Oregon Coast

Trip Summary

9 Days / 8 Nights
Avg miles per day: 30-60
Hill profile: Some nice hills.
Cost: Approximately $5,100 per couple
($2,550/person)

Join us for a nine day tour of the Oregon Coast. We begin and end at the Portland PDX airport. On this tour, you will enjoy beautiful scenery as you pedal down the Pacific Coast highway. Other attractions include whale watching, walks along the beach, running up and down massive sand dunes, strolling through quaint towns, viewing wild sea otters and just stopping at the scenic overlooks along the way. On our last full day of the tour, we will take a tour of the Co-Motion Factory in Eugene, Oregon.

Day 1
Friday		 We start our tour by meeting at a hotel by the airport. We will assemble bikes and take a short ride around town. Portland is one of the most bike friendly cities, anywhere! It is nicknamed Bike City, USA and has over 315 miles of bikeways. We will take a ride around Portland. Ride over Tilikum Crossing: Bridge of the People, the newest bridge in the city. If you can arrive a bit earlier, we will also offer longer rides. We will enjoy a group, introductory dinner.
Day 2
Saturday		 After a short transport to the west side of Portland, we will start our ride in the town of Gales Creek. The first ten miles or so of the route is a steep uphill – about 1200 feet in 10 miles. You can avoid the uphill by shortening the ride somewhat and letting us drop you off at the top of the hill. Once you are over that mountain, it is smooth sailing through the Tillamook State Forest, where we will enjoy a picnic lunch overlooking the river, and then into the town of Tillamook. Mileage is 35 to 50 miles. We will visit the Tillamook Forest Visitor Center and the Tillamook Cheese Factory.
Day 3
Sunday		 We ride to the Pacific Ocean stopping at the Cape Meares Lighthouse and Wildlife Refuge. Take a short hike to the lighthouse. There are spectacular views! In addition, we have an optional ride to the Tillamook Air Museum – a large hangar that housed several blimps during WWII. We will enjoy another picnic lunch at Cape Lookout State Park. We end the day in Pacific City at the Inn at Cape Kiwanda.
Explore the nearby Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area and climb the massive sand dunes and watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. Dinner is on your own. (37 to 42 miles)
Day 4
Monday		 We continue riding south along the ocean. There are too many vantage points to take pictures and view the spectacular coastline to mention each one. We recommend stopping at the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge around mile 5. Then you will ride through Lincoln City where you can stop by the Prehistoric Museum and store with its dinosaur fossils, minerals and meteorites. You can also visit the lovely shops in Lincoln City. We can pick up anything that you buy so you won’t have to carry it on the bike. We end the day in the town of Depoe Bay. Explore the Boiler Bay State Wayside where you can watch the waves and maybe even spot a whale. We will enjoy a group dinner. (39 miles)
Day 5
Tuesday		 We will spend the day at Depoe Bay. We offer a loop ride for those who don’t want a day off the bike. In addition, the tour includes a two hour whale watching tour. In September, the whales come closer to the shore to feed. Check out Whale Park where you may see the whales right from the park! Dinner is on your own.
Day 6
Wednesday		 We continue on our trek south riding along the coast. Stop at the Devils Punchbowl State Natural Area where you can see Otter Rock and watch the tides play with the rock formations.

Ride through the town of Newport, with its long beach and downtown area where Sea Lions often come to hang out. Stop by the galleries near Seal Rock. We end the day further south in the town of Yachats. Dinner is on your own. (38 miles)
Day 7
Thursday		 Continuing south, there is still more beauty as you stop by the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area and the Sea Lion Caves. Today we ride to the town of Florence. You can explore Old Town in Florence as it is a short walk (and even shorter ride) from our Inn. We offer two distances – 26 miles and 32 miles (including an out and back to sand dunes). Dinner is on your own.
Day 8
Friday		 We leave the coast and head east. We will ride to the lovely Lake Creek Falls where we will enjoy a picnic lunch right by the falls. If it’s warm enough, feel free to hop in for a swim! Then we will load the bikes onto a truck and take a bus ride to Eugene where we will tour the Co-Motion headquarters and factory. After the tour, we will continue by bus to our hotel in Portland where we will enjoy a group dinner on this, our final night.
Day 9
Saturday		 We will offer a 30 mile ride around Portland, after which you can disassemble your bike as our tour ends. Our hotel provides a free shuttle to the airport.

This is an eight night trip. The cost of the trip will be approximately $5,100/team ($2,550/person). As with most of our tours, we limit the size of the tour to a maximum of 10 couples.

What is included?

  • 8 nights lodging in hotels or country inns
  • 8 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 3 dinners
  • Transportation to the Gales Creek start point and back from Lake Creek Falls and Eugene
  • Whale watching tour
  • Co-Motion factory tour
  • Luggage transport
  • Support vehicle
  • Tandem bike case storage

Note that we do not provide any bicycles. We expect that you have a tandem that is in good working order and that you are able to assemble your bike. If you do not have your own tandem, you can rent a coupled tandem from Mel at Tandems East. If you live on the West Coast, you might want to consider renting a bike from Mark at Tandem Diversity. Both Mel and Mark sell tandems, so if you end up renting from them, you might get a discount if you purchase a bike from them. If you have a tandem that is not coupled it is possible to bring it, but you should make sure that all of your flights could handle the larger box. Lastly, Adventures in Tandem has a coupled bike that we could rent to you if the sizing works out. Email us for more details.

 

 

What is not included?

  • Airfare
  • Meals, other than those mentioned above
  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Admission to some points of interest that we are not entering as a group

What is the average mileage per day?

Mileage is in the 30-50 mile range each day, with one rest day in the week. There is the option to shorten rides if you take advantage of the SAG support. Longer rides are also possible, but may be out and backs or repeat some roads that we will ride later in the week. Across the week, expect to ride 250 to 350 miles. With the exception of the first full day, which can be avoided with a SAG, there are no sustained steep climbs. However, there are days where there will be some ups and downs. This is not a flat tour. This cycle tour is for intermediate level cyclists.

Where will we be staying?

While this could change, here are some of the hotels that we plan to stay in: