Reach The Beach Report: Fun Despite The Drizzle

By Daniel Payne, Reach the Beach Team Co-Captain

Ride Leaders Daniel & Lynn

Mike Cardwell drove Jamie Cobb, Emerich Heny and me from Tualatin to the start in Scappoose, and this year we rolled out at 7:15AM instead of 8:00AM. Special thanks to Wanda for driving the van out to Fort Stevens to pick us up at the end of RTB. In Scappoose I filled up my one water bottle with electrolyte powder and water, yet never finished drinking it during the entire ride—uh-oh. I also enjoyed a brownie bar at the start—oh, so tasty.

In the first 7 miles, we wandered around Scappoose and met a couple of cyclists, but by the time we crossed Hwy 30 both dudes had dropped off the back. For our first 24 miles we had dry skies, followed by 50 miles of drizzle, then finishing with another 26 miles of dry skies.

There were lots of rest stops along the route and we stopped at all of them, except the last one around mile 90 or so. Each rest stop was stocked with an amazing assortment of food and drink: bananas, hard-boiled eggs, apples, mandarin oranges, protein bars, PBJ, cookies, muffins, strawberries, water, coffee, and electrolytes. At the lunch stop, I enjoyed the salmon hash.

Leaving the lunch stop in Jewell, I became quite cold in my torso so I increased my speed to generate more body heat, yet the 50-mile stretch of drizzle was a challenge to finish without a grimace. I wore a Smartwool base layer, Gore-Tex jacket, RTB jersey, leg warmers, waterproof gloves, merino wool skull cap, and booties. Temps were in the 40s and 50s, but with headwinds it felt colder than that.

I saw one dude wearing only a t-shirt, shorts, socks and cycling shoes, so he had bare arms, bare legs and only one cotton layer on his torso. No idea how he actually finished—or if he even finished. Another odd sight was a cyclist with bare feet and wearing sandals. Only a handful of e-bikes were spotted, so that was a surprise. No tandem sightings this year and we saw only a couple of recumbent bikes.

At one rest stop I met and snapped a photo with Lynn Blanchard, something that we often do on event rides like this one. Perhaps I’ll see her again on the Pioneer Century, I sure hope so. Also spotted Daniel Petrisor along the route, but then after a rest stop we lost him, oops.

Our goal is to have a social ride and enjoy the scenery and friendship, but somehow I earned seven new PRs, go figure, even with a headwind. Yes, we did get passed by exactly one racer dude, although he had no ride number on his bike or jersey, so we must deduct style points from his performance!

Our group of four had no mechanicals, but we did see a couple of cyclists on the side of the road fixing flat tires. The motorcycle SAG support was visible and excellent—well done, crew. We did talk to the #1 fundraiser this year, Gerry Schroeder, who helped raise some $17,000, wow! I was the #4 fundraiser the day before the ride, but on the day I was bumped down to #6, so those final-day donations changed the rankings quickly. It’s all for a good cause, so well done to all participants this year. The Portland Bicycling Club was the #3 fundraising team, almost hitting the $10,000 mark.

Riding into Fort Stevens we stayed on the roads, so no more bumpy bike path for us—a nice improvement. The crowd at the finish line was exuberant, and it felt very welcoming. My favorite part is receiving the finisher medallion at the end. We snapped some finisher photos, got changed into dry clothes, and then checked out some of the signs along the path to the beach.

Back in the parking lot, I enjoyed a chicken burrito from a food truck along with a pineapple drink, and then we sat inside the big tent at the special Portland Bicycling Club table. We chatted with PBC member Michael Paric. Emerich’s family met him at the finish, so he drove home with them. Mike, Jamie and I rode back to Tualatin in the van with Wanda.

Rest Stop Provisions!