Day 1 Astoria to St. Helens

We began the day at the Holiday Inn Express, right under the end of the big bridge that crosses the Columbia River from Astoria. We had spent the night there after spending the Sunday afternoon attending several sessions for meeting the other ride participants, learning the logistics of group riding, and safety considerations. We also took a short 25 mile ride to the coast for a “wheel dipping” ceremony. My roommates are John Stuart from New Jersey, and Ilkka Suvanto from Massachusetts.


I think my bike survived the salt water OK. At last we were actually in the Pacific proper, as opposed to just the Columbia River.







Our first official duty was to line up for a group photo with the big bridge in the background.

We rode out in a long string of riders, all wearing the America By Bicycle (referred to from now on as ABBike) Jerseys. The weather was very cool and cloudy during the morning. The route was mostly flat to rolling with a few steeper climbs that I had noticed as I drove to Astoria from Portland a day earlier. I was really slow going up a the longest hill, but recovered quickly. I was taking a picture every couple hundred meters with my camera mounted on my bike, but had to trigger each one manually since I could not get to a Radio Shack for a few needed parts for the remote trigger.

Our first SAG stop was at a nice park overlooking the Columbia River. I had a banana and a granola bar, stocked up on Gatorade, slathered some more sunblock, and headed out again. The best surprise for the day was reaching the top of the next-to-last hill and realizing it had been the last and biggest hill we would have to ride. I topped 45 mph going down the other side to the next SAG.

After some easy flat miles, we reached our first destination, the town of St. Helens. We were too early to check in, so we swamped the sandwich shop next door. I ordered a French Dip sandwich, but they were out of roast beef, so I had ham instead. After checking in, I walked down the road to a Radio Shack, where I bought the small switch I needed for my camera trigger. I quickly soldered it into my system, and presto, I had a way to trigger my camera without letting go of the handlebar. I had decided to not use the timer, since that had resulted in a rather artificial selection of route photos. It was much more effective to manually trigger them as needed, and it had become second nature. I don’t have to even think in order to do it.

Dinner was at a restaurant just up the road. Pasta, potatoes, etc. Pretty much standard fare for a buffet.