get out!
TiRe-d
oF bEiNg
iNdOoRs?
Story & photos by
GRETCHEN AMMERMAN
For the TODAY
Y
ou might not have given a thought
lately to the 20-year-old bike that’s
been gathering dust in your garage ever
since dreams of a cross-country adventure
collided with a schedule that doesn’t even
allow for a ride across town.
But now that many of us have more time
on our hands and there are far fewer cars on
the road, can you think of a better time to
blow the dust off that baby and see if she’s
still roadworthy? If not, some bike shops,
including Bike Newport, are arranging
appointments for bike repairs.
“We’re seeing customers we haven’t seen
in years,” said owner Daniella Crowder. “It’s
really an epic time to be riding.”
Online deals on new bikes are getting
hotter by the day, and Bike Newport is
offering a special service if you buy a Trek.
“You can choose and buy a bike online
then tell them to ship it here,” Crowder
said. “We will build it for you and we’ll
even deliver it to your home. We’re doing
everything we can to help people follow the
social distancing rules while still having the
chance for heathy outdoor activities.”
Always wanted to try riding a fat bike
on the beach but don’t want to commit to
buying one yet? Rentals are also available by
appointment.
“The City of Newport had opened the
Nye Beach turnaround,” Crowder said. “So
people can once again ride from the shop to
the beach.”
Though it seems there are many options
for the types of bikes available today, the
overall design hasn’t changed all that much
in the two centuries since people first
started riding them.
Consider the fact that the first bikes,
which surprisingly did get some riders, were
made of metal and wood and didn’t have
anything but a frame and two wheels. No
pedals, no chain and most distressingly, no
brakes. You basically hopped on, pushed off
and hoped for the best.
This design has come full circle in the
form of “balance bikes,” a way for parents
to teach kids to trust the beauty of forward
motion without the investment of a
machine with all the bells and whistles.
The original design, known by such
fun names as “hobby horse” and “running
machine,” went through a rather awkward
stage after about 50 years with the penny
farthing, the bike with the ridiculous, huge
front wheel and almost-superfluous-looking
18 • oregoncoastTODAY.com • facebook.com/oregoncoasttoday • May 1, 2020
one at the rear. After about 20 years of that
hot mess, the design settled into the current
one with roughly matching wheel sizes, a
chain drive and blessedly effective brakes.
Most of the modern improvements
include disk brakes and shocks, but tires are
how you know where a bike is meant to be
ridden. Starting with road bikes, with their
slick small tires; moving to mountain and
gravel bikes, which have wider and knobbier
tires; and then finally the fat bikes, which
have a similar frame to the other bikes but
great big tires that give you an amazingly
smooth ride on really rough surfaces.
Finding places to ride other than the
beach can be a small challenge, but luckily
there are a few online resources that can
help you pick a route.
If you are between Yachats and Lincoln
City, “Lincoln County Scenic Bikeways”
recommends rides along roads that
highlight some of the best that the county
has to offer. Of the six rides, the shortest
is 15 miles, and the longest 69. The guide,
posted on the Lincoln County website at
www.co.lincoln.or.us/publicworks/page/
lincoln-county-bike-maps, provides a short
description of each ride and an elevation
profile, and warns which rides are most
challenging.
My favorite of the routes is along
the Yaquina Bay Road, which follows
the Yaquina River as it snakes from the
Yaquina Bay just south of Newport to
Toledo and from which changing tides
can be experienced. When low, shoals are
exposed, some bare and some covered in
marsh plants. Herons and egrets feed in the
exposed sections and, once a year, visiting
geese hide goslings among the marsh
grasses. The experience is made even better
by the wide shoulder on both sides of the
road, providing a safer alternative to many
cycling routes in the area.
I was once on the bike portion of a
triathlon when the skies opened and hail
poured down on us. I was riding next to
a complete stranger, and we turned to
each other and just started to laugh at the
ridiculousness of the fact that we were not
only here voluntarily, but had paid to for the
privilege. It remains one of my favorite race
memories and reminds me of the saying,
“A bad day on the bike is still better than a
good day on the couch.”
Bike Newport is located at 150 NW 6th
Street. For more information about their
current services, including modified hours
of operation, go to bikenewport.com or call
541-265-9917.