47 miles. 2734 feet up, 2634 feet down.
We had a little bit more leisurely start to the day today. It was nice to be able to sleep in. I was awake fairly early, but enjoyed the time to lie in bed and listen to the radio. We met at the hostel for a 7:45 map meeting followed by breakfast at about 8. And what a breakfast it was that Emily had prepared for us in the hostel's kitchen! I'm going to miss that girl when I have to fend for myself....... The hostel was certainly the more welcoming of the two accommodations. The hotel wouldn't even let us bring our bikes in the building. So - I took mine over to the hostel last night and found a spot for it in the dorm room. I'm thinking either Ruby had a night of separation anxiety or maybe was out partying on her own. In any case, she had a flat tire when I retrieved her this morning. I had new tires put on before I left for this trip and I was dreading my first flat in case they were difficult to get off. But - easy peasy. I had it fixed in no time. Looks like all that riding on the crappy shoulder yesterday was the culprit. I had picked up a tire shard.
The directions today were not too complicated. Turn left out of the hostel onto US 26, ride 46.6 miles and turn into the Best Western in Prineville. I do love the early morning light that we enjoy (even though I didn't get away until about 9 this morning).
And then the climb began in earnest. It was about 20 km long and we gained about 2500 feet. It started out quite gentle, but the last (about) 10 km was a pretty steady grind. Most of the women thought it was one of the toughest climbs we've done so far. I would have to agree. But - I never had to get in my lowest gear, and I only occasionally used the second lowest one. Once I started climbing, though, I didn't stop for any pictures. One of the women who was already stopped along the way took this one for me............
Judging by the trees in the background, this is probably part of the section that looks like it was burned a number of years ago (I believe that we smelled smoke through here in 2018). And then - on to the summit at 16.2 miles.
I was to the top by about 10:45 and it was already 29C. It's going to be another hot one! We had SAG 1 at a rest stop just a mile down the road. I thought the hard work was all done for the day. Apparently I was wrong. The grade of the downhill wasn't enough to preclude pedalling, and the headwind was annoying enough that we had to pedal more than we should have had to. It was interesting to see how abruptly the vegetation changed from scrub brush to full on pine trees.
Throughout this tour we've seen many signs thanking firefighters - everything from kids' homemade signs to this rather professional-looking one.
More miscellaneous views from the never-ending downhill...............
I think I was the most interesting things these fellows had seen all day.
And as we approach the Prineville area, there seems to be a bit more civilization.
At about 60 km I had my second flat of the day; argh! Back tire this time. I couldn't find the cause, but again, it was an easy fix. With about 10 km left to go, I stopped in at the Ochoco Lake County Park to each my lunch and soon enough quite a few others joined me. Cy even stopped by with SAG resupplies. We found out we couldn't check into our rooms until about 3, so no rush in moving on.
We're definitely in an agricultural area here!
And into the BW Prineville. I've stayed here before; I recognize the little statues.
While Emily was preparing dinner and sudden wind and rain event blew through, so we had her wonderful chili and kale salad in the comfort of the breakfast room. We ride to Sisters tomorrow, and then another rest day. It seems that we are having a lot of rest days, but I feel like I can use each and every one of them!
The Ride:
Garmin: 74.94 km. 2683 feet up, 2471 feet down.
RWGPS: 75.6 km. 1033 m up, 997 m down.
Temperature range: 20C - 34C. It was over 29C by the top of the climb at 10:45 am. Lots of sweating involved!
The Route:
Prineville OR. Population 10,429
Prineville was founded in 1877. Helped by timber harvests from nearby Ochoco National Forest, the City of Prineville Railroad prospered for decades. However, with the decline of the timber industry in Oregon the railroad reported a loss of nearly $1 million between 2002 and 2004. Since the late 2000s, Apple and Facebook have each invested over $1 billion in multiple data centres located within Prineville city limits. In 2000, about 14% of the population lived below the poverty line.
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