Day 3 - Sept 13th

• Distance:  60.0 miles

• Climbing:  6,329 feet

• Moving Time:  4:44:57

• Elapsed Time:  6:22:59

• Average Speed:  11.8 mph

• Max Speed:  42.3 mph

Today was our first layover day.  Meaning we didn’t have to pack up our tent in the morning!  It also meant that today’s ride was optional.  There were several other activities people could do today, including digging for fossils above the camp, helping out with community projects, or just relaxing around camp.

Alex decided to skip today’s ride, as it appeared many in our tent row also decided as well.  Todd and I would do the full out/back ride to Hastings Peak Pass.  Even though we didn’t have to pack up our tent, the organizers wanted everyone to start by 9am.  We ended up starting around 8:50am.

After crossing the John Day Highway, we started a roughly 1000 foot climb in just under 6 miles.  There were people climbing with us, but also people descending in the opposite direction.  They’d probably done part of the out-and-back, maybe to the first rest stop.

After the climb, there was about a 4-mile descent to a food stop.  There was one man here with a guitar who may have been the best musical entertainment we’d witness all week.  Unfortunately we only got to see him for a few minutes.  This food stop also had donuts and chips for the first time on the trip.

After the food stop, we continued descending at a more gentle grade for about 10 more miles.  Along the way we saw the Clarno Unit of John Day National Monument.  The Palisades volcanic formations tower above the landscape here.  We stopped here briefly for some pictures before continuing on.  We vowed to stop more on the way back.  Some people took the opportunity to ditch their bikes briefly here and go on a short hike along the trail.  There are two quarter-mile hikes here, and a ½ mile hike as well.

After a brief climb, the road descends to the second food stop.  I skipped this, while Todd decided to make a brief stop, so I ended up ahead of him.  I stopped at the bridge just after the food stop to take some pictures, so I probably wasn’t too far ahead of him.  He’d catch up to me later.

After the bridge, there’s a long climb of about 2400 feet over 8 miles up to Hastings Peak Pass.  The grade is pretty steady the whole way up (5-6%).  I kept looking behind me, expecting to see Todd.  But of course I ended up hearing him (talking) long before I would see him.

Roy (though I wouldn’t know his name until Day 6) passed me.  A little after that, Todd reached me.  We climbed together for a bit, then reached a woman climbing with music blaring out.  I think we stayed about 20 seconds behind her for the longest time, not because we were trying to, but because she was just strong enough to stay out of reach.  This was mostly ok for me, as I was at the point where I wanted to listen to the music to help motivate me to keep climbing.

Eventually Todd passed her, leaving me behind, but also seemed to spur her to go even harder.  I had to work more to keep up.  We all eventually made it up to the water stop at the top, where there was…no view to speak of.  There was too much haze to see anything on the other side of the pass.  So pretty much we’d ridden up here for not much other than some views on the way up.  Someone had the idea to label the two water containers vodka and bourbon, but of course they just had water.

We found out the woman was from Colorado, and we thanked her for her music.  Then we started the descent back the way we’d just come.  It would be easy enough to just descend the whole thing without stopping, but I forced myself to stop a couple times to take pictures.

At the bottom, we crossed the bridge and went to the food stop.  They had blackberries, which were excellent.  I got some Gatorade for the long climb ahead of us.  From here it was a gradual uphill to the Clarno Unit (where we stopped for more pictures), then onto the initial food stop.  The guy with the guitar was gone by now, and we didn’t actually get any food.  We now had a 4.5 climb up with about a 7% grade.  The afternoon heat made it even more difficult.  After a bit of a slog, we made it to the top, then started the final descent.

We got back into town and got our chocolate milk at the finish line around 3:20pm.  Later, after dinner, we stopped by the store on the main street, then headed back for announcements.  One thing they announced which I hadn’t known is that the long route two days from now would NOT include the Painted Hills.  So they suggested that anyone doing that might want to visit the Painted Hills tomorrow.  Since tomorrow would otherwise be a short day (44 miles), Todd and I decided we’d probably do that.