Day 2: Astoria to Portland, OR

What a day. It started right on schedule with a roll out at 7:30 am, and the best send off I could've ever asked for from three amazing people. We started the day in misty, overcast, foggy weather. It reminded me of so many of my morning rides, so I felt right at home and was perfectly happy. However, I may have been the only one who felt that way. By the time we hit lunch at mile 54 it was warming up and the sun was coming out.

The first half of the ride went very smoothly, and I think I may have actually had a nice tailwind. There also wasn't as much climbing during the first half as I thought there would be, but that is because I apparently didn't pay careful enough attention to the route profile. Turns out there was a fairly decent climb at mile 64. Luckily someone at lunch pointed that out to me so I wasn't caught totally off guard. After an absolutely beautiful ride along creeks and through trees, we turned onto Hwy 30 to head into Portland. This is when I started to hit the wall, but I connected up with two other riders with about 15 miles to go and between the three of us we were able to pull ourselves to the finish in downtown Portland. When we hit the hotel we were at 99.5 miles, so so close to a century. I considered riding around the block a few times to hit 100, but decided I have plenty of 100+ mile days ahead of me.

Reflecting on the ride, I should've eaten more and had a bit more to drink. The morning was cool and wet so I didn't take on as much water as I should've and I messed up the post-lunch nutrition because I lost track of time. It made the last 20 miles a bit rough. Live and learn.

Day 2 stats:

• distance: 99.5 miles

• elevation gain: 4012 ft (700 ft less than the route profile indicated)

• nutrition:

  • breakfast: oatmeal with brown sugar and walnuts, fruit, NuGo protein bar

  • lunch: pb&j, fruit

  • post-ride: 1 recovery drink, 2 small cokes, kate's real food chocolate cherry & almond bar

  • gels: 5

  • bloks: 1 sleeve

  • 26 oz scratch superfuel, 26 oz zym, 26 oz water

Day 3 details - Portland to Hood River

• planned distance: 74 miles

• planned elevation gain: 3624 ft