i really wanted to do a travelogue topic, but i realized without my own pics it wasn't much to look at. thing is, this was all about getting there & i didn't see much of the asbsolutely fantastic scenery. it was focus on the white line all the way...precipices to the right, logging trucks to the left. it's not really fair to say they gave me a hard time because they didn't have any room either. oregon seems overall very bicycle friendly, there were generous lanes in many areas, but then there were miles on end where my "lane" was the 2 ft of crumbling road-edge on my side of the line.
pretty hairy...
i did about 20-25 miles at a time, WOT mostly, averaged 25mph level and maintained 23mph uphill withj a bit of pedaling here and there.then had a smoke and admired the overwhelming views while the engine cooled.
the tire thingy was too easy. i was right by a dept store that had some bell foldable kevlars and extra thick slime tubes. $25 and half an hour later (i used a shopping cart to "hang" the seat on, that was easy too) and i was rolling.
not one tiny engine problem, i swear, so i guess i've answered my own early question about the long-distance endurance of the "happy time." i used 1.6 gallons of 30:1.
165 miles of coastal madness in 12 hours!
would i do it again? maybe not, now that i know about those 5-mile steady climbs. maybe so because it was as kick-ass an adventure as you could want...guess we'll see what comes up for the PNW 8)