Yes, you read that title correctly. But first, let me just say that I LOVE reading your comments to my blog even if I don't always get to respond to them, so please keep writing! (And David, you rock, thanks for the Philly hospitality offer!)
So...today I am in Baker City, OR. Yesterday, Bryan, Paul, and I decided that the piddly 37 miles the rest of the group did was child's play and so we rocked out a full 90 miles over 3 mountain passes over 5000 feet each, and against a headwind, into Baker City. That means we get the day off today while the rest of the group rides the last two mountain passes and into Baker. Last night, we hung out at this local brewpub called Barley Brown's where we ran into Clive, a British cyclist we had met a couple days ago in Mitchell. He brought along two local women, who are really cool, and one of them, Christine, is letting us camp in her backyard tonight and do our laundry for free! She works at a local coffee shop called Mad Matilda's where I am posting this blog from. She's been really great and generous. Thanks, Chrisine!!! Tomorrow, we ride 55 miles to Halfway, OR. Almost to Idaho...
Other Highlights:
*Nicola swallowed a bug a few days ago while singing Paradise City at the top of her lungs on one of our rewarding descents.
*It's been so hot, I've been riding with my jersey unzipped a lot. As a result, on two different occasions while descending, I had some gnarly looking bugs zip right into my jersey and into my sports bra. I had to endure the creepy feeling of them crawling around my cleavage until I got to a good stopping point to shake them out.
*Paul turned his tent on its side the other day to dry before packing it. It was sitting there with the door open, facing up when a bird flew overhead and shat right in his tent.
*We stopped by the John Day Fossil Beds and rode through the Painted Gorge the other day, and the rock formations were absolutely stunning.
*We camped at Ochoco Reservoir a few nights ago and Bryan, Paul, and I got there first, parked our bikes, and ran down to jump in the water. It was take your breath away cold, but it felt refreshing in the afternoon heat. Since it was midday, we were clothed.
*At Ochoco, we met Dave, a 22 year old bike mechanic doing the same route we are, except that he's riding more like 80-90 miles a day. He's fully loaded on a Kona road bike with disc brakes and pulling a two-wheel Burley trailer.
*In Mitchell, we met Clive from England. He's a stockbroker on paid holiday, so he's doing the hotel/B&B thing, traveling with just rear panniers. He's riding as he feels, anywhere from 50-100+ miles a day.
And the biggest highlight of all so far: my tan lines! especially the sandal lines on my feet!
Lots of love!!!
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1 comment:
i rarely use bullet points, because i'm a pacifist, but here goes:
1) where are the pictures?
2) where are the deep thoughts?
3) if my cultured veggies have mold on top of them, can i just scrape that off and safely eat the rest? (oh, my i had my first kombucha baby!!! it's a girl.)
while i'm serious about all the questions above, i do want you to know that it's
rapidly becoming my favorite pasttime to live vicariously through you (oh, wait,
maybe that's not so new), so keep posting, and know that we are reading.
oh, and while, i can't say as i've ever had bugs in my sports bra, i have had
them in my motorcycle helmet. that's a bit of a maddening situation as well.
"keep swimming"
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