Author: Desert Pedal

January 23

Drove over the hills to the beach yesterday. Where US 26 intersects 101, on the left coast the best coast, we usually turn south a little ways to Cannon Beach but today we turned north to investigate Gearhart, beach town little bit north of Seaside.
Seaside has the large hotels and attractions and fancy main drag and a flavor similar to Crescent City, just below the surface a dark underbelly of dinge.
Keep going north past the franchises and “treasure” shops and there is Gearhart with almost no commercial activity. Upper scale second or third or fourth vacation homes for the Portland “elite” I hear.
There’s a post office, bakery, cafe, and a Mcmenamins on a golf course swarming with unmasked scurrilous heathens. Much quieter than Cannon Beach; more spread out and roomy. Plentiful parking and easy beach access with acres of dunes to meander with a straight shot north to the mouth of the Columbia and south to the mouth of the Neawanna.

Tossed in the fat BOB prototype modeled after the Coast Kid’s design. Swing arm is a sturdy brace of perforated angle steel with a kite buggy wheel hanging off the back end on a 20mm bolt. Tire is run near flat the carcass providing enough support for the lunch box. Maybe with use as flexibility increases it may need a few more PSI but for now it spreads out and floats nice across the top of the sand. Makes a good platform to haul treats and layers and collecting the flotsam and jetsam.

Making way…on a grand day seeing the new sights on the tide flats with the fat bikes.

oh you shoulda seen it man settin on the couch Friday morning pissin rain forecast says all damn day and i say to her i am going ridin and she says yer nutz be home fer dinner I says Okey dokey and off I go and it rains and rains and rains and i get to the trailhead and i says what the heck am i doin this for then realize that i need to do it to keep the juices flowin so off we go me and the bike and I am soaked within half mile of the car and i say to self, self just get to the next spot then the next spot then the next spot keep going keep goin an hour an a half later get to the overlook and there’s little white snowflecks amongst the rain drops and it’s stickin’ on the ground and i says to myself Geez Im kindof gettin cold out here so turn tail and blast it back to the car mud sprayin and flyin and deer dartin and no one else in the forest far as i can tell but me and it is a fine time to have to one’s self and it made me realize a larger fender would make the overall experience less bad.