Biking with Bill

FEELING THE HEAT

Our Sunday ride to Ontario was 83 miles southeast on a clear, hot day in Eastern Oregon. We did not have any serious climbs, or terrific scenery today. We did experience HEAT and the toll it takes on a long distance cyclist.

Today we left the Wallowa Mountains in the rear view mirror, we changed our watches to Mountain time, and we biked to within sight of the Idaho border. We saw plenty of cattle ranches, farmland, dry sagebrush, and some rough road. We biked on Old Oregon 30, a quiet country road that gave us some real good downhills, and the opportunity to spread out and talk.

At the 30 mile mark next to a hugh cement plant, we entered I-84, our debut appearance on an interstate highway. We had a wide bike lane that was surprisingly NOT cluttered with debris, and a ride that was mostly downhill. There were barren hills on both sides of the road. This was not the Oregon that we had come to love over the past week. One thing I was happy about in leaving the open range area, however, is the dissappearance of CATTLE GUARDS--those rolling bars in the road to keep cattle restricted. They can jar you silly!

It was 87 degrees at 10:30 am. It would get worse.

We had some "fly zones" where we could really let it rip on the route today. At the 50 mile mark we were descending fast toward a lake down below. It was a long downhill, so I thought I'd go for it. I got to 40 mph which is as fast as I have ever gone on a bike. I was in a tuck position at this point, when I zipped past a sign that said "Farewell Bend". I thought that might be an omen and I didn't want to say "fare-well" on this trip, so I slowed down and stopped to have a photo taken at and old stagecoach at the lake.

There are a lot of strong riders in this group, particularly the Europeans, in fact all the Europeans. It is a good collection of experienced cyclists.

The SAG stop at mile 56 was located on the bank of the Snake River. We watched fishermen out in their boats presumeably trying to catch the famous steelhead.

The "run into the barn"--the last 25 miles--was much more difficult than I expected. Most everone agreed with me later on. It was very HOT! We were at the end of several hard days of cycling, so it was a tough pull into Ontario. We had one rider briefly hospitalizied at the end of the day with heat exhaustion/dehydration, but he is back with us now. It was 101 degrees as we arrived at the hotel; we were hot, tired, and thirsty.

Tomorrow we finish in Boise, ID--and have a REST DAY there.

Bill