Day 76 Mitchell OR to Sisters OR Today has been one of my favorite days of cycling on the trip. It has felt very much like an adventure from start to finish. I had a little extra packing to do today because Id be leaving the group for a night to travel farther. The group planned on staying in Prineville and Dave and I planned on going almost twice the distance to Sisters. The advantage to this would be that we get a rest day the day after the long ride. The rest of the group will be taking 2 half day layovers instead of our full one. The disadvantages mainly just include eating without the group and carrying a lot of extra baggage. I put my extra pannier on the bike this morning and filled it with a change of clothes and my thermarest mat. On top of my rack, I tied down a sleeping bag and tent. My bike now felt enormous. The weight difference was very apparent. The start of the ride was the most difficult part because I had to climb a couple thousand feet to the top of a pass. This climb was long, but it wasnt too slow going. I suppose the fact that it happened in the morning made it seem a little easier than it couldve been in the heat. We made it up after much sweating and had a snack before descending. The descent was great! It seemed to last until mile 45, where we arrived in Prineville. The town looked pretty cool. It was almost lunch time at the time we got there, so we stopped at a little diner to get a bite to eat. We saw Bob L, who was just finishing up. I had little burger sliders for lunch there. We continued on until we got to Redmond, where we immediately went to a coffee shop to get smoothies and water before the final leg of the trip. The shoulders have been wide and in fantastic shape all day and the views leaving Redmond were amazing. We were the first to see the mighty Cascade mountains. There was an unbelievable amount of snow on top of the peaks. We got to Sisters after a while and set up our tents after paying for tent camping. We were getting hungry, so we headed into town to get a couple burgers as usual. We headed back to camp after a while of touring the town. Today has been a fantastic and relaxing day. I cant believe how close the end of this trip is. It feels like its flown by, and its been such an amazing experience. Thanks for all the support. Stats: Miles today: 86.7 Time: 6 hours 27 minutes Average MPH: 13.4 Max MPH: 34.9 Elevation gain: 4,194 feet Max elevation: 4,737 feet Until tomorrow Alex
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 15:57:52 +0000
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