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Day three marked the first real hardship of the ride: the start of saddle sores. For those that don’t ride, saddle sores are blisters and other uncomfortable phenomena where your butt meets the bike seat. Towards the end of the day yesterday I was definitely starting to feel soreness which worried me going into this morning. Despite this I got off to a good start around 7 after saying goodbye to my host for the night and packing up. I gingerly sat down on the seat and it didn’t feel too bad. That didn’t last long as after about a mile the soreness set in. There really isn’t much I could do so I just kept riding. I temporarily forgot about the pain as I rode through the stunning scenery along old highway 101, just south of Neskowin. Pro tip: if you ever see a road titled Old/Scenic/Historic (whatever) Road/Highway, take it, it’s bound to be lightly trafficked and beautiful. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves (sorry there’s not more)

Anyways I climbed along that route for a while then descended to the town of Otis. I then joined Hwy 18 and set in for a long but gentle climb. Most of this route stayed near the Salmon River which bubbled happily as I rode alongside it. Very serene. On this stretch I really started to feel sore. I stopped at the gorgeous HB Van Duzer rest stop for a snack and to reconsider my life’s decisions:

I decided to double up on cycling shorts to add more padding. That combined with the food actually seemed to make a legit difference. I felt better and started pushing a bit harder and surprisingly that also helped for some reason. Anyway my pace improved and so did my spirits. Even though I still had 30ish miles to go I was now confident I could make it. The miles started to fly by as I descended into Boyer (I didn’t see a single store here) and Grand Ronde. I stopped for an apricot from a roadside stand and a nice lady who gave me the lay of the land on my route. There wasn’t much remarkable for the rest of the way, it was mostly freeway shoulder riding. There was one moderately sized hill with no shade right before Buell (another town I didn’t even realize was a town) but I got through it. From there it was all descending into the town of Salt Creek. I headed to a Cider pub to find a place to wait in the shade and get some snacks until my warm showers host for the night could give me a ride. It was a wonderful spot to cool down after the ride:

On the way there I noticed one of my pedals was incredibly loose. I tried to tighten it but it wouldn’t rotate. This likely means a stripped thread which might be bad if I can’t get it replaced. But that’s a problem for tomorrow. Today was done and overall successful. See you tomorrow!

Distance: 50ish

Consumption:

  • Leftover turkey sandwich from last night
  • Poptarts
  • Tea
  • 2 shot blocks
  • Cliff bar
  • MnMs
  • 2 meat and cheese platters
  • 2 gatorades
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