She Flies With Her Own Wings: Oregon Part 1

The title of this post is Oregon's motto. I thought it was pretty cool and relevant. Having reached Oregon, I'm pretty amazed that I got here by the power of my own body.

Heading out of Baker City, Oregon, we had two "short" days: A 78-mile day followed by a 71-mile day.

Everyone was in really bad shape from the crazy hard ride the day before. We were tired, sore, and we had a lot of joint pains. Personally, my knees were really hurting. So coming off of a very difficult few days and having missed a rest day, we were oh so ready to do two short days in a row! 

The 78-mile ride from Baker City to John Day looked pretty intimidating on paper...

Three mountains?! Holy cannoli!

...but it ended up being one of my favorite rides of the trip! Because Oregon is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

The weather was just perfect-- low 70s with not a cloud in sight. My ride group that day was Joanna, Meredith, and Porter. Porter was his usual goofy self and was cracking jokes and trying to play tricks on us all day. For example, he kept sneaking up on us and going "pssssssss".... making the sound of a flat tire, trying to freak us out thinking we were getting a flat. Unfortunately he never succeeded and as soon as we heard it we would just turn around and glare at him... but that didn't stop him from continuing to try all day. He also managed to squirt me with windshield wiper fluid from the water van at one of the water stops. So we gave him the nickname Pesky Porter.

Oregon really likes to put up these signs! I like them too because we can see where we're coming from and where we're going :)

I was worried that with my knee pain they would hurt really badly on the climbs, and Meredith was having the same problem. But actually they weren't that bad. They weren't very steep and they were actually really enjoyable because... drum roll please... the entire state of Oregon smells like pine trees!!! Woo!!! This might sound crazy but all of the climbs smelled delicious and I was just in a great mood because it smelled so fresh and outdoorsy. 

Pine treeees!!

Interestingly enough, it was a slightly different smell than the pine smell of Colorado. We think that has to do not only with the type of trees but also with the differences in humidity and altitude! I can't put my finger on exactly how the two pine smells are different but they definitely are. You'll have to go experience them both and let me know what you think :)

Like Colorado, I thought it was pretty sweet that we were crossing a mountain range on our bikes. AND, we had some amazing scenery. Aaaand cue scenery photos.

Casual log cabin 

The descents were really fun, too. In fact, on the last descent I broke my own record by a significant amount and went 44 mph!! I'm really mad at myself for forgetting to take a picture of that on my bike computer, but I promise I did go that fast!

One of the summits

 In the middle of that final descent, we came across the following random gigantic covered wagon on the side of the road.....

Naturally, we stopped and got in it for a picture. 

Me, Pesky Porter, Joanna, Meredith

We got into the host in fantastic moods that day, feeling accomplished after 3 mountains, having a rush from our top speeds on the descent, and super excited to be in beautiful Oregon. Having a mail drop waiting for us only made it better -- I got a bunch of birthday cards! Then our host fed us an awesome dinner that included... drum roll please.. Mediterranean salad with feta cheese and balsamic vinegar! Both luxuries that I don't believe I've had at all since the start of the trip and that made the Italian side of me very happy.

The next day we got to "sleep in," and by that I mean actually sleep past sunrise! We had an awesome breakfast from our host and then got on the road. A bunch of my teammates rode for my mom that day, and again I was so honored by their support.

That day Nitkin and I took off in a group of 2, and it was a nice change to not have to worry about anyone else. I felt like pushing myself that day, so I let Nitkin, a much stronger cyclist than I am, lead the pace and I did my best to keep up. For some parts with headwinds I snuck behind him to draft (hehe, cheating), but I did do a pretty good job keeping up.

In fact, somehow, by mile 40 we were not only in the lead but were so far ahead of the last group that the water van wouldn't be able to catch us the next time around. Our options were slow down or wait in order to close the gap between us and the other groups, or go unsupported for the rest of the day. Unsupported means that you take responsibility for getting your own food and water, and the vans don't need to worry about you. Nitkin and I were feeling good and since we only had 30 miles left to go, we decided to go unsupported. We stocked up on water, stuffed our pockets with snack bars, and set off.

It was a pretty quiet day, considering we didn't see the vans or any other groups for the majority of the ride. We just took in the scenery and it was a nice, calm ride.

The highlight of the ride was Picture Gorge, a part of the John Day Fossil Beds. The gorge is absolutely GORGE-ous!! It was carved by layers of lava and basalt.

Here we saw a sign for Mitchell, our destination of the day, aaand Portland!!

View from one of the gradual climbs of the day

Another highlight of the day was meeting up with some other cross-country cyclists on the road. Most XC cyclists we've met are going the opposite direction, but this group was actually going east to west like us. They were with Adventure Cycling, a much more organized program than the 4K (but recreational and not a charity), and were all over the age of 60! I was super impressed with how well they all were doing. We passed them while riding at a faster speed, but whenever we stopped for a snack or bathroom break they would pass us, so we basically kept leapfrogging all day! Also, some of them were riding tandem bikes, which I think is absolutely crazy to do across the country!! Props to them!

Nitkin chatting it up with one of the Adventure Cycling cyclists

There were a couple of difficult climbs, and right before the end we actually had a horrible 20-mile gradual climb. It was very windy too, and since we had skipped lunch we were losing energy fast. We tried to get a hold of the water van to bring us some food, but neither one of us had cell service, and there was no town coming up before our destination. Our only option was to keep going, so we just tried to cover the distance as quickly as possible. I liked riding with Nitkin because he definitely pushed my pace, but that meant we got there faster!

At the end of the 20-mile climb, we were rewarded by a GLORIOUS 6-mile descent with gorgeous views into a valley.

Brake check area... translation: DOWNHILL AHEAD!

view of the valley on the descent

 With that, we rolled into Mitchell, Oregon!

Basically the entirety of the town of Mitchell

Welcome to the smallest host town of the entire trip! This town was crazy... I'd put money on it being part of a witness protection program. I also give this town 10 years before it's a legitimate ghost town.

Mitchell has a population of about 150. Our team's arrival literally increased their population by 20%. Their K-12 school has a total enrollment of 50 and other than houses the town literally contains a grocery/hardware store, a cafe, a school, and a post office. I couldn't believe how small this town was!!

Nitkin and I got in really early, around 2 pm, but I couldn't have picked a worse day to get in early, since there was nothing to do at the host or in the town. So I took a 2-hour nap. I must've been tired because normally I cannot nap. There was no wifi in the entire town, and no cell service for --no kidding-- 50 miles on either side. See what I mean about the witness protection program?? 

Despite the tiny size of the town, we were still treated with great hospitality. The principal of the school put us up in the gym and fed us both dinner and breakfast. He also took us out to the Painted Hills after dinner, which were absolutely amazing!

Me, Tom and Chelsea goofing with the Painted Hills

Mitchell was a neat experience! Heading out the next day, we were headed to Bend, and were looking forward to two things: cell service and a rest day!!