Bend to Boise - Day 2

Today was another day of gorgeous scenery and hot weather. Ultimately, the hot weather defeated us, but the vistas were fabulous. Our route today was 104 miles from Monument OR to John Day OR. The temperature started at about 70 when we took off at 8 in the morning, but climbed rapidly through the day again reaching into the 90s. This photo was taken perhaps 20 miles from John Day looking out towards the Strawberry Mountains.

We started the morning by crossing the John Day River which we had been at our side for much of the end of yesterday’s ride.

We immediately began to climb up and out of the river valley. We gained about 2200’ of elevation in the first 15 miles.

We got a small downhill after the top of the climb, but mostly we stayed up at the higher elevation.

I have taken many of my cycling trips with my friends Jesse and Ruth. In this case, they rode this trip a number of years ago. My lead guide James was also their lead guide. I have included this photo for Ruth. Whenever we are riding, and we pass a dilapidated abandoned building, Ruth will point to it and yell “Haunted”.

Where the rock is exposed, it frequently displays this striated appearance.

Riding out west is fundamentally different than in New England. In New England, the roads are windy and the landscape is hilly, so one does not get these vast expanses which are such a central part of the riding experience out west.

Here is another photo of the wide open landscape.

I have seen a bit of wildlife while riding. Mostly, I am not able to photograph it since it tends to disappear before I can get my camera out. I have seen perhaps half a dozen deer. This snake was sunning itself on the pavement. Our guide, James, photographed a black bear in a field. Of course, as my interest in bird photography has grown, I am much more aware of the variety of birds all around.

After lunch, we rode up the middle fork of the John Day River. By this time, I was really suffering from the heat. We had a very slight tailwind, which meant that the air was relatively still around us as we road. Normally, a tailwind is good, but in this case, we were not getting much of any cooling from air movement.

As I rode up the gentle river valley, the views were consistently wonderful, but my legs were not. I found that my legs had absolutely no energy. So far, my ride had been perhaps 3 mph slower than I would have expected which is a huge difference. Right now, I am not in the shape that I normally am when out on a biking trip: my weight is up, my power is down, and I have not logged as many miles as usual. Additionally, before this trip, I had not ridden in hot weather which is something to which one’s body can acclimatize to some extent. All together, this meant that I was suffering. There is this concept of type 1 and type 2 fun. Type 1 fun is fun while you do it and fun afterwards. Type 2 fun is not necessarily fun while you do it, but leaves you with great memories. Today had definitely slipped from type 1 fun to type 2 fun.

At about the 70 mile mark, I was riding with James our guide. He pointed to a place where we could get into the river. Here I am getting into the wonderfully cool water. I took off my jersey and arm coolers, soaked them, then put them back on, gasping from the cool water as I did so. My body immediately started feeling much better. As soon as we got back onto the bike, I was putting out 30% more power and traveling almost 5 mph faster just because I had reduced my body temperature back into a normal range.

At the rest stop at 74 miles, I decided to call it quits for the day. The next stretch was going to be another 1200’ climb. My left hamstring was bothering me. I was sure that I would begin struggling with the heat long before the end of the climb. Since I started doing these trip over a decade ago, this is actually the first time that I have abandoned a ride before completing it. I was not alone in doing so. Ultimately, not one of our group of 10 completed the ride.