Category: America North 2019

81 miles, 4514 feet climbed

Today started out overcast and cool, with some condensed water on the pavement. I wore leg warmers, arm warmers and a my light jacket for the whole day. The sun didn’t make an appearance until I dropped off the last hill into the outskirts of St Helens.

This is the second year of a change of routing from that which we rode in 2004. (Stay tuned for more comparisons to 2004 as the ride progresses.) I recall liking the views of the Columbia River as we came down Highway 30 from Astoria. And at 69 miles, it was shorter and had only 2900 feet of climbing. But there was a lot more traffic, especially logging trucks than on this new route.

Continue reading “Day 1 – Astoria to St Helens, Oregon”

Yesterday morning (Saturday), I flew from Sacramento into Portland. The original plan was to take the Max light rail to Beaverton and then pick up a bus to Astoria. I would arrive in Astoria about 12:30. Instead I took a Lyft ride from the airport to Astoria and arrived about 3 hours earlier, shortly before I would have boarded the bus. By noon, I had my bike out of the box, assembled, and ready for inspection by the ABB mechanics.

Continue reading “Days -1 and 0 – Astoria, Oregon”

I’m making my final preparations for the America by Bicycle America North ride. We start riding on June 24 from Astoria, Oregon to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the starting point for last year’s East Coast ride. This is my second time on this route, the first being 15 years ago, in 2004. I’ve loaded my photos from that ride on my laptop in case the opportunity for some “then and now” comparisons present.

Karen and Judy are returning staff from last year’s East Ride. It appears that we have 38 riders going all the way to New Hampshire, and likely a few riding parts of the route.

Continue reading “Getting Ready for the America North Ride”