Up at 6am and on the road at 6:45. 60 degrees this morning….supposed to be sunny all day with a high of 90. Climbed for the first 2.5 hours this morning heading to New Meadows. Not a steep climb just long and on a busy highway…the high today was actually 94–got a bit warm toward the end of the day.
Met a couple on a tandem this morning from Missouri. They started in Pueblo (said they were only interested in seeing the Northwest) and are going to Florence, Oregon. They are stoping in New Meadows tonight because they wore out their rear break pads going down these mountains…there is no bike shop in New Meadows so they ordered a set of pads and are having them shipped to the post office there General delivery….they’re hoping they will arrive today.
10:20 made it to New Meadows about 35 miles in. Stopped at Subway for a turkey sub, Diet Coke, and since those oatmeal raisin cookies were so good last time I got three more this time 🙂
Lots of logging trucks on the road this morning…riding on hwy 95 all day and the shoulder isn’t that great, so having to keep an eye on the trucks…have had to just run off in the ditch more than once to keep from getting run over.
Pulled into Council at 1pm…stopped at the Cenex gas station for Diet Coke, orange juice, cranberry grape drink and snickers bar. 59 miles down for the day…making good time…starting to get hot.
There is a dirt/gravel road that runs about 22 miles from from Council to Cambridge. I tried it for about 2 miles hoping to get away from the traffic on 95, but I don’t have the tires on this bike for it—my tires are road tires and they’re getting pretty slick and they sink into the loose gravel too much. So, had to jump back on hwy 95 and fight the logging trucks and RVs to Cambridge.
Got to Cambridge about 4pm and checked into the Frontier motel. Have my routine down pretty well now…,when I finish the day and check into the motel or set up camp, then before I go to a restaurant to eat, I stop by a gas station and get lots of liquids to rehydrate—for example, this evening I stopped at the Sinclair station and got a large Diet Coke, cup of ice for it, a sparkling lemonade, and a V8 (I’ve rediscovered V8 juice on this trip. The original vegetable juice before all the swanky juicerys started popping up). I sat outside the station and drank those to help get caught up on liquids, then I went down the street to a cafe (can’t remember the name) for dinner. I just can’t get enough liquids at dinner, so have to get a head start. Had the super duper sandwich of pulled pork, bacon, and bratwurst—very good. So good, in fact, I ordered a second to go and ate it in my motel room.
As much as I’ve eaten during this trip I should weigh 300 lb, but I’m burning calories like crazy. I think I’ve probably lost at least 12-15 lbs…the cloths I have with me that used to fit are falling off me now. The challenge will be to keep that weight off when I get home. This time last year before I started training for this trip I weighed just over 200 lb. I started training in Sep last year and when I started the trip in May I was down to 182. When I got to Lexington and took a day off, I was down to 175. I’m guessing I’m under 170 now—which is good. I feel good and want to stay at this weight.
Need to start no later than 6am tomorrow morning. Tomorrow my goal it to make Baker City, Oregon—that’s 112 miles with a couple climbs to get there. It’ll be a tough day, but doable as long as I get an early start and the wind is kind to me—it’s been good for the past couple days, so hope that holds out.
If I make Baker City tomorrow, then I’ll have exactly 575 miles to Astoria. I should be able to make that easily by next Friday or Saturday. I called the bike shop in Astoria today about shipping my bike and found out they are open 7 days a week. That’s a relief….was a little concerned that if I didn’t make it until later in the day Saturday, and they were closed then I may have to wait until Monday to ship it. So, will wait a couple more days to make sure I stay on track with my daily miles, then will start looking for a plane ticket home—hopefully on Sunday, the 22nd.
If I make it to Astoria on Friday that’ll be 56 days….one day later than I predicted, or Saturday will be two days later. But who knows…I may feel energetic, put in two or three more centuries after tomorrow and finish on Thursday—exactly on time 🙂
Not a lot of pics today. Was on busy hwy 95 all day and not a lot of great scenery to be honest. Some people have told me that Oregon is the most scenic of the entire trip—hope so, but that’s going to be a tough standard to live up to if it’s going to beat what I’ve already seen.
Feeling great—did 82 today and felt fresh and strong when I finished. Hope I wake up tomorrow feeling as good as I did today…big day tomorrow and going to need the strength.
