Day 8 John Day

Two big climbs and 105 miles got us to to Mt Vernon just outside of John Day. We've rerouted ourselves through Baker city and hells canyon.

The first 7 days

I thought I'd be able to update daily but it has been a crazy 7 days. First day to Lewis and Clark campground was 10 hours and 23 minutes and with our 10:15 start it was getting dark when we arrived. The day went well except for Hugh's Centralia jinx. No crash this year but he did trash his rear wheel. While rolling through Centralia the wheel was wobbling and we stopped to true it we noticed that a spoke was pulling out through the rim just like the photo of my wheel from an earlier blog. We trued the wheel and called Corliss and Janet for a rear wheel delivery.


The second day was even crazier, 15.5 hours along I5 frontage roads to Portland. After one of the longest straight up walks I've done in a long time. I rolled into woodlawn just as Wayne were putting the cassette onto the new wheel that Corliss had delivered. Navigating a detoured bike route through Portland took what seemed forever. We found a city park on the Clackamus river were we bathed and camped. We Finished dinner at 11:15.

The third day we took the elevator in Oregon City and followed 99 south. 10.5 hours took us part way over the cascades toward Santiam pass. We bathed in the river at the whispering falls campground and got chastized for doing it in the buff by a fisherman.

The fourth day was just over 9 hours to Sunriver. I thought with a couple of days off I would be able to catch up with the blog but with the demands of 4 four grandkids it just was not possible. We did get to watch Corliss and her team mates win their division for the Northwest region. The team will be heading to nationals in palm springs in October as one of 16 teams from around the country. Hugh finished the Sun River half ironman in just under 6:30. He looked fresh at the finish but he did go to bed early that night.

Today we started rolling again. First breakfast in Sunriver and second in Bend. Hugh headed North and Wayne and I went East along Hiway 26. We stopped for a brief visit with an old fried of Waynes who lives just East of Prineville. A few miles further down the road we stopped to camp at Ochoco reservoir. Dinner was a loaf of French bread with hummus, avocado, onion, tomato and of course herring.

With luck tomorrow should take us the 110 miles to John Day.

483 miles

Heading out again

Yikes it's been a crazy week. It seemed like everything was happening too fast and there was too much of it. From a trip in the future all of a sudden we're leaving today. Wayne, Hugh and I are leaving this morning at 11am for our ride to Sun River.

A few days ago while getting the bike ready for the trip, I was putting on a fresh rear tire when I happened to notice.

This is not good. Not wanting to buy a new 650c wheel I opted to use one of my extra tandem 26" wheels. Longer reach brakes and a smaller tire did the trick. It seemed like the week had numerous similar little delays but we leave in a couple of hours. Still need to water all the plants - I may just have enough time.

Our first day plan is to head down the STP route to Centralia and camp at Lewis and Clark state park. It should take us about 10 hours so we'll get in late tonight. In the morning we vear off the STP route by following the frontage roads to Vancouver on the east side of I5 to somewhere past Oregon City. The Third day should take us just past Santiam pass with about 50 miles then to Sun River on the fourth day. Hugh will do the half Ironman on Saturday. And then Wayne and I will head for Yellowstone on Sunday. At least thats the plan.

I'm back

It's been just over a year since we left for that cross country ride and just as long since a blog update. Six little words How to start writing? Move fingers. Motivated me this morning.

There have been a few training rides with SIR, a number of coffee or breakfast rides, and many intended rides. As a traveling apparel sales representative this has been one of my slowest years in quite some time. Ladies go buy some more stuff. Actually don't, the crazy part is that I tend to agree with Carlin that it's all just stuff. I like the extra time and yet I've not managed to keep up this blog but I'm back in the mood and will try to report on rides and whatever.

I missed the 200km but did finish the 300km. The 300km was on the 4th of April and for the little training I had had I was pleased with my time. The ride took us up Whidbey Island, along Chuckanut to Bellingham and then back to Mukilteo on 9. Great weather, beautiful route. It did take over a week before I could do my morning swim workout with any strength however. Long recovery time - C,est la vie.

Two weeks later I led a 4 person team on the Sir Fleche Northwest. Chris Heg, Eamon Stanley , Hugh Kimball and I made up the team. I was the only one that had done this type of ride before. My record for this event at the start was 4 completions out of 7 attempts. The event is a 24 hour team ride of at least 360 Km and stops of more than two hours are not permitted. An exercise in sleep deprivation. Our selected route was just under 380 km and headed south out of Olympia to Chehalis then across hwy 6 to Raymond and then along the coast to Westport. Then over to Aberdeen, up hwy 101 and then back over to the coast and back to Aberdeen. From there the road took us East to McCleary and back toward Olympia.

On May 9 I rode the covered bridges 400km with the Oregon Randonneurs. Some nice photos of the ride can be found at this site. I'm not sure why I didn't bring my camera. This sure was a ride with many photo ops. The ride took us from Newberg just southwest of Portland down the foothills of the cascades to Eugene and back basically along the Willamette river. Lots of river crossings and many covered bridges. Rolling hills, scenic views, small farms, covered bridges and beautiful weather.


The SIR 600km is this Saturday. I signed up for the Shoreline garden tour as a participating garden so I'm missing the ride. Oh well, so many passions, and so little time.

There is a longer ride planned for the end of the month. Seattle to Sunriver to watch Corliss play some regional level tennis. Then off to Yellowstone and Glacier.

Time to write blog. Aaaak! Done. Thanks Tatyana

July 4th

Sunny and hot at the beach. Clark and Jesse rented a pontoon boat for the day. We cruised the inland waterway and ended up for dinner on the bay from where we watched the sunset and fireworks. Captain Clark manuvered us expertly through the dark crowded bay back to the dock.

Day 67

Another nice day with Clark and Jesse. It is good to see and swim with them again.

Day 66

We went to our first swim workout in two months and the main set was 3 400 IMs broken by 200 frees. I needed a nap before lunch and may need another after. Arms already sore.

Life is good.