SEE NEW SLIDE SHOW OF OUR RIDE ON RIGHT COLUMN – SCROLL DOWN. PHOTOS ARE FROM MIKE MONKS WEBSITE; MIKE IS THE TRIP LEADER.
Last night at dinner I sat with Patricia, who has the only touring bike and the neatest bike here, and six guys. None of the guys knew ANYTHING about their gears. “What does 39, 15 mean?” “Do you have a triple? – I don’t know.” “Is the big gear on the front the low gear?” I mean they knew nothing! This just blew my mind. And then today, when we were loading the bikes on the van, a guy with a custom titanium bike (by Davidson out of Seattle) couldn’t get 
his front wheel off.
I woke up well rested today, possibly because I had a glass of wine last night – the first in 6 days!
Although we start on a beautiful “Old Highway 30”, today we will get our first taste of riding on an interstate highway. Mike, the leader, says “I like riding on interstates. The trucks pull you along 2 to 3 miles faster than you’d normally go.” I think he’s crazy.
Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything. - Charles Kuralt
In some states, particularly out West, it is legal for bikes to ride on the interstate (shoulder). But if there is construction and the shoulder is blocked, then you can’t ride on it. And that is the situation we faced today. So we had to be shuttled about 8 miles past the construction. Which poses a dilemma for me.
I’ve had a motto, or a goal, for this ride. It’s reflected on the front of my rear view mirror: “REFI” or “Ride Every F___ing Inch”. This means no sag and no walking. But I was forced to ride the sag today to get past the construction. So did I blew it? Missed my goal? Do I need to re-label the goal “REAI” – Ride Every Allowed Inch? What do you think?
The last 25 miles of so are along the Snake River. Terrain here is fairly flat (it’s been downhill most of the day) and there are a lot of farms, probably irrigated from the river. Ontario is the “onion capital” of Oregon. - During this part of the ride I had my first flat tire.
We’re achieved a goal of sorts today, moving from Pacific time to Mountain time.
Day | Miles today | Feet climbed | Hrs in saddle | Miles so far | Miles to go | Days to go |
7 | 76 | 1394 | 5.3 | 576 | 3,079 | 43 |
7 comments:
Ok what kind of bike does Patricia have? need picture; about that 8 miles you could ride 16 on your rest day to make up
I'm amazed that anyone would undertake a cross country journey on a cycle without a full understanding of their gears! How do they select the best gear for the hills?
I agree with Jake, ride an extra eight miles to compensate for the construction detour.
Keep up the good work. How are you feeling?
Regarding those lost 8 miles, you can take a nice ride along the Boise River bike path on your lay-over day. Voila, every inch covered. RJ/GD
John,gotta agree w/Jake.make up the 8 miles on your rest day will probably help keeps your legs from so sluggish the next day.and we need a pic of the "nicest bike on the tour"...REFIP? (possible)
ScottW
Dad, Don't be so anal. 8 miles out of 3655 is .2%. I agree with the REFIP - not your fault the road was closed. Your only a week into it - I bet there will be other days the same thing happens it will be unavoidable. Maybe you will get a detour at some point that adds the 8 miles back and then some :)
I think you should adopt: RERI ride every reasonable inch. That would account for construction. Then again you could have portaged your bike across the construction areas if you were really into it... :-)
John, Didn't you do an out-and-back to the ocean on the meeting day? That should make up for the detour.
BTW, did you find the brew pub in Baker?
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