My 2011 New Years Wish is satisfied. I actually completed a 400km brevet. It was not without its challenges, not the least of which was the weather and that I was the only rider all day and all night. Started at 06:05AM and completed by 07:20AM the next day.A good average rolling speed of 13.7mph, but the rain from about 11:30A to midnight and the 20mph headwind heading south from Pacific City to the jetty in Ocean Shores. I was beat and missed the sign for the control, but took some pictures with the cell phone, before it became uselessly wet. Worse, was that I was getting cold, and it was still daylight. Once back in Aberdeen, I was trying to think of a McDonalds/Burger King to dry out things, a coin op laundry to dry my clothes, or look for a Target/Wal-Mart for some long underwear. A Safeway came first and I used some paper napkins to dry out the phone enough to call Helene, the last contact. Then I asked another patron, and she said the WalMart is just down the street, over the metal bridge. That bridge had about 75feet of steel grating, and I was able to survive it without slipping at about 15mph and keeping a straight line. Once in the Wal Mart, I asked the greeter about keeping my bike inside, and she got permission.
No long underwear, but they did have something in Sporting Goods, what turned out to be breathable waterproof pants, where one size must fit all, as they only had size XL for waists 40-48" After finding them, I got back to the women's department and the nice salesperson had found some cotton/lycra tights that might fit. As I came back after my pants find, I thought about getting a sweater, to provide some insulation for the uppper body. There entire stock was t-shirts and dress shirts, though I did find a fleece pull over jacket. I put those on, and it felt soooo got to have something dry on. Then to pay for it all, $17. I went to the bathroom, and tried to air dry the cell phone, but it was not to be. I'e been getting messages since the Jetty, and wasn't able to see them, nor respond to them. Then to the inhouse McDonalds for some chicken nuggets and a coke. After this long interlude, I felt warmer and ready to go out again. It was now dark and the lights went on. There seemed to be no end to the gentle hills on the way out to Westport, besides there was a mild headwind the entire way. Once there, bought a banana and a gallon of water to refill the bottles.
Helene must have texted me on my return trip to Aberdeen, I tried to respond, but the screen froze with some keystrokes only. the reminder was bugging me, as I couldn't do anything about it, so I removed the battery, and thought about another dry stop at the WalMart in Aberdeen. the Cue Sheet wouldn't have it, as we found a quieter way out of town than we'd taken in.
The Dinotte died all of a sudden after a rest in Montesano. Search for some replacement batteries before I realized they were in the bottom of the rear bag. I was lucky, as that set lasted the rest of the night. One of the PB blinkies decided to not work anymore, I changed batteries, but that didn't solve the problem. Earlier in the day, the switch or logic needed to be reset, and I'd removed and replaced the batteries, before it worked properly.
the absolute darkness, and lack of traffic, made it difficult to stay awake, and keep up the same average speed. In Sharon, I saw, what looked like a school with a porch that was dry. It turned out the be the Grange Hall, but that was good enough. A power nap, probably from 04:15 to 04:30. I did feel better for about 30 minutes, then I resorted to listening to Raggai on the MP3 player, until the sun came back up. Good fortune that the return route came back along Harrison, where my Motel 6 was. Since I'd started there, I had done the entire loop.
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