Idaho!

  • Left the schoolhouse bike hostel and headed out into the eastern Oregon prairie yesterday morning
  • Met a group of eastbounders, two of whom were from Troy, Ohio… Buckeyes are well represented on the Transamerica this year
  • There was a roadside stop where you could see the ruts made by the wagons on the Oregon trail… But forgot to take a picture. There was also a Oregon trail museum, but it was like 500 feet up switchbacks, so I skipped it
  • The nice thing about doing this route again is that I can verify my memory of different places. For example, yes, that hill east of Richland, Oregon really is as brutal as I remember
  • Despite the oppressive heat (someone told me it was 104 when I rolled into the campground), I still managed to pedal 72 miles yesterday – mostly because I got around two feet down for every foot up. But man, that Richland hill was pretty rough in the heat
  • At the campground I met a guy who was touring around on a scooter. He said he was training for a race called the scooter cannonball. He had like 1/4 the gear I have, cuz it turns out you can’t pack too much weight on a scooter
  • Got an early start this morning because I had another big climb – about 2400 feet. Strangely, I didn’t remember anything about this climb. It was steeper and longer than yesterday’s – I think it took me an hour and a half to go five miles. Thankfully, there was some cloud cover to veil me from the angry orb in the sky – it even rained a bit, which was a nice change
  • Stopped at a grocery store/cafe with a large “No politics” sign on the door, directly above a “Trump 2024” sign. Again, forgot to take a picture
  • I picked up the Weiser River bike path from Cambridge to Council – about 16 miles. It was nice to be out of the traffic, but the gravel trail really slowed me down, which isn’t ideal for the end of the day
  • Saw a black bear on the trail – I think it was a small adult, but could have been a large cub, which made me nervous since we surprised each other at a distance of about 15 feet. I made a lot of noise, and was not mauled, so that’s good.. But also, no pictures
  • Managed to eke out 62 miles, which doesn’t sound like much until you consider my average speed was 7.9, meaning I spent almost 8 hours in the saddle today. Oof.
  • Had some really good pizza and beer for dinner, and now I’m in my tent, about to pass out