Day 5 – June 21st

The day started out with a nice descent before trekking back up the mountain. We biked through rolling mountains and were graced with scenic views of the lush pastures, rolling ridges, and mountain streams and lakes. The scenery was as beautiful as anything we had witnessed on ride.

We made our way into Baker City, Oregon which required us to accumulate 44 miles to get there. During the journey to get there, my knee started giving me problems and Gary pulled me which allowed me some time to rest it. The knee didn’t get better, but thankfully it doesn’t seem to be getting much worse. Hopefully it can hold up for another few weeks.

While in Baker City I attempted to get a new seat stay for my bike, as mine had been stripped when lowering the saddle. Unfortunately, after 20 minutes of searching his inventory, the local bike smith was unable to find a new screw or seat stay to fit my bike. Ahh well, hopefully in the next couple of days we can find a city that is a bit larger and has a facility equipped with the equipment I am looking for. Time will tell on that one.

Outside of Baker City we fought a soul penetrating heat, upwards of 90+ degrees, and a nasty headwind for the first 24 miles. Not far behind us, during the ride, was a mountain storm brewing in all its fury. During a portion of our ride we were forced onto interstate 84 as the highway we had been riding on turned into a gravel road. By the time we got onto the interstate the storm was on us and neither Gary nor myself were looking forward to dealing with traffic, which would be doing 75 miles per hour, as well as the nasty storm. We sat the storm out for a bit when we encountered road construction in which there was no shoulder for us to bike upon. While Larry shuttled Gary over the mile of construction, I sought shelter in the rest area. That storm cell was short lived, and by the time Larry came back to pick me up and shuttle me up to Gary, it had blown over. Thankfully, I was able to get cell coverage at the time and place a call to Brian who confirmed the small size of the cell via the web. You have got to love cell phones and the Internet.

We had only one more set back while traveling along the interstate; there was more road construction 5 miles down the road in which we again had to be shuttled across. After that, though, we were able to get back on highway 30 and head for our destination point: Ontario, Oregon.

The last 27 miles into the city were exciting and a bit demanding. The exciting part was the fact that a new storm was accumulating and had caused the wind to shift. Instead of fighting the headwind, it was about to push us. We sailed for quite a few miles with exhilarating speeds while our long time nemesis, Mr. Wind, push us; it was a nice change. As we approached town, about 15 miles out, we realized that the storm was on growing large and nearly on top of us. We both realized we were probably not going to make it without getting wet. After a quick pit stop at Shop De La Larry, in which we grabbed some quick fluids and fuel, Gary and I took off for our stop over town. With the wind pushing us a portion of the time, I took the lead and we both picked up the tempo. For portions of the ride into town we were sailing at 32 miles an hour. It was great, and the legs felt pretty good during it. We finally made it into town, after crossing over to Idaho for a few miles before re-crossing the Snake River to end once again in Oregon.

After riding 122 miles, seeing the Best Western sign, as the storm began to prepare for an all out assault, may have been the best sight of the day. We were all glad to be in doors and dry. The bud light was cold and our spirits were high. Another great day on the road. I am hoping that the ice packs Larry picked up will do my knee some good, and that tomorrow’s ride will be pain free.