Day 7 - Sept 17th

• Distance:  61.8 miles

• Climbing:  4,252 feet

• Moving Time:  4:37:14

• Elapsed Time:  5:34:06

• Average Speed:  13.4 mph

• Max Speed:  39.1 mph

Today was the last day of riding, and we wanted to get started on the long drive as soon as possible, so Todd and I got our earliest start of the week - 7:24am.  Unfortunately this was also the coldest start of the week - down to as low as 34 degrees.

We pedaled out of Dayville, on the same highway with the invisible rumble strips.  Thankfully, since it was early in the morning, there wasn’t a lot of traffic, so it wasn’t too bad.  There was some nice early morning light as we went past farms being irrigated by giant sprinklers.

After 13.8 miles, we reached the first food stop.  This would be the only stop for those riders doing the short route, which would take the highway all the way into John Day.  After a break here, we turned right onto Fields Creek Road to start a long climb (about 2500 feet in 10 miles).

The climbing was gentle at first.  I talked to one rider (the only other rider around at the time) who said this was his 20th Cycle Oregon.  I later fell behind once I stopped to take pictures and then again shortly after that to take off my jacket.  I almost immediately regretted it, but figured I would warm up from the long climb.

The road was interrupted several times by cattle guards.  There were cow pies all over the road.  At one point we passed a few cows just standing quietly in the forest, no fence between us and them.  Oh, and there was quite a bit of forest, shading the ride, which meant it was hard to get warmed up.

The lower sections were about 4-5% grade, though it would get steeper, and there were some short 10% sections.  I just put my head down and tried to keep a steady pace.  Todd went out ahead and finished the climb about 7 minutes ahead of me.  But eventually I made it to the top, where I put my jacket back on before descending to the second and final food stop.  This rest stop was near a cabin next to the road.  Apparently the cabin can be rented (I think from the Forest Service).

I settled in for a break.  A woman leaving extolled the virtues of combining s’mores with a peanut-butter-banana sandwich.  I passed on the idea, though I did enjoy the peanut-butter-banana sandwich by itself.  A man wearing just a bib and t-shirt sat down at the table and I could see his hands and arms shivering.  He looked almost hypothermic from the cold.  Someone even had a campfire going here.  I decided I’d keep my jacket on.

After a break we biked through the pretty pine forest on a 1-lane road.  There was very little traffic, and the road was mostly flat up here.  Todd and I started to draft off each other, passing the few other riders we saw.

Next we came to the dreaded gravel section.  We’d been warned about it, but were told that it would be ok for road bikes.  Well, I guess that’s true, but it was a lot worse than the gravel section to the Painted Hills.  The road was washboarded, meaning it had ripples which were similar to those invisible rumble strips.  You would not want to ride on them.  So we tried to navigate our bikes along a narrow strip of dirt (mostly in the middle) to avoid this as much as we could.  Sometimes it was impossible.  And the gravel section was a full 2.5 miles long.

It was pretty enough when I stopped in the middle to take some pictures, though.  Pancake flat in all directions, grasses and stands of trees.  But mostly we just tried to get through it.  Finally, we reached a stop sign at the end, and a left turn onto actual paved road.  One rider stopped there asked rhetorically, “Did anybody enjoy that?”  Everyone responded with a resounding no.  “Good.”

We continued on mostly flat roads (some rolling hills) to the intersection with Highway 395.  Todd used the water stop here while I finally took off my jacket.  Then we turned left and climbed briefly to Summit Starr Ridge before starting a long descent to John Day.

On the descent we passed through a burned area, damaged by a wildfire (not sure when).  It was haunting, but I didn’t want to stop for pictures, partly because I was heading downhill and partly because of the vehicle traffic on the highway.

After we passed through the burned area, the grade leveled off a bit, but we were deterred by a headwind.  Todd and I took turns at the front, pushing hard all the way into town.  We managed 22.7 miles on a slight downhill into the wind, though it wasn’t the fastest time of the day.  One of the guys from my Day 6 paceline managed to do it at 25.6 mph!

We arrived at the finish just before 1pm.  We got our chocolate milk and souvenirs, then met up with Alex and our tent neighbors for lunch.  Well, Todd and I ate lunch.  They’d left later than us, but had taken the shorter route and had already had time to shower and eat.

After lunch we went over to the parking lot to retrieve our bags, shower, and start the drive to Reno.  Last time we’d driven all the way home in one day, but that was a shorter drive.  This time we’d break it up into two days.

We took 395 all the way to Reno, passing through some interesting scenery - mostly barren, but interesting.  First time I’ve ever driven this section of road, and first time seeing Lake Abert.  It rained on part of the drive, and we had a scare almost running into deer on two separate occasions.  The second time was especially dramatic since it was dark by that time.  The deer were right in the middle of the road, but thankfully moved on after I slowed down and didn’t have to stop.

After a couple stops for gas and food, we made it into Reno around 11pm.  The next day we made the final 4 hour drive to the Bay Area, just in time for more rain.

Final Thoughts

Everyone seems to want me to compare this year with 2019.  I would say that 2019 probably had prettier scenery (it’s hard to beat Crater Lake).  It was definitely drier out here to the east.  On the flip side, it didn’t rain on us while riding this year, which is a plus.  And there were some good climbs and descents on this trip.  The food in camp and rest stops wasn’t quite as good this year, but it was good enough.  And I do have a preference for the 2019 bands.  All that being said, though, I still had fun.  People were friendly, I got to relax and just ride for a week, and I’d do it again.

We’re already thinking about the next bike adventure, be it Cycle Oregon or some other trip.  I look forward to seeing what the 2023 route will look like before deciding whether to do it next year.

Cycle Oregon by the Numbers

• Distance:  458.1 miles

• Climbing:  35,723 feet

• Weight lost:  1-2 pounds

• Chocolate milk cartons consumed:  12

• Prop bets won and lost:  an equal number of $1 prop bets with Todd, probably about 6 each?

• Flat tires:  0