Larry's log.
The extra hour of sleep was appreciated! The first 20 miles (along the interstate again) was basically a continuation of the lack of spectacular scenery that marked the final stretch of yesterday's ride. About six of us rode in a pack down the interstate to the first rest stop at 20 miles. Judith and Daniel started it off by keeping the pace at 20+ and several others contributed as well. Once we exited the interstate, things got more interesting. A few miles down the road in Echo, I misread my queue sheet and followed the road left where I should have gone straight. I thought I was on the right road, because after I turned, there was a climb. And the sheet had noted a climb about a half mile after the turn-off.About four miles later, I reached the interstate. There was nothing on the queue sheet about meeting up with the interstate this soon. And there were no other paved roads leading away from it. Another rider had followed me at the wrong turn (I bet HE was sorry!). He showed up a minute or two later and I told him I think we were in the wrong place. He pulled out his area map (they give us those, too, but I hadn't taken mine today), and we saw that we were. We headed back and rejoined the tour route. I had been near the front of the group at the turn-off, now I was near the back. While I had been at the interstate, trying to find the right road (which I didn't find because I was lost), out comes this truck off of a gravel road hauling three Porta Potties. He was lost, too. "Do you know where Frontage Road is?" he asked. I'm sure that meant the I-84 frontage, but there wasn't any frontage road at this spot. I told him I was sort of lost too, so really couldn't help him out. I'm not sure he believed me. That moment struck me as comical; me lost on my bike and this guy hauling three toilets also lost. I don't know, maybe you just had to be there.A couple of miles back on the route was an Oregon Trail historical marker. There are a lot of these along the route. This one noted a spot on the original trail. The problem was it was set too far back behind a fence, so you couldn't read the detail. At the second rest stop, I spotted the triple bike, fixing a flat. The three year old had the old tube in his hand. Someone asked him, "What are you doing, Henry?" His response, "Looking for the hole!" About 15 miles past the second stop, 50 miles into the day's route (60 for those who took a wrong turn), a ten mile, 4000 foot climb started. Along part of it was open range, where I spotted a few cows crossing the road right in front of me. Six miles up (about 3000 feet into it) was an old gas station labeled "Boiling Point." Apparently, it was so named, because when trucks would use this old road, this was as far as they could get before overheating. (Today, I could relate.) They would stop here for water, and usually buy something as well. The person running the place now is a triathlete, and told several of the riders about how cyclists come to train on this hill (from where?). He was obviously enjoying the strung out line of riders climbing it. The views on this climb were awesome. The valley floor and interstate were far below. You could also look down on the ascending road we had taken, and see riders still making their way up. It was a neat effect. At the top, the terrain changed again, from the bare, brown terrain, to pine trees. In fact, 20 or 30 miles down the road, we rode through part of a National Forest. After all of the climbing, there was descending as well. There was a nice, gentle eight mile descent from Kamela back to the interstate. After the interstate, I noticed a clearing in the forest. Where the clearing met the road was a white dotted line across the line marked, "Fiber WCOM." One of MCI Worldcom's routes must run through here. The other descent was about three miles of 5% grade on the interstate. We were on I-84 for about the last ten miles of the ride. In general, the interstate hasn't been great riding, because there can be gravel and glass on the shoulder (ie, flat tires). However, there are rumble strips just to the far left, so you feel quite safe riding to the right of them. It's unlikely cars would make their way over with the rumble strips there. LeGrande is a larger town. We used the afternoon to do laundry. After laundry, we made dinner by grazing our way back to the motel (burrito at Taco Time, pita at Wendy's, Blizzard at DQ). I think it was marginally cooler today. I heard this morning that it had officially reached 100 yesterday. I'm pretty sure today may have "only" been in the mid-90s. Humidity is 17%. I think it is supposed to cool off some more tomorrow. We'll see. Our motel is directly across from a quarter mile long Boise Cascade sawmill.The air outside smells quite nice, like wood chips!
-- Larry Schwartz
What a glorious morning!! And warm too. I dressed warmly again, but by the time I was ready to ride, I had to take off all of the extra layers. The first 20 miles along the I-84 interstate, prior to the first rest stop, was a very fast but enjoyable. Daniel and I lead the group for most of the trip at a 20+ mile an hour pace. What made it even more thrilling for me was the fact that I had Muffy Ritz drafting behind us. Muffy is a RAAM finisher (Race Across America) and I had followed her 1997 race very closely. We had a great conversation and I did find out that she had held the women's Gatineau 55 cross country ski record at one time. She is not sure if she still holds it now. After the first rest stop, we slowed the pace down. Besides, the scenary improved greatly and we rode along side quite a bit of the rail line. Even saw a deer dashing across a field. I think we scared it!! After the second rest stop in Pendleton, the ride became much more challenging. It went uphill for what seemed like forever. Both Daniel and I enjoy the challenge of hill climbing so we were enjoying it. Because the road climbed gradually and had plenty of switchbacks, we were able to see riders ahead and behind along the road. Plus the scenary was awesome and there was a small breeze to keep us cool thoughout the climb. But it was a relief to see the radio towers at the highest point of the climb. Lunch at the overlook was well deserved!! There were a number of other cyclists there and many who were not looking at getting on the bike very quickly. Some were even on their 3rd and 4th plate!! After our fill of pasta, grilled cheese and chocolate cake, we got back on the bike for the next leg of the trip. We started climbing for about 9 miles at a very gradual grade. That did not last very long because we hit a stretch of about a 5 mile downhill. The road was free of traffic and we flew down to the last rest stop very quickly. After some cool drinks, we continued the last leg of the trip to town. And this was mostly downhill. Boy can we fly down the hills. Another cyclist tried to stay behind us on the hills but he could not keep up! And we weren't even pedaling! We flew by Larry and navigated through the downtown area of La Grange, to the motel. Tomorrow we will ride 123 miles to Ontario, OR and enter the Mountain time zone.
Judith Jolly (and Daniel Schaaf)