May 20, 2018
Day 2 John Day
Even though it was a shorter day than yesterday, today seemed pretty long. We were a bit tired by the time we reached our stopping point near the one if the John Day Fossil monument areas. We got a late start this morning so that we could hang out and have breakfast with our friends before they went back to Portland. We only had a couple more miles of the broken road then it was a nice meandering along the ridge and then down to the river on a steep curvy hairpin road to Maupin. We took a little break at a cafe before we had to climb back out of that valley. Since we knew we’d have a long climb, we just got sandwiches to go. We crossed the Deschutes River and began a long climb, going about 5mph for the first 5 miles, then cruised along at a speedy 10mph along a more gradual incline. We stopped for a little while by a farm and finally ate the sandwiches we’d purchased at the cafe (just can’t do a big climb with a lot of food in the stomach). Once we got over the ridge, we had a fun, scary hairpin turn descent into Antelope, of Netflix fame. Not much happening there. 14 miles to go, 5 up and 8 miles of 6% downhill grade. Our hands and forearms ached from braking! Quick freeze dried dinner and much needed rest. We saw several mule deer today as well as owls, turkeys, blue birds, black birds and many other bird species that you don’t see speeding along at 60mph.
Today's ride: 75 miles (121 km)
Total: 3,750 miles (6,035 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 3 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |