the loft pocket. Glasses, headlamp, Garmin, etc, fit in the overhead pockets. And other bits fit in the side pocket. I still have room beside my sleeping pad to put other stuff. It’s not at all coffin-like, as a previous 1-person tent I had. So, even in the rain, it’s pretty good. 

Right there in the middle of the shelter was where my tent was. 

Our plan for today was to get going as early as possible. I really wanted to get to the Astoria-Megler Bridge before noon. The forecast was not the best. Gale force winds, rain, and the potential for thunderstorms. I suggested an 8:00am start. We almost made it…8:20. There was one little problem…there was a detour. I thought we could still make it. What I forgot, was the number of hills, and, okay, the distance was a bit ambitious. The detour was because there is a mud slide on 401. We were going to go that way. Instead, we would have to go toward Ilwaco. We wouldn’t have to go all the way to Ilwaco, just to the cut-off. I was hopeful we could still make it. 

Matt is much faster (I knew this would be the case). Sue and I came upon him. He was pumping up his rear tire. He wasn’t sure if there was a puncture, or if the tire was just low (he’s running Rene Herse Snoqualmie Pass, which is the same tire as the Naches Pass…and, we know how well that worked out on the Trans Am). Anyway, he pumped up the tire, and we started out again, except we didn’t get anywhere because the tire was definitely not holding air. Time to change the tube. At least, it wasn’t raining hard at the time. 

Repair in process. 

We got it changed and everything loaded back on the bike. Sue had taken off. I waited to make sure Matt’s tire was good. A short distance later, it seemed to be squishy, but it just needed more air. 

At this point, there was no way we would make it to the bridge before noon (probably wouldn’t have made it anyway…no…definitely wouldn’t have made it). So, time for a change of plans. We would go to Cape Disappointment. 

We continued slogging our way through the wind and rain. A mile before the cut off, there was a sign saying “Coffee 1 mile”. I was sure Matt would be there, and I knew Sue would want to get coffee too. Sure enough, when I got there, Matt was waiting as expected. I got some hot chocolate and a hot caprese sandwich. It was delicious! Sue joined us and did get coffee. 

Once we were fed, we continued on toward Ilwaco. At the intersection to go left to Ilwaco or right to Long Beach, there was a sign saying there was a Best Western 1 mile right. We decided to go there. We really needed to dry stuff out, and I don’t really like the raccoons at Cape Disappointment (one put holes in my tent last year). 

So, we aré comfortably settled at the Best Western. Laundry has been done, wet stuff has been dried (or in the process). Tomorrow we will aim to get to the bridge before noon. Oh, and the forecast? Rain, of course!

Fall Down the Oregon Coast Day 1-Rain

We have completed Day 1 of our Fall Down the Oregon Coast bike tour (hopefully there will be no falling down). Sue and I met up with Matt at Pioneer Park just after 8:30. His wife was there, which was helpful as she could take photos. 

Ready to roll!

It started sprinkling before we even left the parking lot, but then it quit long enough for us to make it to 88th as it turns into Tilley. Yeah, not very far. We donned our rain gear. 

As we rode past Rutledge Farm, I felt compelled to take this photo. 

After all, what says Fall more than pumpkins?

We worked our way toward the Willapa Hills Trail, taking a snack break in Grand Mound, then later riding the Airport Trail, and eventually reaching the trail. Along Riverside Dr I saw three Olympia cyclists (Brad, Monica, and Brian). They were headed the opposite direction, and moving a whole lot faster than we were. Speaking of speed, guess who was the slowest one today? Yes, it was me. I might have brought too much stuff…but, one could argue that I could never go as light as Sue. My bike alone almost weighs as much as Sue’s whole setup! Plus, I have quite a bit of food (I always start out this way).

Anyway, we made it to the Trail. While we did skip the trailhead, we still encountered workers filling in the cracks that have formed in the pavement. They were nice, and let us go by. 

Filled cracks. The workers are up ahead. 

We came up to the new bridge over Hwy 6. This was our first time across the new bridge. 

