Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 449: Oregon Coast Trail – Part 2.

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“My Tent is not Viable”

Check out this absolutely hysterical special design awarded to Brock and I to memorialize our night 1 mishap…

See more of Simone’s designs here.

Pedalshift Live – September 11, 5pm PT!

Topics TBA, but it’s a summer closeout and certainly a preview of some stuff coming in the fall. ALSO we’re doing a super fun giveaway exclusively for people that make it to the live show itself… there’s some incentive for ya! ALSO ALSO, some special previews of all sorts of things. Am I being cagey? YES. Show up anyways! Chat room is fun, live shows are fun… but if you can’t make it, it’s the pod for the following week. pedalshift.net/live!

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The Pedalshift Project 449: Oregon Coast Trail – Part 2

• Breaking camp at Nehalem Bay State Park after a less-than-restful first night.
• The day’s route comes with an unusual Oregon Coast Trail feature: a small boat crossing of the Nehalem River.
• Hiking out the Nehalem Bay spit rather than road walking Highway 101 or relying on another bus.
• A $10, on-demand boat ride that you essentially hail like a water taxi. Naturally, Tim is delighted.
• Early beach walking into a surprisingly strong south wind—and the realization that hiking into a headwind can be plenty annoying too.
• Overcast, cool Oregon Coast weather turns out to be pretty much perfect hiking weather for Tim and James.
• Then the rain finally arrives.
• Rain gear gets its first legitimate test as wind, rain and cold hands briefly turn the morning into some genuine Type 2 fun.
• Reaching the mouth of the Nehalem River, where ocean waves, river current and fishing boats all converge.
• Calling for the boat and crossing the Nehalem River to continue south.
• Boat-crossing soundscapes, fishing stories and a little local wildlife discussion along the way.
• An unexpected rail walk after the crossing, followed by some improvised navigation back toward the beach.
• The terminology of the trip is established: good sand is firm and easy to walk on; bad sand is soft, energy-sucking nonsense.
• Continuing south toward Rockaway Beach with sea stacks appearing down the coast.
• Sustained headwinds approaching 20 mph turn what should have been a helpful prevailing wind into an all-day adversary.
• Rockaway Beach provides a badly needed break from the wind—and Indian food for the day’s big meal.
• Back into full rain gear for the final push toward Barview Jetty.
• Headwinds + rain + bad sand = a surprisingly demanding backpacking day.
• Despite the conditions, Tim and James finish just shy of 11 miles.
• Another successful test for the new backpacking gear, including Tim’s Hyperlite Southwest 40.
• Arriving at Barview Jetty Campground thoroughly cooked and very ready for dry clothes and tents.
• The campsite itself gets mixed reviews, particularly when Tim discovers that “level tent site” is apparently more of an aspirational concept.
• Day two verdict: challenging, fun and another successful proof of concept.
• Bigger conclusion: Tim and James may officially be backpackers again—and longer trips suddenly seem entirely plausible.

Statistics

• Miles hiked 11 
• Nehalem Rivers crossed by boat 1
• Prevailing tailwinds received: 0
• Headwinds: Yes
• Sand varieties identified 2
• Indian food recs in Rockaway Beach 1
• Campground rating: 7
• Flats N/A

Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 448: Oregon Coast Trail – Part 1.

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – Stitcher – TuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.

Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

“My Tent is not Viable”

Check out this absolutely hysterical special design awarded to Brock and I to memorialize our night 1 mishap…

See more of Simone’s designs here.

The Pedalshift Project 448: Oregon Coast Trail – Part 1

• Portland to Tillamook goes exactly according to plan. This will not last.
• A confusing route-number change leads to Tim and James missing their northbound connection while essentially standing next to it.
• With Uber, Lyft and other escape routes unavailable, it’s time for Plan B.
• A few bonus hours in Tillamook include an unexpectedly excellent visit to the Tillamook County Public Library.
• The revised plan: take the later bus to Manzanita, establish a base there and turn the day’s planned hike into an out-and-back toward Neahkahnie Mountain.
• First impressions of experiencing familiar Oregon Coast territory on foot instead of from a bicycle.
• The backpacking finally begins with a walk along the beach at Manzanita.
• Important navigational discovery: if the Pacific Ocean is on your left, you’re probably walking north.
• Firm beach sand: surprisingly excellent walking. Soft beach sand: considerably less excellent.
• Heading inland and uphill on the Headwaters Trail toward Neahkahnie Mountain.
• About 3.5 miles of continuous climbing provides the first real test of the new packs and gear.
• Early verdict: the pack weights feel completely manageable for the planned 7–10 mile days.
• Tim and James discover that humid-weather backpacking may not be part of their future long-distance hiking careers.
• The shortened route still delivers nearly everything they wanted from the original day: climbing, forest trails, beach walking and plenty of mileage.
• Back in Manzanita for the most important part of any successful hiking itinerary: pizza and beer.
• A surprising amount of actual bike content, with multiple loaded touring cyclists spotted along the coast.
• The final walk to Nehalem Bay State Park is longer than expected, pushing the day’s total close to nine miles.
• First impressions of the Nehalem Bay hiker-biker campsite, including lockers, charging and bike repair facilities.
• The new tent gets its first setup and the backpacking gear earns high marks.
• Day one verdict: despite immediately borking the original plan, the Oregon Coast Trail experiment is a success.
• Next up: more beach walking, changing weather and Day 2 on the Oregon Coast Trail.

