Into the mouth of the beast

Well, technically it was into the caldera of an old volcano, and the ride wasn't all that bad. Today was my "easy" day, with a plan of about 85 miles, and after yesterday's hot, dry, and windy ride this was to be cooler, plenty of water, and less wind. The morning started out cooler and I had my arm warmers on for the first time this trip. I made my way on side streets until jumping on Hwy 97 was inevitable. Hwy 97 has good wide shoulders but plenty of traffic.



When I got to Lava Butte my GPS told me to turn to the right then make an immediate left. I was following the route I had mapped for my Century Drive ride the first day here. I had varied from my route that day because of construction and thought this would be a good chance to scope out that road.

Well.......the road to the left was what I was supposed to follow!
They need to put a check box on those mapping programs so I can choose "paved roads only"!!!!

Since today was a short day I decided I had time and energy to follow the paved road to Benham Falls.

I hadn't been there in years.

I thought I remembered being able to see the falls from the road, but I was wrong.
There were plenty of people coming and going, and in the interest of making sure my bike wasn't going anywhere I decided I could skip getting a close up and personal look this time.


After watching the river flow for a bit (thinking of my previous life as a whitewater enthusiast) I rode on to Cottonwood Rd and into Sunriver for a snack. As I made my way into Sunriver I came across the other end of the "road" I was supposed to be on!


Before long I was back at the IGA store getting some refreshments and noticed that there were more bikes there than cars! :-)


This resort community is famous for it's partying... er, I mean wildlife!


I continued southward on Huntington Road towards La Pine. Just a few miles from La Pine I turned east, and within a very short distance started climbing. I was rewarded for the work by some pretty decent views.


It was a long relentless climb up the slopes of this old volcano but I eventually reached Paulina Lake.


And unlike the little stores of yesterday, the Paulina Lake store was OPEN!


I continued around the inner edge of the cauldera to East Lake. East Lake is at a slightly higher elevation than Paulina Lake and marked my highest elevation today, nearly 6400 ft.

I turned around and took advantage of the long descent to really fly! I continued a fast pace once back on Hwy 97 by taking advantage of the gentle down slope and a tailwind.
I braked at the High Desert Museum and turned in.

The staff there was nice enough to let me bring my bike inside where they watched it while I went to the cafe!

A 1/3 lb Angus burger and lemonade! I figured with less than 10 miles to go, and a tailwind I could splurge on real food!

With all my side trips today I ended up with not such a short ride after all! Today's ride just made the century mark, my third day in a row. I also logged 7766 ft of climbing, the highest daily total this week.

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...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today...........100...............0................100
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......901.....+.........0........=.......901
June total......543.....+.........0........=.......543
July total.....1322.....+.........0........=......1322
August total....865.....+.........0........=.......865
Year to date...6455.....+.........30.......=......6485
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