Biking to the Beach

As most Oregon bicyclists know, Pacific City is the destination of the Reach The Beach ride held every May. The rides vary in length by where you start, but they all end here, in our still tiny beach town. I'm in no way trying to promote that you stay here after riding in the Reach The Beach event. I have had the same group here since we opened, they have a standing reservation.

I am suggesting you ride over on an alternate route from the Reach the Beach ride. This route is one of the 10 best bike rides in the state. Nestucca River Road.

Get your bike and gear an hop on the, bike friendly, West Side MAX to the Hillsboro station. Head south through rolling farmland and vineyards to Carlton. Here is where you turn west along Meadow Lake Road into the Coast Range. After a good climb to the summit, it's all downhill to Highway 101 at Beaver. Head north just a bit to Sandlake Road, which you can follow all the way to Pacific City and The Craftsman B&B. Click here for a map. A few miles of Nestucca River Road are unpaved, though the gravel is generally well-packed and suitable for road bikes.

So you made it, now how are you going to get home? Well, last year some guests rode back, but if that's too much for you, you can take the bus. The Wave has bike racks on all bus's, pick it up in Pacific City, change in Tillamook and get off at the Hilsboro MAX, or downtown Portland.

What an awesome green way to travel! Stay 2 nights and we discount to room when you arrive on 2 wheels.

Best Breakfast

A few weeks ago, I wrote an entry about some bikers heading down the Pacific Coast.  Read about it here.  Their goal was to get as far as they could.  If that meant San Diego, San Francisco or as it turns out, San Luis Obispo.  Mike almost made it to SLO to attend Cal Poly, he didn't.  He got a job in the trade he wanted to after moving to California and was making too much money to give it up to spend way too much money at school.

So the ESB tour posted a recap of their ride and The Craftsman B&B was chosen for Best Breakfast!  Their tour was 29 days, we were early in their trip and are glad we were so memorable.  We served a Fritatta, and that's not even our signature dish of Banana's Foster French Toast.  They had a rough time the day they checked in so we wanted to make sure they had a hearty meal for the days ride up Slab Creek Road, also chosen as one of the top roads, over Cascade Head.

Congrats on the ride.  I may be stout, but I think I'm fit, just not fit enough to attempt such a journey.

Biking and Blogging

Here at The Craftsman B&B we get our share of bikers.  Not the rowdy kind, the fit kind.  We do not have a two night minimum most B&B's have.  So bikers going down the Oregon coast, stop for a rest here in Pacific City.

We store their bikes on our secure garage so no worries there.  We have a hot tub, just what they need.  Our Mackintosh Room has a soaking tub, so that is the room they usually book.  We feed them well and send them of with a bag of cookies or brownies for that afternoon snack.

So we a noticing the a lot of the bikers are also blogging on their way.  A group here earlier this year had the wives following in a car.  The laptop stayed in the car during the ride.  I wrote about it here.  Yesterday we had a couple who were riding with their laptop, blogging every day.

You can read the blog here.  I like that they are doing a daily road kill report.  Things you don't notice when driving a car.  Some descriptions are more vague than others depending on the condition as they encounter it.  I also like the plan of the ride.  If they make it to San Francisco and decide to stop they will.  If they get further, great.  If not no big deal.  They are not tied to any dates or places.  Making reservations day to day.  When it is forecasted to be lousy weather for biking, they will do a rest day.  The goal is San Diego, or where ever they decide.

They are doing it casual, just like we like it here.  If I get to go for a walk, great.  If I lounge around the house all day, that's OK.  If the UPS driver comes to annoy me, I survive.  The only thing I need to make sure of is that I eat my dinner at 5:00.  I can hardly wait.