Saturday, July 19, 2014

Location: - Sisters OR Miles = 47, Ave MPH = 10.5, Cum. Miles = 304, Cum. Ave MPH = 12.3

Friday July 18th

Quote of the Day - "Climb no hill that you have already climbed"

Such horrible news to get this morning regarding the plane shot down over the Ukraine. It's kind of nice to be out of the loop on this type of stuff for the most part. 

However as a counterbalance to this it was nice to see Gary leave for golfing at 7:30 this morning with this:




Yes it was posed because I couldn't get the iPhone out fast enough but it was a re-enactment of the real deal. Married 57 years!

Just a bit chilly this morning - will be wearing 100% wool leggings up the mountain for at least part of the way. Cold muscles on this 22 mile 4000 foot ascent up to through McKenzie Pass will not be good. APPREHENSIVE!!!

Sandrine had a second person that offered to host us in McKenzie Bridge so we decided to go and visit her as she lived just down the road by about a mile.




This is the turn off point for 22 miles up to McKenzie Pass.


Lovely Joyce met us up at the half way point with some fruit and 2 gallons of water. She also brought Sandrine's panniers and my two front panniers. Sandrine was ready two throw out all of her stuff at this point - "I'm so done with this stuff". I became rather concerned with my "bike wife" and told her to talk to her "bike husband". We must communicate - right?? I thought we were "breaking up" at this point but she told me to just let her have her tantrum and to ride on ahead.

Strangely we both got stronger after this point which was actually steeper and we were now fully loaded.


View from the pass.





We have heard from a number of experienced cyclists that this is the most intense climb we will have so we are pleased with the relative ease that brought us to top. We do need to be mindful of the perfect weather we had regarding temperature and wind direction.

Also back to my quote of the day.... "Climb no hill that you have already climbed"... 
The climb up to 5300 feet is relentless - you never stop climbing, but this is good as you are always making progress to the goal. The day before on the ride from Eugene to McKenzie Bridge we only gained 300 feet in elevation but we climbed that 300 feet about 25 times. If you have to climb I prefer the relentless climb. However it was so continuous a ride that it was difficult to safely take your hands off the bars to grab the water bottles and there where very few places where you could stop to drink and get going again easily. It was like trying to launch a standard shift transmission vehicle on a steep hill. If there was ever a place for a camelback it was here!

Couple (Justin and Carmen) at the summit that wanted a photo with us when they found out about our involvement with Soldiers Best Friend. Got to switch to different shorts tomorrow when we get back into civilization - sorry:):):)


We took a "flight" down into Sisters OR - a total of 10 miles of wild decent and then another 8 miles of more gentle decent.

Jim and Jill's place in Sisters OR (our Warm Showers hosts for tonight)


View out my bedroom window:


Jill is a quilter. Sisters is famous for a Quilting show was here with 1400 quilts on show. These are some of the quilts on display in their house.




Guy on motorcycle with dog in lap - sorry for the poor exposure:


Jim ran us into town to go to dinner with Jonathan and Jerry who were on the Trans America route in the west bound direction so they almost done and will be dipping their wheels in the Pacific soon. We enjoyed them immensely and got some good tips regarding a forest fire that may cause us some issues as we go over Ochoco Pass.

Jonathan and Jerry:


Jill at departure for Prineville:


Thank you so much Jim and Jill!!!!


The Usual Disclaimer: 
  
And finally please remember the cause -   soldiersbestfriend.org  I will go into this in more detail and perhaps some level of haranguing later on, but for now here is the link .... and an additional link for donation   SoldiersBestFriend - Donate Please :):)  As you donate please enter my name in the appropriate spot so the folks at SBF can tally the results to encourage me and let me know WE are getting something done TOGETHER. Oh and I would be a lot more comfortable if you use the "honorarium" option vs the "memoriam" option - you'll understand when you click on the link:):).     I will be inserting this call-to-action in all of my blogs so I hope you don't mind.

5 comments:

  1. Looks looks like your off to a great start. Those climbs look pretty tough with all that extra gear. Not to mention your training on the Sawmill Branch had no elevation gain.

    Keep up the good work and be safe out there.
    Ed

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  2. :) Keep going brother! Hope to see you at Awendaw Green before I PCS out of Charleston!

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  3. Great Pictures!!
    Take more, more! !

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  4. Love the pictures , take more! :-)
    Stay strong

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  5. I'm across the Rockies Ed and in the flatland for awhile - saving it up for the Ozarks

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