Statistics

• Miles hiked 9 
• Missed buses: 1
• Loaded bicycle tourists spotted: 7
• Plans successfully improvised: 1
• Days of rain on the Oregon coast we did not expect 1
• Flats  N/A

Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 447: Oregon Coast Trail Preview.

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Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

The Pedalshift Project 447: Oregon Coast Trail Preview

• A first for Pedalshift: backpacking instead of bikepacking.
• Joined by returning guest James for a three-day Oregon Coast Trail adventure.
• Transit-powered trip: Portland → Tillamook → north coast by bus before hiking south.
• Revisiting familiar Pacific Coast territory from an entirely different perspective.
• Can walking reveal things even bike travel misses?
• Route highlights include:
  • Neahkahnie Mountain
  • Manzanita
  • Nehalem Bay State Park
  • Beach hiking along the Oregon Coast Trail
• Planning roughly 10-mile hiking days with hiker-biker and county campground overnights.
• Weather forecast calls for classic Oregon Coast uncertainty, with rain possible after a dry first day.
• New ultralight gear gets its first real test:
  • Hyperlite 40L backpack
  • Big Agnes Copper Spur Bikepacking tent
  • Carbon fiber trekking poles
• Thoughts on balancing premium gear with the long-held Pedalshift philosophy that the best gear is the gear that gets you outside.
• Pack weight comes in around 18 pounds, with room for future refinement.
• Trail food strategy includes hot coffee, plenty of snack bars… and James carrying enough bananas for what appears to be a small primate sanctuary.
• Why this trip fits the evolving vision of Pedalshift: adventures adjacent to bicycling that still embrace human-powered exploration.

Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 446: Sprocketshift Oregon Coast Takeaways.

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Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

The Pedalshift Project 446: Sprocketshift Oregon Coast Takeaways

Hey it’s a giveaway!

Congrats to Cyrus Farivar for winning the coolest designed piece ever by Simone, our clever and talented designer friend. Stay tuned for some upcoming giveaways and the launch of our new merch this fall!

Shownotes

Takeaway #1: Constraints can make for a better tour

• Weather forced changes.
• My tent forced bigger changes.
• Transit schedules forced even more changes.
• We stopped trying to preserve the original plan and started asking what the best trip looked like now.
• The revised trip ended up being more memorable than the one we planned.

Bottom line: Sometimes constraints don’t ruin a tour—they become the reason it’s interesting.

Takeaway #2: I think my touring philosophy is changing

• I’ve spent years optimizing for mileage.
• That usually means riding through interesting places instead of experiencing them.
• Tillamook was the perfect example. I’ve passed through multiple times and barely stopped.
• This time I spent the day exploring instead of chasing miles.

Bottom line: I’m increasingly interested in using the bike to get me to experiences, not simply accumulate distance.

Takeaway #3: “Ride your own ride” can happen on the same trip

• Brock and I started from exactly the same place.
• We made completely different decisions.
• He chose the big riding day.
• I chose the slower exploration day.
• Both approaches ended with great stories.

Bottom line: There isn’t one correct version of a successful bike tour.

Takeaway #4: Transit isn’t cheating

• We used buses multiple times.
• They made the route possible.
• They allowed us to adapt instead of abandoning the trip.
• They cost almost nothing.

Bottom line: Bikes and transit complement each other remarkably well.

Takeaway #5: Gear failures change everything

• “My tent is not viable.”
• That one sentence completely changed the weekend.
• Once your shelter becomes unreliable, every decision becomes different.
• Confidence is part of your gear list.

Bottom line: Reliability beats optimization.

Takeaway #6: Where did all the bike tourists go?

• Peak season.
• Iconic route.
• Excellent infrastructure.
• Very few loaded touring bikes.

Possible explanations:

• More gravel riders?
• More bikepacking?
• Different travel habits?
• Something else?

Bottom line: I’m seeing enough of a pattern that I don’t think it’s a coincidence anymore.

