The skies were a bit overcast to start with, but the sun came out after an hour or so. Temps started about 12C and climbed to as high as 30C by mid afternoon. We had a bit of a tailwind all way, so really not much to complain about. The first 20 miles or so were pretty darned flat. We followed the Siuslaw River for much of the morning.
Pretty quiet - we were on OR 126 for about 15 miles but had a good shoulder. Mostly cycling through forested rural lands. Once we got up a bit higher there seemed to be more farms and rural residences.
We climbed gently from around mile 20 to mile 40, before climbing a bit more steeply to the town of Triangle Lake.
We passed a covered bridge at mile 32 and had some views of Triangle Lake at about mile 41.
Saw this fixer-upper along the way. Wonder how the “go fund me” campaign is going......
Passed some orchards along the way. I believe these are filbert (or hazelnut) trees.
We were definitely in logging territory today. Some bald hills in the distance, quite a few logging trucks and a big Weyerhaeuser operation. A few small towns (Mapleton, Swisshome, Deadwood, Triangle Lake and Low Pass), but nothing substantial until we hit Eugene (about 160,000).
The rest of the day was pretty much flat with a few downhills. The last 8 miles were on the Fern Ridge Bike Path. Not very scenic, but efficient to get to the hotel while avoiding rush hour traffic. We’re staying in a pretty nice hotel, although the internet seems a bit sketchy. I can’t seem to upload photos......
My initial thoughts yesterday have proven to be true. This is a very strong and experienced group of cyclists; probably the strongest top to bottom of any of the epics that I have been on so far. We did 78 miles today - quite a bit for a first day out, but really a pretty easy 78 miles.
Stats for the day:
126.3 km or 78.5 miles from Florence OR to Eugene OR
2206 feet up, 1819 feet down
Temps from 12C to 30C
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