Day 2: Junction City to Blue River near MacKenzie: 40 mi

-
Today's plan quickly changed. Soon after leaving our campground, Lesli our Sag Wagon leader called to say the brakes on the truck were no longer working.  Fortunately, she managed to find an open Goodyear shop that diagnosed the problem and managed to secure a part.  

Our 7 person peleton rode into Eugene on an easy bike trail that took us through the city.  We visited the Saturday market and after a quick trip to a bike store to source a new bike stem for Lisa and gear from REI, we enjoyed a burger lunch.  After the truck was fixed, we headed up the MacKenzie River Valley.  It was a gorgeous ride.

Once again we had to camp and found an RV park that was stuck back in the 70's (meaning filled with lots of folks down on their luck) but was perched along the MacKenzie river.  The rippling rapids lulled us to sleep.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 11 Halfway, Oregon (population 303) to Cambridge, Idaho (population 328)

-
Image
Well that was an interesting night for sure! I slept in the shack "out back." On my way to the shack to go to bed,  I saw a large feral cat. That sprang my imagination into high speed. Hmm I wonder why it ran under the shack? Will birds and snakes crawl into my shack? Oh bother! When I finally went to sleep, I slept well. No creatures visited in the night.  Monday morning. Up bright and early! Lauran gave me a gentle reminder to wake up. As she had already perked a pot of coffee, I was eager to get up and get going. We all bustled about the place packing and preparing for today's climb; almost identical to yesterday's trajectory. Today we hoped to get started an hour earlier to avoid the predicted high heat. We might make all 58 miles if we planned it right. Donning some very strange looking duck billed visors, we set off into the rising sun. What a fantastic morning. Flying up over hills and down the other side on Hells Canyon Rd. I got a great view of an Elk standin...
Read more

Day 5: Prineville to Mitchell, Oregon - 42 miles, 2,123 feet of ascent at ~5% grade

-
Image
Early to bed, early to rise is key when trying to beat the extreme heat of the day here, which begins searing down upon us as soon as 8:30 am. With Lesli, our confident sag wagon driver, singer / song writer and chef extraordinaire, at the wheel, we took off promptly at 6:30 am from Barnes Butte Bungalow, a funky cool Airbnb house in Prineville, OR. The group decided the previous evening it would be prudent to drive the 5-ish miles to Ochoco Lake at the eastern base of Ochoco National Forest to avoid riding on the no-shoulder, heavy truck-trafficked road those first few miles. Good decision! A crescent moon nestled against a stunning bluebird sky above made for a dramatic backdrop as we began pedaling at 7 am sharp bundled up against the cool morning air. Today would be a long climbing day, which most of the riding group embraced with a twisted sense of glee. Having trained at sea level for this epic adventure, let’s just say that I’m a wee bit less enthusiastic when it comes to unrele...
Read more

Off Like a Herd of Turtles

-
 A friend of mine; Dale, always says that.  It is appropriate as usually we are on a float and that is departing pretty slowly.  It is not how fast you are off the starting blocks, but the pace you run the race.  Finishing up today at a place called Fern Lake and a nice camp spot for all.  But there is a bit of a climb to get there....a small one, sorta a warmup for the Rockies. 
Read more