Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Day 11 Baker City to Huntington

Distance Biked Today:  47.82 miles

Time Spent Biking:  2:44

Avg Speed:  17.4 mph

Max speed: 41.3 mph

Total Distance Biked: 560 miles

Today was a fun day as we coasted downhill and were pushed by a strong tailwind. The day started with a 500 foot climb, but after that we went down 2000 feet over the next 35 miles.

2008-07-09 Day 11 Baker City to Ontario 001

Part of the route was on the highway again. However now the shoulder was not as clean as before. It hard lots of dangerous things for tires like parts of tires with steel bands and lots of glass. Also two section were reduced to one lane. For the first section we could stay out of the lane and on the other side of construction barrels. However the second section was a bridge that was dismantled and was down to one lane forcing us to travel very close to the trucks. I just paid attention and kept moving. Several people were strongly distraught at this and were really glad to be through it.

2008-07-09 Day 11 Baker City to Ontario 014

After the highway some people ahead of us had found a river with a irrigation ditch by it. We soaked our legs in the brisk water, which felt great on our legs. It has been so hot and dry that cooling off in the water helps to bring water back to our parched skin. Its interesting to watch everyone relax. We all stay out of the sun as much as possible to try to stay cool. Shade is definitely at a premium.

2008-07-09 Day 11 Baker City to Ontario 012

2008-07-09 Day 11 Baker City to Ontario 021

Along the way were cow catcher (grates in the road that prevent cows from walking across) which aren't well suited for bikes.

2008-07-09 Day 11 Baker City to Ontario 009

As we arrived there was a sign on the outskirts of Huntington welcoming us! The town was really small but several of the shops (there were only a total of 5 or so)had signs advertising what we're doing in store windows.

2008-07-09 Day 11 Baker City to Ontario 011

Also, the money from us for renting the school was going to go to the basketball team. So the coach had his players help us setup camp. Thanks!

It was very windy also. Several tents blew away. But several cyclists took it upon themselves to be on patrol watching for tents about to blow away while many of us decided to go to the bar.

2008-07-09 Day 11 Baker City to Ontario 013

Dave Meyer's birthday was today so we went before dinner to the dinner and had pie. I had marrienberry (not sure on the spelling, but its a local berry). It tasted amazing and was huge!

2008-07-09 Day 11 Baker City to Ontario 019

By the way, Huntington is the catfish capital of Oregon!

1 comments:

Laura Kuperus said...

That pie looks delicious! Hope it was worth all the riding you had to do to get there. :) Keep up the posts--we're enjoying them!
Casey and Laura Kuperus