Epi-ride (Epilogue if it was a book)

Dave and I drove home yesterday at a decent hour and arrived home at a decent which allowed me to get a decent nights sleep.  I did keep waking up from my sleep yelling, "NO, I won't eat any more dehydrated food!"  I am ready to return to work this morning and get back to real life.  Oh well.  What did I learn from this ride?

1. You just have to trust Garmin sometimes.
2. You don't need to take as much as you think you need.
3. Extra water bottles are never too heavy.
4. I hate sunblock and it never works anyway.
5. I still get a kick out of riding my bike, even bikes named Barney.
6. Life is still a road we travel and even though we have ups and downs we seem to survive both.

To Dave:  Thanks for the ride, it was fun.  Next time we will do things a little differently.  Like, I will pack for you!  Thanks for teaching me how much nourishment can easily be found in a Ziploc bag.  I can't complain about any of the meals we made out there.  I think that when we do our X-country ride we will actually do better if we train first!!

Until our next adventure, Ciao

P.S. Dave, didn't I tell you about the trip I want to plan in August?  First we will......and then........  Anybody want to join us? HeeeeHeeee

Day 3: Change of Plans

Ahhh a bed. Sleeping on a bed last night was wonderful. We don't have a big day today so aren't highly motivated about starting. We finally got dressed and mosey out for some breakfast.  Apparently, the Cafe we read about is "for sale by owner" and closed. Luckily, what I thought was the bar, The Stampede, was a diner. It just so happens its attached to the General Store. I ordered a pancake breakfast with eggs and hash browns with OJ on the side. The picture doesnt show how thick these two pancakes were. I had to ask for extra syrup. The high quality regular, imitation maple flavored variety. Mmmmm. Hey, it did the job.

This is a panoramic view from the spot on the corner I stopped at last night.

After breakfast we packed our gear on the bikes and headed outside to start our trek to our BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campsite. Called to talk to home before leaving, not knowing whether we would have service where we were going.  After talking on the phone and then to each other Dave and I made an executive decision. 

Here goes: We are half way through our loop, according to the map versus mileage. Highway 395 runs through Long Creek , north to south. Just so happens that 395 also passes through John Day (refer to my "Day 1" post if you don't know about John Day). It also just so happens that John Day is 39 miles away. Hmmmm. Bye bye BLM campsite that has no facilities. By now its 11:00ish and we head south versus the planned direction of west. Garmin didnt know what to think. I could just imagine it screaming at me, "Not again.  I tried to stop you yesterday but NO Mike you wouldn't listen!"  Anyway, I reset my Garmin to head for John Day. Only 39 miles, right? Just so happens that the first 4.67 miles, which Garmin happily shares with me, is uphill. An hour later we were at the top. Then the appetizing reward, a 3 mile descent. 

If you zoom in on this photo, you can see Daves yellow vest on the descent (I know you can't zoom in, but thanks for trying). We had stopped at the top of the climb to rest and I had stuck my iPhone inside the strap of my sleeping bag so that it wouldn't fall to the ground while I ate a Clif gel. I almost took off without putting it back in my pocket. That would not have been a good thing.   For the next seven or so miles we rolled through pretty country scattered with old broken down barns. We climbed up a short little hill and saw a beautiful sign:

 OK, it wasn't that steep!  I just liked this sign.

This sign puts the fear into truckers, but was pure beauty to us. We talked to an elderly couple who had just come up the hill. The man said it was a descent all the way into Mt. Vernon. That was 16 miles away. YeeeHaw. It felt great going downhill at 30+ mph. I had  these thoughts in the back of my brain. Hopefully these bearings dont get hot, I don't pop a spoke, get a flat....  I am going 30 down a hill and somehow my bags didn't get any lighter after 3 days of camping (its a physics thing I guess) plus my body weight. You do the math. Anyway it was a fun descent. Unfortunately, we didnt go 30 mph for 16 miles, but it was a generally downhill course. We pulled into the Mart/gas station in Mt. Vernon.  I was craving two things for the past 20 miles. A Pepsi and an Its-It. I got half of my cravings: Pepsi and Crunch ice cream bar. 

We found out that it was 90 degrees. Well that explained a lot!!  No wonder I was hot. We sat on the bench talked with a local gentleman that was understandable 50% of the time. We couldn't tell if he was willing to give us a ride in his pick-up back to John Day or not. I doubt either one of us would take up his offer even if he made one. 

