70 miles to Ft. Stevens

With the help of Ambien, I had a good nights' rest. We all broke down our camps and had breakfast. We ate the freshly picked blackberries with our oatmeal - nice treat!! Tea doesn't really do it for me in the morning but I knew we would be stopping in Birkenfeld shortly. Dave and Edna got going before Mike and me. As I started riding a pain in my knee had me taking notice. I remembered feeling something as we ended our ride yesterday but figured it would alright with rest. As we rode on the pain increased to the point I was worried. After about 5 miles I asked Mike to stop so I could adjust my cleats hoping that would help. It did somewhat. I decided to make another adjustment in Birkenfeld. Boy was I upset. I'm sure someone driving to the retreat today would have been able the pick me up but I really wanted to ride. I made another adjustment, popped some Advil, drank a latte and that seemed to do the trick. I'll bet that extra speed yesterday put extra stress on my knee. It was a great relief to be able to continue on. Just before we arrived in Birkenfeld we past a field with a long line of blue rooms set up for the Hood To Coast run. It was a beautiful day with temps in the high 70's . Temperatures in Portland were expected in the 90's so we were grateful to be climbing the coastal range with the lower temps. Last year was my first year on a recumbent and I had to walk alot of the hills. This year I made it with no problems. One of the nice things about riding a trike is you can stop and get started again anywhere. Edna and I rode together and gabbed our way through the day. It was very comfortable. We stopped about every hour for a rest and a snack. The riding was very quiet. I expected more logging trucks. We were stopped once by some logging operations but that was about it. The terrain is beautiful and lush. As we crested the top of the mountain the landscape become more stark and rocky. The ride down was very fast. Dave had flat after he rode into a pot hole. I was surprised he was able to keep such good control of the bike. He had it fixed in no time and we continued on down the hill into very lush, thick overgrowth. The temperture dropped at least 10 degrees but still very comfortable. This year we went into Astoria around another way. I liked it better. There is something about riding by water that I really like. It feels so clean. We refilled our water supplies and took a potty break at a restaurant just before the Astoria bridge. This bridge has a sign that blinks caution lights for bicyclists crossing. All the roads around Astoria were pretty flat and had good shoulders. We made one more pit stop before arriving at the Ft. Stevens campground. I found my site and set up feeling very proud of my riding. This is a big accomplishment for me. After setting up camp and taking a shower I rode around and saw there were already a number of recumbent retreat riders. Everyone was excited to see each other. I liked getting there a day early.