Old Men On Bikes

Dayville, Oregon to Mitchell, Oregon The temperature dropped into the 30s overnight, but the forecast was for it to warm quickly once the sun came up. We decided to wait until 7:00 to depart when it would be a little warmer and the local convenience store would be open. That did not mean we slept late. We inevitably awoke around 5:30, so we made some coffee and hung out at the church for a bit.  After a quick stop at the store, we followed the John Day River about five miles until it entered the Picture Gorge. As we approached the Gorge it appeared as a gigantic gash in the ridge on the north side of the valley. The road through Picture Gorge did not have much shoulder, but what little traffic there was moved slowly. That helped because I was completely distracted by the scenery.   In the gorge the John Day flows north toward the Columbia River, but US 26 turns west and heads up Rock Creek. We had to climb over 2000 feet to our next ...

For the week Distance ridden: 384 Time riding: 38:17:55 Ascent:  12,671 feet For the tour Distance ridden: 3433 miles Time riding: 319:16:46 Ascent: 100,565 feet There were some big milestones this week, mainly reaching out last state, and my home state, Oregon. It was also our biggest week of climbing, and we reached 100,000 feet of ascent. I don't know if John agrees, but i believe the week featured our most grueling day of the tour: 80 miles from Glenns Ferry to Boise . It was our second longest ride is the tour under much harsher conditions than our century from Casper to Shoshoni in Wyoming . It was quite meaningful to reach my home state. I had a feeling Oregon would be the most difficult state to cross, even more so than climbing the Western Continental Divide, but I had been anticipating it for weeks. Our first full day in Oregon proved it would be difficult, but rewarding. I expect Oregon will stand out in our memories of this tour.

Bates State Park Campground, Oregon, to Dayville, Oregon We did not have any cell signal at the campground, so we could not check the weather. It looked dark and gloomy to the west, and we had to climb toward the clouds. The temperature was in the low 40s again. For the second morning in a row we had oatmeal in camp. Typically we do not because we are too lazy for the cleanup, but this morning we needed something hot. We said goodbye to Rhonda and John and were on our way. Our third day in the Blue Mountains started with a climb. My core warmed up quickly with the climbing, but my hands and toes were cold. There was nothing I could do about it since I have only a light pair of full-fingered gloves and mid-weight wool socks. As we approached the top we started to get a little rain. It was not much more than a mist so we did not get very wet. John brought only shorts on the trip, but he bought a pair of tights in Casper. He finally donned them today and I believe he was thank...