Weekend at the Oregon Coast!

The awsomeness just doesn't stop! Weekend before last, we had a blast on our trip to Newport for the Coast Hills Classic XC Race.

Sam and I climbing my childhood climbing tree!

Since I (Shane) had to work until 7:00PM, Sam, Bob, Kodi and Kai (she guarded everything), got everything jammed into the car and swung by work, to pick me and my awesome bike up! Since it was so late in the evening, we decided to soften the blow of having a long, late, drive and stopped 3/4 of the way to the coast to stay the night with Papa (my dad) at the Johnson Estates in Corvallis. It's always a relaxing stay at the house, as it has a beautiful garden and yard, smack dab in the middle of farm fields, creating a super peaceful and calming setting. We awoke to a brightly shining sun and proceeded to cook up a solid breakfast of hashbrowns, eggs, bacon and of course OJ! Following our short stay, we took off towards the crashing waves of the Oregon Coast.

Relaxing as we eat some delicious breakfast.

Kai hydrating after some frisbee action!

 When we arrived, the waves were more splashing against the sand, but the sun was out and offered warmth we've never experienced at the coast before, we thought Hwy 20 somehow transported us to a SoCal beach on our drive over! 

Wait, is this the Oregon Coast or California?!

Unloading the Subie at the beach house!

Our plans to stay at the coast were based on the great luck that my dad has a house in Otter Rock, a small community just north of Newport. We arrived at the house, still shocked by the warm sunshine, and unloaded into the spacious, coastal retreat. 




Bob and Kodi took the short walk down to the beach for some frisbee time with Kai. Sam and I took the bikes out and went out in search of trail and to get a nice spin to free up our legs, in preparation for the next day's race. Sadly our dirt search came up short, but we didn't come up short on beautiful scenery!

Sam spinning out the legs and enjoying the view.

Driving across the Newport Bridge.

After our little ride, we met up with Bob and Kodi and walked down to Mo's to load up on calories by consuming insane amounts of her famous Clam Chowder. After the four of us devoured two of the family pots of chowder, we topped it all off by getting some Marionberry Cobbler and a Brownie Sundae topped with Chocolate and Caramel. We waddled out to the Otter Rock Bluff where we watched my dad surf a couple of the small/smooshy waves before the sun went down. By this time, Sean, Ashley and Celeste had shown up at the house so we all hung out for the evening by the fire before retiring to bed for a good nights sleep.

Morning consisted of the normal race routine, eat a solid breakfast and scamper our way out the door. Once again, we had beautiful sunshine to enjoy as we drove the short 25 minutes from the house to the race course, located just south of Yaquina Bay. 

The race area was abuzz with activity as vendors setup their tents, the volunteers got their last instructions, racers warmed up and registered and the promoters put the finishing touches on the impressive race headquarters. We got our number plates and headed back to the car to finish getting ready and squeeze in a little too short of a warm-up.

The starting pace was fast and furious!

Rolling up to the start, we got instructions from the race director, Liam, then final words from Mike Ripley, the Chief Referee and we were off!! The course consisted of a 1/4 mile or so climb up a gravel road. I knew being a short course, I had to put the pedal to the metal immediately, so I hammered up the hill and was able to jump onto the singletrack in second position. 

Sadly, this was where the lack of a solid warm-up bit me in the butt. My poor legs yelled at me pretty hard, so after a successful start, I had to let up a bit and lost several positions. Thankfully, this was short lived and I was able to start pushing hard again as we hit the punchy power road climbs. The course was super fun and had a good mixture of tough terrain. Along with the gravel climbs, we encountered singletrack that had rough/rooty sections as well as smooth buffed out sections, a couple mud pits and open field (literally a field) riding where the wind could beat you up pretty well. As the first lap progressed, I was able to reel back a couple guys that had pulled in front of me and as lap two began, I found myself riding with Karsten Hagen and Matt Cline, two very strong riders. We exchanged blows for the first half of the lap, each of us pulling ahead, only to be reeled back again. Midway up one of the steeper climbs, I didn't stay focused and let the pain in my legs get to me a bit too much and a small gap formed between myself and the other two guys. After snapping out of this small mental lapse, I had my work cut out for me as I rode as hard as I could to try and close the gap (including a 30+ MPH singletrack descent). Karsten was able to pull away out of sight, but Matt was right there and he knew it too as we both pushed ourselves to the limit for the rest of the race. I was able to narrow the gap, but not quite enough, as he was able to stay away across the finish line, only 7 tiny seconds in front. It was brutal to take 4th place by that small of a margin, but he earned that podium spot with his hard effort. 

Sean was all smiles post race!

Bob was able to ride strong and finish in 8th place, as his high end fitness is coming around well. Sean's body unfortunately succumbed to the heat and humidity, it was an average of 80 degrees (riding in shade) at the coast (lots of moisture), but his mountain biking soul had a good time slaying some fun trail as he finished in 10th!

Sam crushing it up the hill, post mud pit!

Sam was the other victim of the day, as she took a bad fall in one of the mud pits. It was a high speed descent into the mud pit, where you had to take a slight right hand turn and then head back uphill. Her front wheel decided it didn't want to go that route, instead, stopping and chucking her over the handlebars into the cyclone fencing that was the boundary for the Newport Airport. She scorpioned as she hit the ground (think heels to the back of the head, OUCH!). After gathering herself, she got back up and finished up the race, with her handlebars badly skewed compared to the wheel, (wheel 12 o'clock, handlebar/stem 2 o'clock). Even with the crash, she was able to finish in 2nd place, posting a time that would have her in the middle of the pack with the Men's racers! Hats off to her for a tough showing.

Post-race was where things got even better! The organizers had about 30 huge pizzas arrive, along with ice cold water and gatorade for all the racers to munch away on. To be able to gorge ourselves on delicious pizza while sitting in the warm sunshine, put a cap on the fantastic event! We hung around for the raffle, sadly walking away empty handed, but we did work on erasing our winter white skin!

Sam and Bob enjoying the post-race sunshine.

Bob and Kodi flashing their pearly whites.

Sean and Ashley hanging out during the awards.

 

We don't ever pose or anything......

We jetted back to the house and packed up so we could get some quality time on the beach before having to make the trek back home to Central Oregon. Once again, we marveled at the incredible warmth we got to enjoy out in the sand. Me being the kid I am, got to work on a sand castle, getting Sean, Bob and Kodi to come help build a sweet drip castle! As the tide started to come up, threatening our beautiful masterpiece, we saw it was time to go, so we headed up the steep beach access stairs before we had to witness the destructive forces of the ocean.

Before we left the coast, we had to eat some good seafood at least one more time! Per the insiders/locals (Papa and his awesome girlfriend Jan) recommended a trip to the Chowder Bowl at Nye Beach in Newport. Well they nailed it, the food was super delicious, portion sizes were outrageous, Bob actually needed help finishing his huge salad and we couldn't decide who is the Clam Chowder winner between Chowder Bowl and Mo's.

Bob, Kodi, Jan, Papa, Ashley, Sean and Celeste!

Stuffed full of food, we loaded into the car to begin the 3.5 hour drive back to the high country. As our food comas subsided during the trip, we decided it would be necessary to come back soon and have our own, side by side Clam Chowder tasting competition sometime soon!

Thanks for reading! Our next race stays in the homeland, with Cascade Chainbreaker, an epically dusty Bend race!

-Shane Johnson