| Distance | Average Speed | Max Speed | Time | Elevation gain |
| 76.5 miles | 12.9 mph | 37.0 mph | 5:56:00 | 3950 feet |
We awoke to a cold, drizzly morning. Since the food tent and start were so far from the camp, we decided to pack up completely before eating today, and we got the bags on the truck by 6:30am. Then we rode up to the tent. I was able to find a covered parking space for the tandem while we ate. We had ham and a cheese omelet plus oatmeal. A bag piper was giving us a grand send-off. Ellen was trying to get a picture of him in the rain, but she kept missing. I finally got a picture of him in front of the blue rooms.
Ellen was wearing 4 layers of clothes on top of 3 on bottom to stay warm in the cool morning mist. The drizzle stopped just outside of Reedsport, but it stayed cloudy and cool all day. We were on highway 101 for the first 21 miles of our ride. The shoulder was pretty good, but there were still a lot of big trucks driving by that felt really close. At the top of the first hill, we pulled out at an overlook to see the Reedsport Lighthouse at the mouth of the Umpqua River. It was nestled in among the trees. A little way further, we saw a weigh station with no trucks in. I saw the sign at the far end of the drive set to all zero's, so I rode over the scale to see if it would weigh us. It did! We weight somewhere between 250 and 300lbs. I thought I was terribly clever to do this.
We were riding near the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. I had never been there before, so it was pretty interesting. We stopped at another viewpoint to see the bridge over Coos Bay since we weren't going to be riding over it. We made a turn off just before to ride around Coos Bay. It was a fun rolling road with some nice views. Sadly, about 3 miles from the next ODS rest stop, I got a flat in my front tire. I saw the piece of glass sticking out of it for a few rotations before it fell out followed by the sound of hissing as we went up the hill next to the Coos River. Ellen patiently waited for me to change the tire, and I got it pumped up far enough to make it the 3 miles to the rest stop. The rest stop was at a Fred Meyer. I went inside while Ellen was in the potty line to see if I could get some post card stamps...they didn't have any. We pushed on to lunch at Sunset Bay. It was really chilly at the coast. The rocks were really interestingly contoured. We ate our lunch on a large open field that was a little warmer than area near the ocean. This lunch was fish tacos. I ended up just using the other stuff to make my tacos (black beans, cheese, guacamole, salsa, lettuce). Ellen liked hers though. I did try a little bite of the fish, but I just can't enjoy it. It didn't taste good to me. After lunch there was an out and back to Cape Arago that a lot of people skipped, but we went ahead and rode it, of course. At one of the overlooks, we heard the seals before we saw them on Simpson Reef. They were really far away, but their barking made made for quite the racket. Cape Arago is a very pretty park. It's another place I'd like to get back to some day to visit and maybe camp...when it's warmer. It looks like it has lots of trails for hiking.
After lunch, as is tradition, we had our big climbs of the day known as the Seven Devils. They really weren't horrible. Just short, steep hills and rollers over the course of about 12 miles. We did really well, and I think we're getting stronger. Everyone who passes continues to give Ellen positive encouragement to keep going. The "she's not pedaling" comments seem to have died out after the first day from the really old men on the course.
We ended the day with a ride through Bandon Dunes golf resort before entering Bandon for a ride through their old town. We got some applause from the riders who were already in and enjoying the many restaurants downtown. Then, just to make sure we were paying attention, the route had one last little kicker hill that is conveniently not shown on the map's elevation profile. It's only about a block long, but after 75 miles, it was a uncalled for. We finally hit the finish line around 3:30pm where we were greeted by Miss Oregon and our chocolate milk.
Camp was already really crowded. The only open space we could find was on the basketball court where I set up camp just outside the key on the baseline (of course). That's the nice thing about our cots, we can camp pretty much anywhere comfortably. We were soon joined by several others around the outside of the court. Just after we decided where we were going to setup, an ATV stopped by delivering someone else's bags, so we got to ride over to the baggage trucks where we again quickly found our bags, and found a high school football player to carry Ellen's bag (while I carried my big one) back to our site. The sun was trying to come out, but it was still chilly when we went to get showers. It was too cold for anything to dry, plus being at the coast, the air was humid. I had a little scare after I came out of my shower and couldn't find Ellen. She was still in the shower truck, but she had changed to a different truck while I was in when a new one opened up. Luckily, she came out and waited for me there like we always agreed. She just takes so long at the showers it felt like an eternity. It was all OK in the end though.
Ellen met the other 10 year old girl finally while she was playing on the playground right near our tent. Or as Ellen called it, the laundry playground. The got along from the start, and it turns out she lives in Hillsboro. We had a nice turkey dinner tonight (Turkey breast, dressing, cranberries, sweet potatoes, and pecan pie), and went back to the tent because we were cold. Everything was right near each other in this park, so we could hear everything just fine from our tent including announcements. Unfortunately, we could also hear that night's featured band. I don't remember what their name was, but they weren't the best. Ellen had a hard time going to sleep since they were a rock band, and really just loud. Plus there was the fog horn that sounded every 20 seconds all night. Oh, and did I mention that we were also under the park lights that were on all night? I'm actually surprised I was able to sleep as much as I did. And we're here for another night. Yea.
Continue to day 4.