Day 2 2021- Climb to the Ocean

Our Warm Showers hosts greeted us this morning with a great breakfast. In spite of that we were tempted to stop at Clarks, home of the world’s best milk shakes. Unfortunately, it was not open when we were leaving town. Marnie and John had warned us that we would have a long climb in the first miles of our ride and they were right. You can see the ride summary here.

Off the top of my head, I thought it was around 450 feet in the first 5 miles. All I know for sure is that the cool 49F temperatures and fog couldn’t keep us cool after the first 6 miles.

Eventually, the fog burned away as the sun broke through. It was such a much more pleasant ride to Raymond than my last trip 2 years ago. Then, I remember overcast skies, rain and spray from the cars for the last few miles. We entered Raymond after 25 miles to sunny skies and views of the Willapa river.

Once we left Raymond, we knew it would be 45 miles of roller coaster terrain and wind, but no place for any supplies. With that in mind, I introduced Ron to the concept of second breakfast. He was amazed at my demonstration and my ability to make food disappear.

We did do a short detour on a bike trail that ran between the river and Highway 101.

Ron’s hill climbing was very impressive on the way to Long Beach. We traded turns battling the wind. We must have won because at times it became a tail wind.

At the hotel in Long Beach we got into our own rhythms of showers, sink laundry, poor man’s clothes dryer (hair dryer), charging devices dinner and next day’s prep. All in all a good day.

The Not So Lone Rider