You figure out pretty fast when you're doing one of these adventure cycling tours that you just need to take each day as it comes. It would be nice if everything went as planned but quite often, this does not turn out to be the case.
Take today for example. We had planned for a late start anyway, despite wanting to beat the heat, because we had to wait for the post office in Mitchell to open at 8:45am for Katie to collect her tent poles which had broke when we were in Pacific City. Tarp Tent had kindly agreed to forward on the tent poles to her here in Mitchell.
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| The best cafe in Mitchell |
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| The engineer in Katie rigged this up. |
This could be seen as a good thing because we got to have a gigantic leisurely breakfast at the Sidewalk Cafe whilst we were waiting. However, upon collecting the package, we found out that Tarp Tent had only sent out a replacement pole segment, not the whole set of tent poles. This threw a spanner in the works for Katie because she had already cut up the tent poles to use to rig up her new pannier system on her bike rack and had given the extra poles to Tiffany to take back with her so she didn't have to carry them. So now, Katie still cannot erect her tent properly.
Next, as we are about to roll out of Mitchell, Katie realised she had a flat on her rear tire. Meanwhile the heat of the day is encroaching and we started riding at about 9:45am.
Then we get out on the road for a 6 mile climb straight off the bat out of Mitchell to Keyes Summit that takes us an hour. As we begin the heavenly descent Katie gets another flat. And so the day is getting on before we have really even gotten anywhere, the sun getting stronger, sapping our energy away.
Our reward today for all that has gone wrong is the most stunning descent into the very picturesque Picture Gorge. As we lost elevation once again the scenery changed right before our very eyes. Upon entering the gorge I had another one of those wonderous moments where I just felt completely overwhelmed by the awe inspiring beauty that all of a sudden surrounded me. This has been my favourite descent of the journey so far.
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| Coming down off Keyes Cr Summit |
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| Beautiful Picture Gorge |
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| The mandatory selfie just had to be taken |
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| Dayville Mercantile Store |
We also met some other interesting adventure tourers. One cyclist had been riding for 7 months so far on an around the world odyssey. He had ridden through Indonesia, from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia, and had just come down from Canada to meet up with the Transamerica Trail. His bike was really, truly fully loaded. I know we complain about our load but his was insane. His whole set up including his bike and gear weighed 55kg plus whatever he carried in water. He was also running 26" fat tires having come off some pretty rough stuff in Canada. Basically he was pushing more than my body weight day in and day out around the world. Now that's crazy!
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| Taking a roadside break between Dayville and Mt Vernon |
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| Riding through the smoky air |
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| Mt Vernon wishing us "Happy Trails" |
The forest fires have been raging right around us and for part of the ride the air was pretty smoky. The fires wreaked havoc on the end of our day. Thunderstorms and possible hailstorms were forecast for the night as we rolled into John Day at about 5pm. Not having a fully functional tent for Katie, we didn't want to camp in the rain but all the hotels in town were fully booked out by the firefighters. What option was left for us?
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| Inside the Sales Arena - John Day Fairgrounds |
The only campground in John Day is at the Fairground which had just had their County Fair and Rodeo finish up 2 days ago. The camping area was an open patch of grass with no shelter. Our best option seemed to be to sleep in the livestock barn which they had left open to air out after the fair and rodeo - you can imagine the stench of horse, bull and whatever else had been housed in there during the event. We chose to spend the night in the Sales Arena of the barn, where we barely managed to get some shut eye on the uncomfortable wooden arena benches.
CRANKING ODYSSEY STATS
Total Odyssey miles: 495
Overall Fastest Speed: Steve (39.9 miles per hour) Mandy (35.3 miles per hour)
Bonks: nil
Dog chases: 1
Dummy Spits: nil
Flats: Katie (3)
Wrong turns: 6
Beer of the day: N/A
Lesson of the day: make sure to finish your massive bowl of oatmeal even if you think you can't eat anymore before you ride because you'll be absolutely ravenous within 2 hours. A big bowl of oatmeal can get you through the whole day.
No. of our luxury items that Katie has used: 4 (duct tape + rope + pliers + a confused cup/bowl)
No. of days with no shower: 4
Starting weight: Steve (90kg) Mandy (51.5kg)
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