Isn’t it great?

Fancy!

This selfie is not the best. 

We continued over the bridge, and on to the Adna Trailhead where we stopped for some lunch (I really needed to eat some of the food I was carrying). Fortunately, while we ate lunch, it wasn’t raining so much. 

Back on the trail, the rain returned with a pretty good squall for a few miles. It lightened up a bit, but never really quit. 

We arrived at our destination of Rainbow Falls State Park around 4:30ish. Lo and behold, there is another cyclist on my favorite Hiker/Biker spot! His name is David, and he’s from Winthrop. He is going down the Coast as far as Crescent City (probably because he is not lucky like us, and has to take the train back, or something. Matt’s wife will be picking us up.).

Right off the bat, I got to experience setting up my new 1 person tent in the rain. I managed to do it setting up the fly first, thus keeping the tent body dry. However, I do miss not having the second vestibule, because so much of the stuff is wet. Oh well, it seems to be working okay having everything crammed under the one vestibule. 

We found a semi dry picnic table in the day use area to fix our dinners. I fixed a veggie stir fry to use the heavy food I had. Tomorrow, I will be faster (okay, probably not).

It seemed to have stopped raining for awhile, but the trees are still dripping, so I don’t know if it has really stopped raining. It’s supposed to rain even more tomorrow. So far, this Fall Down the Coast tour has a lot of rain falling down. 

Riding Chug Chug to Indiana and Back

With Dillon still out of town with the Louisville Orchestra, I decided I too would go to Indiana…on Chug Chug, my Brompton folding bike. I created a route on RWGPS that would take me across the Ohio River to the Ohio River Greenway in Indiana. While it might seem like I was heading out for a big ride, it was only going to end up being 20 miles round trip. 

First I had to get to the river, and the Big Four Bridge. As I had walked in that direction last night, I had a good idea of where I was going. Still missed a turn, but it was just a different way. 

The Big Four Bridge is an old railway bridge that has been converted into a bike and pedestrian bridge over the Ohio River. 

Odd looking two-headed sea dragon sculpture…bike rack?

Giant clover leaf to get up to the bridge. 

The car bridge (one of several). 

Still getting up to the bridge. 

Chug Chug at the bridge. 

As I was riding across the bridge, near the center, there was classical music coming from some speakers. It was quite nice. 

The mighty Ohio River. Just last summer, I crossed the Ohio from Cave-In-Rock, Illinois to Kentucky, on the Trans Am!

I wished there had been a “Welcome to Indiana” sign on the bridge. Or as I came off the bridge. There wasn’t, but there was a nice park on the other side. 

Nice water feature. 

I made my way to the Ohio River Greenway on quiet streets. 

The start of the multi-use path. 

The Greenway is a nice wide 2-lane paved path. 

There was a longish section up on, what I’m guessing, a levee. In other places on the trail, I saw concrete walls that probably are there to keep flood waters at bay. 

The spillway of the McAlpine Dam. 

The Greenway ends in New Albany. Here, I turned around, but instead of just making a u-turn, I went up to the walkway at the top of the levee, and rode back a little way on that before dropping back to the Greenway path. 

The path on the levee. 

New Albany. 

Now I’m above the “New Albany” sign. 

When I got back to Falls of Ohio State Park, I went into the park at the Visitor Center. I rode down the path to the Fossil Beds. 

From above. 

You can walk down there, but I didn’t. 

I didn’t want to leave Chug Chug unattended. I would imagine when the river floods, these fossil beds are under water. 

I continued my way back to the Big Four Bridge. I stopped for a snack before heading back over the bridge to Kentucky. 

There’s Louisville across the river. 

An egret on a log. 

And, we can do hard things!

Heading back up to the bridge. 

It was a good ride. 20 miles is plenty on Chug Chug, especially with no bike shorts (going “Chamando” as Katie would say). My average speed was a whopping 10mph. Of course, I was in no hurry, and stopped a lot. This will be a good ride for Dillon, once he gets a bike.