At the 6:00 breakfast, I ran into Jim, one of two Mechanics on tour. He brought me right out to the truck, let me get my box of supplies and a leisurely half hour later I had nearly completed my tire change. Dang. My baby hands couldn't push the last bit of the tire over the rim. I again ran down to the breakfast room to see if I could get any tips on how to better complete the job. Jim saw me, came over and talked me through a better way to install tire. Cool! Now I know how easy it is and better than that, I understand the underlying mechanics. I won't stress over the next install.
All the worry about leaving late on a day with a page and a half of turns to follow (we have only had half page directions so far) was for nothing. Tension can really tire me out so "phew"!
Nice stretch of Flats and rolling hills for first 40 miles. Matt and I actually clocked average 19.2 MPH in our first hour. That rate wouldn't stand but it was a hoot to see. We crossed the Columbia at around mile 20 and continued flying for another 20 miles when we started climbing at mile 43 for another 20. Kind of took the wind out of my sails! But we did find a Dairy Queen! After we were there a few minutes, in strolled Jim the mechanic. We asked for some detail on the terrain for the final 18 miles to the Resort where we'd bivouac tonight i.e. "How hard is it?". Not only did he give us reassurance that there'd be about another 1 mile climb followed by a nice decline and then some nice steps up to the resort on the final 4 miles. Good Man!
Quite a few in our group had a "snack" at Calamity Jane's - notorious for monster sized fish and beef burgers and ever larger orders of fries. Not meaning to sound sanctimonious, I'm glad we settled for the strawberry banana smoothie at DQ. It gave me a lift, cooled me off and didn't sit heavy in my stomach as the other folks reported.
Ride tomorrow has a long bit of climbing, and long descents. At Route Rap tonight, we went over some safety points about remaining in control of our bikes on fast descents, how to cross cattle guards, and to be sure to inspect our bikes as Jim had reviewed with the group before we left this morning. Check!
I'm running out of steam, so I'll leave you with some pics of some "House Boats" along the Columbia and some views of Mt Hood. We were fortunate to see it without being obscured by clouds.
Two last obserations. Lot of Medical Marijuana 'dispenseries'. I even saw billboards for High Oregon - an app that helps you locate nearest dispensary (Useful if your traveling and your need is urgent? or if you can't remember where the last one you visited is located...not sure). Nice day today.
My fat head in front of Mt Hood. Really. It's back there somewhere.
Better?
Just one quick shot of the maybe hundreds of 'house boats' we saw along the way.
Many actually had boat garages. Just motor out and go! Interesting.
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