Takeaway #7: I’m excited about touring again

• Fitness is coming back.
• Losing weight has made a noticeable difference.
• I’m thinking differently about how I want trips to look.
• I was planning the next ride before this one ended.

Bottom line: That’s usually a sign you’re headed in the right direction.

Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 445: Sprocketshift Oregon Coast – Part 2.

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
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Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

The Pedalshift Project 445: Sprocketshift Oregon Coast Part 2

Hey it’s a giveaway!

The Pedalshift spinner giveaway! How to enter… make sure you’re subscribed to the Pedalshift email list over at pedalshift.net. I’ll send an email out to the list on Thursday July 16th for the release of part 2. Reply or forward it back at me at pedalshift@pedalshift.net by 11:59pm PT Sunday July 19th and BAM! You’re in the running. The email will have the directions too. Overly complex? Maybe. But you get the coolest designed piece ever by Simone, our clever and talented designer friend.

Shownotes

Brock leaves Tillamook with an ambitious goal: ride north toward Astoria and see how far he can get.

His day includes:

• Intermittent rain that becomes considerably less intermittent
• A thoroughly soaked ride through Rockaway Beach
• The climbs and terrain of the northern Oregon Coast
• Neahkahnie Mountain
• Roughly 40 miles of challenging bicycle touring
• The strategy of simply not stopping because stopping means getting cold
• A reminder that wet jeans and long-distance cycling are not necessarily natural allies

Meanwhile, I embrace something closer to a bicycle-assisted vacation day in Tillamook:

• A visit to the Tillamook Creamery
• The realization that I actually had been there before… roughly three decades ago
• A stop at Blue Heron
• A visit to the Tillamook farmers market
• Some local exploration by bike
• A side quest involving the elusive Oregon delicacy known as meadowfoam honey
• An extremely inexpensive bus connection north

Same bike tour. Very different days.

Rethinking How I Bicycle Tour

My slower day in Tillamook raises a bigger question about how I want to approach bicycle travel going forward.

For years, my touring style has often focused on moving from Point A to Point B. The places along the route are part of the experience, but mileage and reaching the destination can easily become the priority.

That means I’ve ridden through places like Tillamook many times without actually spending much time experiencing them.

This day was different.

Instead of riding through Tillamook yet again, I stayed. I visited places I’d skipped on previous Oregon Coast bike tours. I explored. I followed a side quest. I rode when I wanted to ride and stopped when I wanted to stop.

And it may represent a bit of a shift in how I think about bicycle touring.

The length of a bicycle trip doesn’t always have to be measured by the number of miles ridden. Sometimes the bike is the thing that gets us to the experience.

Brock’s 40 Miles of Type Two Fun

While I’m contemplating a new philosophy of slower bicycle travel over cheese samples, Brock is having a very different day.

Rain. Hills. Wet clothes. More rain.

Despite the conditions, he makes excellent time north from Tillamook, riding through Rockaway Beach and over the challenging terrain toward Cannon Beach.

He ultimately reaches Cannon Beach after roughly 40 miles of riding and decides that he doesn’t need to ride all the way to Astoria to prove anything.

The original goal may have been a much longer day, but sometimes knowing when you’ve already had the adventure is part of the adventure.

Also: prolonged rain, soaked clothing, and friction are apparently a combination worth avoiding.

This is useful bicycle touring information.

Reunited in Cannon Beach

Thanks to a combination of bicycles, buses, location sharing, and an Oregon Coast transit schedule that somehow works out, our two routes converge in Cannon Beach.

From there, we take the final bus together to Astoria.

The total cost of taking public transportation from Tillamook to Astoria?

Two dollars.

For bicycle tourists interested in combining cycling with transit on the Oregon Coast, the regional bus network can create some remarkably inexpensive options for shortening or modifying a route.

Astoria: Fish, Chips, Oysters, and Bicycle Touring

We end the day in Astoria with beer, seafood, oyster shooters, and a comparison of our radically different adventures.

That leads us back to a question that has come up repeatedly on The Pedalshift Project:

Where are all the bicycle tourists?

Even during prime touring season on the Oregon Coast—one of the best-known bicycle touring routes in the United States—we encounter remarkably few loaded touring cyclists.

Is traditional road-based bicycle touring declining?

Are more cyclists choosing gravel and off-road bikepacking routes?

Are hikers increasingly becoming the primary users of Oregon’s hiker-biker campsites?

And if bicycle touring numbers continue to decline, what could that mean for the future of the infrastructure that makes routes like the Oregon Coast possible?

Our data set is hardly scientific, but after several years of seeing the same pattern, it’s becoming harder to dismiss.

Sometimes the Constraints Make the Bike Tour

This weekend also offers another reminder about bicycle travel: sometimes the trip you wouldn’t have chosen is the trip that produces the best stories.

