Because of the distance involved in getting to the start, and the early hour of the start I spent the night in Maupin.
Chris and I were riding this, like the majority of participants, as a "ride and tie" event. Short explanation, we were riding a relay with each of us alternating riding and shuttling my pickup up the course. Chris took the first leg, riding from Maupin up out of the Deschutes Canyon over to Tygh Valley then back down to Shearer's Falls on the Deschutes River. She started off at 6:30, still a bit dark but soon the sky lightened up and she was having fun.
After passing her, making sure all was going well, and taking the above photo, I drove to Shearer's Falls where I parked the pickup and started up "Lauren's Hill", an 8 mile climb with 1500 ft of elevation gain. I arrived in Grass Valley just a few minutes before Chris arrived in the area with the pickup. She missed the rest stop but parked the pickup a few miles up the course.
We continued on the course through Moro and Monkland. There were quite a few wind generators in the area but we didn't encounter a whole lot of wind today.
On this stretch I was "treated" to a climb away from the John Day river that climbed 2200 ft in 9 miles. It was one of the more notable climbs in this very hilly course.
Chris and I regrouped at most of the rest stops today and we spent a bit of time at the Condon stop talking with the owner of a hotel there that he had just refurbished. It was a very ornate establishment right out of the wild west.
I rode the next leg from Condon through Fossil and continued up an 8 mile climb with 1200 ft of climbing. I stopped part way up this climb to take a photo and take advantage of the first cell service I had seen in some time.
The pickup was waiting for me on top of this climb where Chris had left it. She was taking the descent to the John Day river.
I loaded my bike and caught up with Chris about 1 mile into the arduous climb out of the canyon. It was another one of those 2200ft in 9 mile deals.
Chris had never ridden more than just over 60 miles before. Today's hilly route would challenge her. When I caught up with her she already had 74 miles for the day, a new personal best for her. (congratulations to her!) ....and she was still smiling.
She decided to call it a day. The majority of the remainder of the route today was downhill and it was awfully tempting to just pedal it out. However, I didn't want Chris to have to wait around while I pedaled, and we did have an awards presentation and costume party to attend in Maupin. We bagged it at mile 162 and headed to Maupin to get cleaned up and into costumes. :-)
We made it back to the finish line where we were met by one of the most ugly podium girls I've ever seen.... actually a participant in tonight's costume party. ;-)
It was a short mileage day for me with only 78 miles, but I did get 7833 ft of climbing in!
FWIW, the costume party was a hoot. I went as a pirate, Chris went as a "badazz pirate's wench. ...and a darn fine wench she was too!
.........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........78..............0.............0..........0..........78
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept.......1153..............0............50..........0........1213
Oct.........279..............0.............0..........0.........279
YTD........7584..............0............87..........7........7768
Wow, you guys are awesome!
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