Today’s ride took us up Seven Devils Road, around Bandon, then on 101 into Port Orford.
As we were getting ready, the innkeepers at the Itty Bitty Inn were very excited about our whole setup. We then stopped at the bike shop down the block in an unsuccessful attempt to restock Gu. The dude at the shop suggested we stick to 101, rather than following the official Oregon coast route, since we didn’t need the campsites along the route.
Never one to let local wisdom get in the way, we kept to our planned route, roughly following the Oregon one. It gave us a bit of a tour of the residential areas of North Bend and Coos Bay, before taking us to Seven Devils Road for the main climbing of the day.
Seven Devils refers to seven separate climbs, of varying intensity, along a ten mile stretch of ridgeline. The first was the hardest, as it was both the tallest and had several pretty steep parts. Someone helpfully painted labels on the road, along with inspiring and/or spiteful messages. Some selections:
- Team Average believes in u
- The real devil uses an engine
- (some time after the Devil #5 label) This is the actual Devil #5. Hahaha
Traffic was light, although the occupants of a minivan were unhappy with needing to go around us. They showed team spirit by flicking us off from both the driver and passenger window.
By the way, while I describe certain less-than-delightful driver actions, I do so because it is uncommon. The vast majority of drivers and people we interact with seem to be respectful, put on an appearance of patience when needed, and sometimes actively encouraging with thumbs up and the like. We try to return the favor by only taking as much lane as safety requires, using turnouts and driveways to let people pass when possible, and generally acting predictably. I’m sure we still annoy and frustrate people, but that’s always true on the road.
After the climbing, we found Bullards Beach State Park, overlooking the upcoming drawbridge for a quick lunch. The bathrooms and dumpster were connected to a station for cleaning caught fish. Surprisingly enough, a dumpster full of fish guts is quite aromatic and attracts a few flies.
After lunch we took a tour around Bandon. It was obvious that a lot of the housing we rode past was vacation homes/rentals. Despite being the middle of the day, there were hardly any cars or people, parked or on the road. There were some awesome views of sea stacks, though.
We saw some vultures circling overhead. When we caught up, I saw what they were eyeing. A great horned owl, apparently deceased, was lying just off the shoulder. It wasn’t obviously what had done the poor guy in; it was like he was sitting somewhere, then just fell over.
Then back to 101 for the slog to Port Orford. The road conditions were decent enough, but there weren’t the views or interesting terrain to make it more then just pedaling. I’m glad we had done Seven Devils. It was hard, but rewarding.
Port Orford, like a lot of the towns we’ve stayed at or ridden through, has a curious mix of nice looking establishments and crumbling vacant storefronts. The motel is mostly empty, and has weirdly designed corners and steps to get to the room, but the inside is quite nice, and the view from the parking lot is amazing.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Oregon and another longer day. It’s fewer miles than today, but quite a bit more climbing.