If we’d had several weekends available, we probably would have avoided this one because of the weather.

Instead, this was the weekend we had.

Rain. Bus schedules. Route changes. A split adventure. Unexpected stops.

Brock compares it to Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies: introducing limitations and constraints that force you to approach something differently.

In our case, the constraints became the bike tour.

Also in This Episode

• The Tillamook Creamery: the Disneyland of cheese
• Why ice cream at 10:30 in the morning is a defensible life choice
• The search for Oregon meadowfoam honey
• Bicycle touring through Tillamook, Rockaway Beach, Cannon Beach, and Astoria
• Combining bikes and public transit on the Oregon Coast
• Cannon Beach’s continuing role as a mildly cursed bicycle-touring destination
• Businesses without Wi-Fi
• The mysterious economics of an artisanal s’mores establishment
• Oyster shooters and the deeply questionable possibility of oyster Jell-O
• Brock’s return to podcasting
• Why talking to your bus driver can save your connection
• A final full-circle return to Salem

Statistics

• • Riders beginning the day together: 2
  • Riders immediately splitting up: 2
  • Cheese establishments visited: 2
  • Approximate miles ridden by Brock: 40
  • Approximate miles ridden by Tim: 6–8
  • Bus fare from Tillamook to Astoria: $2
  • Prawns consumed: 8
  • Pieces of cod consumed by Brock: 3
  • Pints consumed: 1 each
  • Smokes broken: 1
  • Questionable oyster Jell-O concepts developed: 1
  • Flats: zero

Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 444: Sprocketshift Oregon Coast – Part 1.

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – Stitcher – TuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.

Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

The Pedalshift Project 443: Sprocketshift Oregon Coast Preview

• Episode 444, with a very satisfying accidental 44-mile moment.
• Tim and Brock reunite for a Sprocket Shift-style Oregon Coast ride.
• The trip shifts from the original plan into a northbound Lincoln City-to-Astoria adventure.
• The 60X bus from Salem to Lincoln City proves to be a useful transit link for coastal bike touring.
• Devil’s Lake hiker-biker gets revisited and loosely rated.
• Summer on the Oregon Coast delivers rain, chill, clouds, and deeply confused expectations.
• Tim’s tent fails overnight and is declared “not viable.”
• The planned camping trip becomes a hotel-supported ride after wet gear and a damp down bag change the calculus.
• Old Highway 101 / Forest Road 11 north of Lincoln City gets a major reassessment as the better touring route.
• Neskowin and Pacific City provide key food, coffee, and morale stops.
• The final stretch into Tillamook brings classic coastal headwinds.
• Brock officially receives his Five-Timers Club award.

Route Notes

Start: Salem, Oregon

Transit: 60X bus to Lincoln City / Chinook Winds Casino

Camp: Devil’s Lake State Recreation Area hiker-biker site

Ride direction: Northbound / NOBO

Day ride: Lincoln City to Tillamook

Key stops: Neskowin, Pacific City, Tillamook

End of episode: Tillamook, Oregon

Next destination: Astoria, Oregon

Hey it’s a giveaway!

The Pedalshift spinner giveaway! How to enter… make sure you’re subscribed to the Pedalshift email list over at pedalshift.net. I’ll send an email out to the list on Thursday July 16th for the release of part 2. Reply or forward it back at me at pedalshift@pedalshift.net by 11:59pm PT Sunday July 19th and BAM! You’re in the running. The email will have the directions too. Overly complex? Maybe. But you get the coolest designed piece ever by our clever and talented designer friend.

Statistics

• Episode number: 444
• Hiker-biker cost at Devil’s Lake: $8
• Miles biked: 57 
• Known other touring cyclists spotted: 2
• Known hikers at camp: 1
• Bundles of firewood: 2
• Tent viability: zero
• Campground USB-C ports: zero
• Campground USB-A ports: yes
• Five-Timers Club ornaments awarded: 1
• Flats: zero

Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 443: Sprocketshift Oregon Coast Preview.

Subscribe/Follow The Pedalshift Project:
RSS – iTunes – Overcast – Android – Google Podcasts – Stitcher – TuneIn – IHeartRadio – Spotify

Reach out to the show via email, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to join the newsletter too.

Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

The Pedalshift Project 443: Sprocketshift Oregon Coast Preview

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Hey it’s the direct download link for The Pedalshift Project 442: Vashon Island.

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Have some bike touring or overnight stories to share? Send your pics, audio or a quick tweet – all welcome. Email the show at pedalshift@pedalshift.net or call the lightly-used Pedalshift voicemail line at (202) 930-1109

The Pedalshift Project 442: Vashon Island

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