Final stretch.  The last 8 miles were uneventful except for the bro hugs and crying between the two of us for surviving our adventure. Just kidding. Actually we were giddy with the knowledge that we were not going to be sleeping on thermarests and eating out of a bag that night.  While climbing up the hill earlier in the day, I received a text from my wife. It was a picture of our reservation at a Holiday Inn Express in Bend. She proves it to me daily how much smarter than me she is and knows what I need more than I do. If left up to me I would have slogged on and drove home all night. Thanks, Babe. 

Back at our car we were greeted by Micah who was one of the park people who sent us on our way two days prior. As we rolled into the parking lot, he walked out of the visitors center as excited as we were to be back. "Did ya have a nice trip?"  

We arrived in Bend around 8:00 showered and went out to eat at Olive Garden. Ahhhh, a queen size bed again tonight. No tent, thermarest or porta-potty. 

Ciao

Day 1 John Day to Bates State Park

Ok first things first. It is 9:30 and I am whipped, tired, sore, etc. The day started @ 3:50 by taking a quick shower and then getting to the car as Dave waited in the driveway. We drove out of Angwin and headed north. After a few more hours, some Van Halen (for my beloved Cole) we made the right turn at Weed and I made the compulsory comment to myself and maybe outloud that I would love to climb Shasta. We made it Bend around noon and were able to give a quick greet,hug and take a picture with our friends the Thompsons who were heading to Walla Walla.

At Redmond we took another right turn and headed towards John Day. The  distance was 140 miles vs the 120 that I thought we had to travel. No matter we got there in time.  

We pulled into the town of John Day and found Kam Wah Chung. We didnt stay for the tour, even though the very friendly park personnel wanted us to stay for the 30 min tour. It wasn't like we had anywhere to go or anythjng!  After changing our clothes and loading, literally, our bikes with all of our necessities the nice park people, same ones, were kind enough to photograph our departure. 

Doesn't Barney look great with all the gear. I told y'all Barney is still a great bike. 

We were riding 30 miles and the first 12 miles (vs.10, Mora) were the usual "settling in" miles. The second 12 miles ranged from 4-6% climbs. Not usually a big deal but the extra weight didnt help. Finally, after 22.5 miles we descended reaching the 30's as we dropped. The extra weight continued to work hard at pulling us down the hill. This time we appreciated it. By this time it is nearly 7:00 and luckily I had put my vest (bright yellow) on prior to descending cuz it got chilllllly. We arrived at Bates State Park and found out we had the place to ourselves. The park is only 2 yrs old and is very well taken care of. In fact, the privies were not only spotless (honest) they didnt stink, at all. We made dinner ate and went to bed. I ate soup and PBT. You know what P and B stand for but the "T" stands for tortilla. They were either very delicious or I was famished. Probably both. Dave made a broccoli cheese soup for me in a ziploc that was good, too. 

Anyway, like I said at the beginning, I am tired. We dont have any cell service here so i will publish this when I can. 

Good night and talk manana. Love you family. Wish you were here with me to enjoy this lovely hard ground. I am getting tooooo old for this. 

Ciao 

Day 2- Bates State Park to Long Creek (sort of)

I didn't sleep well last night. Surprise, surprise!  I woke up during the middle of the night with my head all sweaty and my body was clammy which made me cold. Amazing as it seems. Woke up, for real, to a beautiful day. 

This is our camp site with everything drying out from the dew. 

We were eager to get going so we ate breakfast, packed and rode out for a lovely day, or so we thought. We got to the end of the camp entrance hung a right and then hung a left onto Hwy 7. The profile was promising with most of it down hill except with a climb at13 miles to go.  I have programmed my Garmin with all of the stages in our ride. For some reason we werent on the path  (Clue #1). So, I restarted Garmins route for the day. Still no luck. (Clue #2!!)  Dave's map profile printout said we should be going down hill, but for some reason we were going up. (Clue #3) Instead, we persevered climbing 6 miles. Then all is good cuz we have a fast decent for a few miles. At the bottom of the hill we ran into a procession of cows crossing the road. It is all open range up here so you have to watch out for sides of beef on the road. 

We travel on a few more miles. Then I notice a sign with distances to towns. RUT ROH!!  Our town isnt on it. I stop Dave for a pow-wow. At the end of our get together it is determined that we rode TWELVE miles in the opposite direction. We were supposed to take a left RIGHT out of our campsite. It didnt look to us that it was a road to be followed. That also meant we had to climb the hills all over again. By the time we arrive at our campground it is exactly 3 hours since we left and 24 miles of "training". We decided to eat lunch before leaving, AGAIN.

