5 min read

A good (fast) coastal ride

A good (fast) coastal ride
Looking down from Ecola State Park, from my own Oregon Coast bike tour

I didn't hear about it when this happened this past summer live, but I've been really digging the long-form videos that the Vegan Cyclist guy has been posting once a day to his YouTube channel for the past week.

Here's where you'd want to start on day one:

In this series, he's shooting for the fastest known time (FKT) of the entire west coast, which he estimated to previously be around 12 days. He rides about 150-200mi/day and has minimal gear and is on course to finish it in less than ten days.

Selfie from September 2014 near Newport, Oregon

I did the whole of Oregon's coast on my bike solo and unsupported back in 2014. I wasn't racing for any records though, so I only shot for a 75/mi per day average to give myself enough time to enjoy the scenery and use it as a vacation for myself.

His videos have been fun to see every morning for the past week. He's more of a gym bro than I expected but he's got an infectious energy that is fun to watch. I tend to skip ahead when he complains about how much work making instagram reels is, but it's still a highly enjoyable video series and I loved getting to relive my ride through his eyes.

The early internet's Rushmore of cycling

I haven't heard about the Vegan Cyclist guy in ages, but 10 to 15 years ago when Twitter was still kinda new, I remember a handful of early people that paved the way for everyone else. There was the Radtivist guy down in Texas, the BikeSnobNYC guy, the Cophenhaganize guy from Denmark, and the Vegan Cyclist.

I'd never seen a photo of him or seen him on camera until this video series, so hilariously and stupidly, I just assumed a guy that talked about being vegan nonstop would be a scrawny skinny guy. He's pretty pumped and it probably helps dispel the myths around veganism and why he built up so much muscle recently.

Compare/Contrast

My favorite thing from watching his videos was seeing how he reacted to the same sections I rode 10 years before. He kind of makes fun of everyone who gave him warnings and grief about the Astoria-Megler Bridge, which separates Washington state and Oregon on the coast. He says it was no big deal as he's riding it.

I hated every second on that bridge. It was hella dangerous, sketchy as fuck, and I came within inches of being splattered by a huge RV that drove so close to me I could feel the side mirror brushing my arm. If I ever had to cross that bridge again on a bike, I would walk the entire length while pushing my bike rather than ride it again.

Otter Crest Loop bridge in 2014

I agree with him that the Otter Crest Loop is the best part of the entire Oregon Coast and one of the most beautiful rides I've done in my life. I was bummed he didn't turn around and take photos of the bridge he rode over while on the loop, since I caught the afternoon sun on it (above) and it was a view I'll never forget.

A few times in his videos, he talks about big gaps on the Oregon coast between towns, as they're about 25 miles apart and I found there's always a better hotel at the next city and you don't have to ride 60 extra miles to find one. He eventually picks up on the pattern and the pace but doesn't ever explain the reason why (it's because of stagecoach trails).

The biggest difference between my ride and his is that someone doing the same tour as me a couple days behind me was hit and killed during my trip, on the same roads I was riding just a couple days before. I have no idea if the Vegan Cyclist guy gets into any weird interactions with drivers in the last four days, but low-level danger was in the back of my mind all week, so much so that before my ride, I actually met with a lawyer to update my will. When I heard a rider was killed in Tillamook just after I left there, it really hammered home how dangerous it is to "share" the roads with drivers. I don't think the driver got even a ticket for killing a guy instantly, since it was foggy and he didn't see the rider until it was too late.

How will it end?

He's up to day 6 of his ten total videos and it's clear he's going to crush the record by at least a couple days. I really love seeing him get jazzed when he finds a vegan food truck and can eat anything, or when strangers/fans link up to him and give him a burrito. He obviously feeds off any social interactions he gets while out on a long lonely road ride for over 12 hours a day. I felt the same while I did it and I would have gone bonkers for anyone that showed up to ride alongside me.

It gets really lonely out there by yourself and you start to go a little crazy if you haven't planned for ways to deal with it. I posted a daily update to Tumblr every night of my trip and tweeted every time I stopped for a rest to try and stay connected with folks. I totally recognize how he didn't get enough sleep because of it, often I would get to my hotel around 6pm, get dinner, and then be blogging and tweaking photos past midnight when I should have went to bed much earlier.

There's a whole website of people doing epic bike tours and a few years ago I got to follow someone from MetaFilter writing up their cross-country trip, then I eventually read all their previous road trip diaries and even started reading current daily entries of people riding cross-country. It's really fun to see the country through others' eyes and hear about their struggles and their small victories.

Anyway, this Vegan Cyclist guy's YouTube version is a lot more slick than a text-only diary website, but it gives me the same feelings I get from reading someone's entire cross country trip diary.

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