dostrofsky

Europe Day 4: 0 Miles

Siena, Italy to Florence, Italy

I woke up this morning to strong downpours and rain in the forecast for the entire day. The weather was moving north in the direction I would be traveling and was forecast to intensify mid-day. Luckily there is a train from Siena directly to Florence where I planned to end my day anyway. It is supposed to rain on and off for the next few days, so taking a train to Florence was an easy decision. It was better to make forward progress while staying dry and warm than to wait out a storm in Siena.

Europe Day 3: 47 Miles

Radicofani, Italy to Siena, Italy

Today was another beautiful day of riding. I started at 2,500 feet in Radicofani and enjoyed some quick downhill sections for most of the morning. As I was taking pictures of the castle at the highest point of town and the scenic view below, I noticed the road I was about to head down was lined with people cheering and taking pictures. It would be like that the whole day.

Europe Day 2: 50 Miles

Viterbo, Italy to Radicofani, Italy

The ride out of Viterbo was much easier than getting out of Rome and after a few miles I was back on SR2 heading north. Today’s ride consisted of 3 large climbs with 2 nice downhills in between. The weather was perfect; mid-60s and no rain in the forecast. I couldn’t have asked for a better day which was a nice reward for riding through the rain yesterday.

Europe Day 1: 67 Miles

Rome, Italy to Viterbo, Italy

The first day of a bike tour is always difficult, even under the best conditions. Nearly 7 hours in the saddle was a shock to my body having not logged many long rides prior to this trip. That shock was amplified by some poor weather conditions and rookie mistakes. Overall it was a challenging day, but I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish given the circumstances.

Europe Prologue: NYC to Rome

Here we go again. It’s been 2 years since I’ve written a post here and I welcome back the readers who followed along as I crossed the United States in 2017. I received great feedback on the blog the last time around and hope to improve my writing and content for this trip. If you like what you’re reading or have suggestions please let me know in the comments section of each post. I love the feedback.

Day 81: 49 Miles

Florence, OR to Newport, OR

Today was officially my last day of riding. Yesterday I made it to the ocean, but today I made it to my final destination on the bicycle. I was hoping for some good views of the Oregon coast and ocean after being totally underwhelmed yesterday. The views we’re stunning but did not come easy. There were some decent climbs along with a strong headwind that I battled the entire day.

Day 80: 86 Miles

Eugene, OR to Florence, OR

The goal for today was simple, pedal for as long as it took to get to the Pacific Ocean. I left the motel around 7:30 and got onto a bike path that took me from the center of Eugene to the outskirts of the city. It was a nicely paved bike path, but nothing great it terms of scenery until I got back onto a real road. I headed north for a few miles and saw some hills to the west. Getting over those hills was my last obstacle to reaching the coast.

Day 79: 52 Miles

Blue River, OR to Eugene, OR

Sticking to my normal schedule, I was the last one awake and packed up this morning. I rolled out of my tent a little after 6:00. After packing up my tent and eating some food I started riding just after 7:00. Everyone else had a head start on me today, but we were all planning to stop 20 miles down the road to grab breakfast at a cafe in the town of Vida.

Day 78: 72 Miles

Bend, OR to Blue River, OR

My plan for today was to get over McKenzie Pass and then determine the best place to stop. It is about 125 miles from Bend to Eugene and I wanted to get as close as possible to Eugene today. The ride started out with 24 miles from Bend to Sisters. My trip into Bend was off route, so the 24 miles to Sisters just got me back on route. Luckily the ride from Bend to Sisters was mostly downhill on smooth, freshly paved road. I had a nice view of the snow covered mountains on my left the whole morning.

Day 77: 26 Miles

Redmond, OR to Bend, OR

I had a late start to the day this morning, which was a nice change of pace. It was only 20 miles from Redmond to Bend and I was in no rush to get to Bend early. Although I covered 26 miles today, the day was really a rest day.

Day 76: 67 Miles

Mitchell, OR to Redmond, OR

I had a great night of sleep at the Spoke’n Hostel last night. When we got back from the Painted Hills trip, we walked back into the bunk room to find all of the privacy curtains closed around our beds with individual reading lights turned on over each bed. Pat and Jalet, the owners of the hostel, knew how to add all the small touches to make our stay great.

Day 75: 38 Miles

Dayville, OR to Mitchell, OR

I woke up to the smell of pancakes this morning. Joe was up first and had started to make breakfast with the pancake mix provided by the church. I had a couple of pancakes and a PB&J sandwich and then got my stuff together. I was on the road just before 7:30 for a short 38 mile ride to Mitchell, OR.

Day 74: 24 Miles

Mt. Vernon, OR to Dayville, OR

I woke up late this morning knowing I was in for a short day. It felt nice to sleep in and not worry about spending 6 hours on the bike today. Since leaving Yellowstone I have put in some big mileage days, including 5 days of 80+ miles. Prior to Yellowstone I had only done 2 days of 80+ miles. Now that I have a flight booked to head back to the east coast, I know what my schedule is and have some flexibility in taking a couple short days.

Day 73: 88 Miles

Baker City, OR to Mt. Vernon, OR

I got a good night of sleep at the hostel last night and was up early to start what I knew might be a long day. I got out on the road around 6:45 and had 25 miles of slight uphill before I hit today’s 3 big climbs. We had originally planned to stop after climb number 2, but we got through those 50 miles quickly and it didn’t make sense to sit around a campsite all day.

Day 72: 43 Miles

Richland, OR to Baker City, OR

I somehow convinced myself last night that today was going to be an easy day. Only 43 miles and the elevation profile didn’t look too bad. I knew there was a climb towards the end of the day, but before the day started I was ready to consider today as a rest day.