Day 6 – June 22nd

Today we started the ride in Ontario, Oregon and within a couple of miles we had left Oregon behind and were now propelling ourselves over the surface of Idaho. One state down, and less than a dozen to go. The first 60 miles of today’s ride were fairly uneventful and the legs felt good; not too deep yet, but still fairly fresh considering the 500 miles we’ve put in already. The knee is still giving me problems, though, but I believe my wife has diagnosed it. It appears I have tendinitis of the quad tendon. It hurts, but its still good news; it means I probably haven’t messed my knee up too bad. Over the next couple weeks I will continue to ice it, elevate it, take ibuprofen to help with the inflammation, and start using a compression wrap while riding to assist the knee in staying in place. I am hopeful that in a couple of weeks I will have this behind me and can get back to riding pain free; well as pain free as any century ride can be.

On the ride today there were not any climbs that were overly difficult. We did go into a gradual climb around mile 63 and were out of it by mile 80. The legs felt fine during the ascent, and my heart rate remained in the 130’s, which tells me in wasn’t very hard on my body; always a great sign. In fact, only a couple of sections of the gradual ascent had any real substance to them. After reaching the summit, Larry went ahead of us to get the hotel room ready and Gary and I set out to do the next 40 miles without support. It wasn’t too long after that the heat started to take its toll on me; around mile 83 I started to realize I was getting too hot; the temp had soared to 94 degrees and was draining me fast. After living in Portland for nearly a year, my body is definitely not used to the heat. But once I got some more fluids and food in me, I was back on form within a couple of miles. The next 30 miles went fairly quickly, as it was a flat course with some minor descents and only a couple bumps to climb over. Overall the ride went well, and I was quite pleased to be off the bike before 6 pm. I was hoping to be done earlier, but unfortunately we crossed into mountain time, and thus lost an hour this morning. Ahh well, it was still a good day in the saddle. In regards to the topography of the course today, I spent the majority of the day following the Snake River through the high deserts of Idaho. I can’t say I’ll be overly disappointed to leave these arid plains behind me; though I realize the Midwest is going to be just as hot. But at least there should be some green; out here the only green was immediately adjacent to the Snake River. Everything else is a dull, lifeless brown. Don’t get me wrong, it still has its own unique beauty to it. But when you are hot and fighting yourself to keep pedaling, the last thing you want to see is an arid landscape; it does not inspire like a lush green backdrop. In regards to miles ridden, I have knocked off over 600 of the 3,600 miles this trip requires. I am looking forward to completing the remaining 3,000!