June 4 (Many Meetings)

I awoke at the hotel-hostel early, as I am quickly becoming accustomed. I helped myself to two delicious chocolate muffins for energy, but the real fun was outside.
 

By chance, the two groups I was thinking about riding with today met in the small town of Mitchell, right outside the hotel! We spent a while talking, but it seemed Matt, Phil, and SARAH (not Tish) were taking too long, so Nate and his father left. I opted to ride with the trio, as I was expecting to stay in the same place Nate was heading, and Sarah's knees hurt; they would likely soon wait a day at least to let her recover.
 

Oh, and I don't know where else to put this, but Mitchell used to have a pet/mascot bear, but people abused it so they sent it away. I got a shot of the cage though!


 

So we headed up out of Mitchell, which is to say we headed into a wall of a climb. 6 miles or so of 7-10% grade. (For you non cyclists, this is hard.) Phil And I rode ahead, letting Sarah and Matt go at their own pace. And I must say, despite the grade, it was one of my more enjoyable climbs. Phil and I were able to scale it in an hour with about three breaks, with me pacing off of him. (I think almost everyone is better at this than me) And he was very chatty and from the area, so in effect I had a tour guide.
 

When we finally got to the top we found a, patch of shade and rested for forty minutes while the other two made their way up. Much conversing, much fun. While at the peak we managed to get shots of Phil and me with the mountain we climbed yesterday in the background, as well as a trophy shot of the peak elevation sign and one of me, Matt and Sarah.





 

The middle of the ride was relatively uneventful. There were cows.
 

Pretty rocks.

And scenery.


 

And Phil contributed to be a tour guide throughout. In fact, we two took a detour to see the John Day fossil flats and painted mountains. Or more precisely, that's where we went, but we were going to see this rock formation that looks like an Indian lady washing her clothes. The camera on the phone doesn't have that great a resolution, but here are the, pics from the detour.
 

The painted mountains.


 

Some fossil science.

The Indian lady rock formation.

 

Anyway, within about 3 miles of the trio's John Day stop we came upon another trio of cyclists, a brother and sister and a guy they happened to meet en route. They were MUCH superior cyclists to us:  strong, fit, and the siblings were managing to carry only ~15 pounds on their tour! We talked briefly while riding - in which it came out that they were heading to the same location I was going - and then they quickly left us behind.

Now here's a funny thing about me: I love a chase. To be more specific, there is nothing I like more on a bike ride than to have to destroy my legs to keep up or catch up to a far superior cyclist. So I held back for a few miles - wanting to finish my ride with the three I had started with - but when they stopped for a break I couldn't help myself. I let Phil know I was giving chase and then I took off after them at full speed! (Which means about 15mph, as heavily laden as I am right now.)

Of course, I didn't catch them. In fact, I stopped at a traffic worker about 9 miles in to breathlessly ask how far ahead the three cyclists were; all I got in return was a puzzled look and, "The two cyclists, one pulling a trailer, passed about an hour ago." A perfect description of Nate and his dad.  As it turns out, I had been pedaling like a madman in pursuit of a group that was ... behind me. They had taken a break in John Day, and I had somehow missed their bikes when I passed through.

Now the location we stayed - The Bike Inn - was wonderful, but I should give you a bit of an explanation as to what it is. There is a site, WarmShowers.org, where people can open their homes to cyclists on tour in their area.  The hosts are mostly other cyclists who have done touring themselves. Services can range from being allowed to sleep on their lawn all the way to staying in their home and getting fed dinner. This Bike Inn was such a location, in this case the owner put her house up for any cyclist to crash at in her guest house. There were some things to drink, some things to eat, and a warm shower available. She was quite the joy to talk to as well, full of energy and enthusiasm!

Anyway, Nate and his father, myself, and the other three cyclists quickly headed to the almost-closing-only-café-in-town and had a dinner together, and then headed back to the house and talked for a while. Apparently the sister is a middle school teacher, the brother is a software engineer for the DoD, and the guy they met is a chef. They also had ridden 111 miles that day, and were understandably exhausted. All in all it was a great day!