Day7
June 7, 2005
Today was insane! First, listen to these stats: 1 day, 114.54 miles, 3 passes, 8 hours 39 minutes actual on-bike riding time, average speed 13.2 mph. I hope that sounds like an accomplishment, because it is. I don’t know how smart an accomplishment, but an accomplishment nonetheless.
We started the day in Dayville right at nine. The plan was to get within an ear shot of Baker City so we could get to their bike shop at a reasonable hour, preferably around noon or so. We were thinking about heading down around Sumpter, roughly 70 miles from Dayville and 30 from Baker City.
At the adamant recommendation from the locals in Dayville, we rode 20 miles into Mt. Vernon to go to Dixie’s – “The best breakfast in the World!” as we were told. Luckily it was pretty good. We each had a pretty big meal, Chaz even decided to go for the fresh, warm Cherry Rhubarb Pie, a la mode to top it off. It was around 11:30 when we left Dixie’s and Mt. Vernon.
As we got rolling again, for what reason I don’t know, I told them how I was thinking we may be able to just go all the way to Baker City. According to the map, it was supposedly relatively downhill to Baker City after the last pass. We were already crossing the three passes, why not go for it and just be able to chill out in the morning. Once they thought it over, they were set on it. As they got excited and pretty convinced it could be done, I started then to wonder why I opened my mouth at all.
The first pass was a long, rather straight stretch. I felt pretty good going into it, but couldn’t hold the pace the guys were able to tackle it with; I ended up meeting them at the bottom in Austin Junction. There was a store there, only one store, and of course, it was closed on Tuesdays. But the lady who owns the store/restaurant, and lives in back, saw Chris and Chaz pull up and opened it up for us to fill up on snacks for the rest of the ride, we had covered 61 miles, we had 53 left to go.
The second pass came and, again, I wasn’t able to hang with the others. Sometimes I wish I could tackle a hill with a regular bike to see what a difference it would make. But anyway, they had just rounded a corner and were pretty far up when I picked up a couple of thorns and had yet another flat, not the most ideal time for a flat. I didn’t even try to look at what happened, I just grabbed my spare tire and new spare tube, that I picked up in Dayville, and went to work changing them out. I fixed it in under 30 minutes and went back to the grind of the hill. It always seems that I get a flat just a looming shower approaches, this was no different. But thankfully I knocked out the pass and came off the hill before the shower came.
I was worried the guys would be waiting around and wondering what happened. So, I wrote out a little message and asked a lady in a passing car to deliver it to them up the road. She was very nice, made sure I was okay, wished me luck, and took off to complete the mission. About 2 miles up the road I came over a hill and saw the guys hanging out, waiting for me. I was relieved to see them. I had reconciled to fact that I may pull into Baker City alone, but I definitely wasn’t looking forward to it. It was great of them to hang around and make sure I was alright. The lady did deliver the note and told them I’d be along in about ten minutes.
As we were headed to the third pass that shower came. It was a “wintery mix” of nastiness: cold rain, sleet, wind, cold rain… Not fun, especially since we already went through a little rain and our feet were still trying to dry and forget about that. But we tackled that hurdle. That one was the worst mentally, it just seemed as if it’d never end. But it did.
We enjoyed the nice, long, frigid “down” off the mountain and set our sights on Baker City. We were already pretty beat and we had another 27 miles to go.
We pulled into town around 9:30. We ended up coming to the Oregon Trail Motel, home of the 3 queen size bed room. We made a few late night phone calls to folks back home, ordered some pizzas, and warmed up in the shower – individually, of course.
Again, I don’t know how courageous or ridiculously dumb it was, but it felt good to conquer it and say we did it.
And that’s about it. Crazy, huh? I’ll let you know how the body feels tomorrow.
Today: 114.54 Total: 434.68
Today was insane! First, listen to these stats: 1 day, 114.54 miles, 3 passes, 8 hours 39 minutes actual on-bike riding time, average speed 13.2 mph. I hope that sounds like an accomplishment, because it is. I don’t know how smart an accomplishment, but an accomplishment nonetheless.