Going over summit from one direction.

The other side of the sign on the return trip.

DAY 2, PART 2. So now we are on the right road and it has a downward trajectory. 2 for 2!!  We rode 10-15 miles and then I realized I didn't fill any of my water bottles. Here we go again. We found a spot we could get down to the creek/river to pump out some water through a filter. 

There was a group of motorcycle riders resting by the water and we struck up a conversation. A husband and wife were going to ride their motorcycle around the world. They were heading to central, then south America before going to Africa. The wife saw my Rocktape knees and wanted to know about the tape, so I esplained it to her. She wanted to know where to get some for her trip. I had my roll in my bag so I taped her knees, gave her my card and told her she could by it through me and that I would be interested to know how it worked for her. Proud of me, Shirley?  

Dave relaxing by the river

I was chillin' in the water!

The rest of our trip to Mile 40 was uneventful. We did find a bridge over the river and crashed on the bridge for a half hour.  It felt nice to rest/sleep.  I did expect to see Bill Murray along the route because the river wound through the landscape and we kept thinking that we had already gone around that corner at least 3 times. Ground Hog Day Oregon style!!! 

Who knew how long and difficult those 13 miles would be. 

Mile 40
 Mile 40 of our scheduled ride, which was actually mile 64, started a 4ish mile climb. It wasn't that the climb was that difficult, we were just shot. I was down to a cup or so of water and Dave was cramping up. We would stop every half mile or so, depending on where the shady spots were to rest. Finally, it was easier for him to walk up the hill versus ride. Not fun. We finally made it to the top, each one of us in our own world of pain. From the top it was rollers into town. When I would go up the upside of the roller, I could feel a tailwind pushing me up that blasted "hill". I thanked God for the push and kept pedalling. Once I rolled into the metropolis of Long Creek, I stopped at the only stop sign in town and located the general store, bar, cafe, gas station and our hotel with a gentle swivel of the head. It was 8:00 and every thing was rolled up tight. The bar wasn't even open on a Saturday night! When I pulled up to the stop, a couple was crossing the street. They told me everything closed at 6:00. We had a nice chat in the middle of the intersection. It was safe. Everybody was home, by 6:00!!!  Dave checked us in and we got settled in to the hotel. Oh that shower felt good. I did some Ride 2 Recovery laundry, meaning I washed my clothes in the shower, and consumed 2 packets of Top Ramen. Mmmmmmm!

All told, i would have to say todays ride was comparable to a century (100 miles) ride. Even though it was 75 miles, with the gear we were lugging and Barney not being the lightest of steeds, made it tough. For me, this will be my "benchmark" ride that I will compare all other rides to. That is unless i "acquire" a new benchmark.  Heehee!  

Final numbers for yesterdays ride: 76.63 miles; 6 hrs 36 min (actual riding time); 11 hours (time from leaving camp, the first time, to Long Creek); 4064 calories burned. 

We have an easy 32 or so tomorrow, if all goes as planned!  

Talk with you then. Good night family, love you!

Ciao. 

In the Beginning

Ok, on the eve of a new journey.  Tomorrow at 4am, Dave Carelock and I will venture out on an adventure of the cycling kind.  We are going to be going up to Oregon and ride our bikes for four days in a 175 mile loop.  We will drive up to Redmond, OR, just north of Bend, and hang a right for another couple of hours and park the car in John Day, OR.
I have never done any touring on a bike, so this will be new. I bought a couple of panniers for the back of my bike and my motto is:  If it doesn't fit in those bags, I don't need them.  I have all of my clothes in one bag and food/electronics/everything else in the opposite bag.  In these pictures, I don't have all of my food in yet, but this will pass.  I have the sleeping bag and thermarest mat on the top part of the rack.


I am riding "Barney" vs. my Trek because I don't have any way to attach a rack to the Trek.  Yeah, it weighs more, but it has been a loyal friend all of these years and deserves an adventure.  We put "slicks" on the bike for decreased rolling resistance.  I haven't and don't intend to weigh the bike.  Sometimes the unknown is better than the known.
Dave said he as added 40lbs to his bike.  He has four extra bags full of gear.  I will hopefully be able to help him with some of it.  He is the expert with regards to bag cookery.  I have learned how to make cereal, soup and will probably learn other culinary treats in a Ziploc bag.  Yummy.
I will post on this site via Facebook as battery power allows me.  I know I will be able to charge a couple of times along our trip.
Ciao for now,
Mike