We started the day in Dayville right at nine. The plan was to get within an ear shot of Baker City so we could get to their bike shop at a reasonable hour, preferably around noon or so. We were thinking about heading down around Sumpter, roughly 70 miles from Dayville and 30 from Baker City.
At the adamant recommendation from the locals in Dayville, we rode 20 miles into Mt. Vernon to go to Dixie’s – “The best breakfast in the World!” as we were told. Luckily it was pretty good. We each had a pretty big meal, Chaz even decided to go for the fresh, warm Cherry Rhubarb Pie, a la mode to top it off. It was around 11:30 when we left Dixie’s and Mt. Vernon.
As we got rolling again, for what reason I don’t know, I told them how I was thinking we may be able to just go all the way to Baker City. According to the map, it was supposedly relatively downhill to Baker City after the last pass. We were already crossing the three passes, why not go for it and just be able to chill out in the morning. Once they thought it over, they were set on it. As they got excited and pretty convinced it could be done, I started then to wonder why I opened my mouth at all.
The first pass was a long, rather straight stretch. I felt pretty good going into it, but couldn’t hold the pace the guys were able to tackle it with; I ended up meeting them at the bottom in Austin Junction. There was a store there, only one store, and of course, it was closed on Tuesdays. But the lady who owns the store/restaurant, and lives in back, saw Chris and Chaz pull up and opened it up for us to fill up on snacks for the rest of the ride, we had covered 61 miles, we had 53 left to go.
The second pass came and, again, I wasn’t able to hang with the others. Sometimes I wish I could tackle a hill with a regular bike to see what a difference it would make. But anyway, they had just rounded a corner and were pretty far up when I picked up a couple of thorns and had yet another flat, not the most ideal time for a flat. I didn’t even try to look at what happened, I just grabbed my spare tire and new spare tube, that I picked up in Dayville, and went to work changing them out. I fixed it in under 30 minutes and went back to the grind of the hill. It always seems that I get a flat just a looming shower approaches, this was no different. But thankfully I knocked out the pass and came off the hill before the shower came.
I was worried the guys would be waiting around and wondering what happened. So, I wrote out a little message and asked a lady in a passing car to deliver it to them up the road. She was very nice, made sure I was okay, wished me luck, and took off to complete the mission. About 2 miles up the road I came over a hill and saw the guys hanging out, waiting for me. I was relieved to see them. I had reconciled to fact that I may pull into Baker City alone, but I definitely wasn’t looking forward to it. It was great of them to hang around and make sure I was alright. The lady did deliver the note and told them I’d be along in about ten minutes.
As we were headed to the third pass that shower came. It was a “wintery mix” of nastiness: cold rain, sleet, wind, cold rain… Not fun, especially since we already went through a little rain and our feet were still trying to dry and forget about that. But we tackled that hurdle. That one was the worst mentally, it just seemed as if it’d never end. But it did.
We enjoyed the nice, long, frigid “down” off the mountain and set our sights on Baker City. We were already pretty beat and we had another 27 miles to go.
We pulled into town around 9:30. We ended up coming to the Oregon Trail Motel, home of the 3 queen size bed room. We made a few late night phone calls to folks back home, ordered some pizzas, and warmed up in the shower – individually, of course.
Again, I don’t know how courageous or ridiculously dumb it was, but it felt good to conquer it and say we did it.
And that’s about it. Crazy, huh? I’ll let you know how the body feels tomorrow.
Today: 114.54 Total: 434.68
posted by SuperByron3000 at 6/08/2005
1 Comments:
BJ,
You are a machine! Heather and I read your journal every couple of nights and it's like story time with BJ. It's really like reading a fictional book, then we remember that it's really happening and we actually know the adventurer. Keep strong and stay safe,
Nick and Heather and Nathan Cerda
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