Supplemental Ride Report: 12 Miles, 304 Total Miles, 14.2
Avg mph, 820 Ft Climbing, 946 Calories.
Supplemental ride reports shall remain an anomaly. I include it here because at the end of the
day’s ride, I decided to go part way (6 miles) up Mt. McKenzie and explore a
bit for tomorrow. The logic behind this
will be explained below. The reader is
cautioned – its Rider logic your mileage may vary.
So – total for the day was 73 miles.
It was a beautiful day to ride today. I think the temperature was about 56 degrees
when I left and the forecast high was in the mid to upper 70s. As I type this I’ve no way to determine
whether this was accurate or not because we have no cell service. Hmmm… I suspect collusion between the Park
Service (which apparently hates cell phones) and the Weatherguessers at
“Accu”weather. With no way for the folks
in the Parks to determine if “Accu”weather was correct, people are left to
assume said “accuracy”. I mean, its in
the name right? But I digress. It was, after all, a beautiful day. It was also a day on which I found myself
outside my comfort zone for a moment. It
went like this…
(Trigger Warning: If
you’ve an aversion to emotional content, skip the next paragraph.)
So there I was peddling merrily along following the McKenzie
River upstream and the scenery was drop dead gorgeous. As I am wont to do on occasion I found myself
reflecting on my presence in such a setting and the graciousness of our Creator
who put it all together. This led to
thoughts of the career from which I recently retired (and thoroughly enjoyed),
the relationship Susan and I have after 40 years together, our kids, etc. (Basically
my life to this point.) Apparently such
contemplations are the proximate cause of emotional distress. All I know is that I was quickly overwhelmed
with gratitude and got emotional. Now
this is not necessarily a bad thing. But
when one is riding on an 18 inch wide shoulder with the occasional logging
truck going past from behind, bleary eyes aren’t necessarily a good for one’s
long term prospects. Displaying some
common sense (Yeah, Yeah – it was a lapse, I assure you.) I was forced to pull over for a minute and
get my act together. I was soon able to return
to normal (for me…) and I remain grateful.
I don’t put this kinda stuff in the blog very often, but
felt led to do so this time.
(Author’s note: Don’t be griping at me if that wasn’t your
bag. I warned ya.)
But enough of the Hallmark movie stuff. On with the ride pics…
I was a bit surprised when I encountered this sign less than
3/4 of a mile after leaving the campground…
I mean really. I’m 75
miles away from the summit and already the mountain is trying to cast a pall on
my day. Stupid mountain. I pressed on.
As I said earlier, I was following the McKenzie River
upstream. It was clear, fast moving and
very scenic. As an added bonus, I
noticed that when I was near the river temperatures were 5-10 degrees
cooler. Plus, there was a lot of shade
from the trees.
People in these parts know how to build a nice house…
With a view. Literally - this was just across the road from their front yard.
And just as I was beginning to forget about the mountain who must not be named (A Harry Potter reference there), I ran across this…
The mountain who must not be named has now enlisted his
lesser buddies into trying to intimidate me.
Bah – it’ll take a better sign than that!
And just before (nap)
lunch in Vida, Delta saw this and just had to go explore…
We rode across just so Delta could say he had. The reader may recall Delta's problem crossing the pedestrian bridge when he could see thru the slats. No such problems here. He was having such a good day I elected to forgo mentioning the issue.
I chose a slightly different perspective. Now that’s both cool and scenic.
Anyway, at Vida (which was literally just around the corner from the covered bridge) Susan and I pulled into a gas station for
lunch and ran into these people.
Turns out that Ken is also riding the Trans-Am and we will both be
heading up Mt. McKenzie tomorrow.
We had a nice chat. He
immediately asked if I was from Kansas and I’m thinking – accent? (All Kansans know that we don’t have an accent.) Then he reminded me I was wearing a KSU
jersey. Turns out they’re from
Omaha. Having apparently overcome her
aversion to towing a trailer, Laura (his wife) is pulling a pop-up camper for
their journey. We wished each other luck
and were off.
I heard this before I saw it. Wow – how fun is this route?
Then there was this…
Its K-State Santa! Explains how he knew my name. Santa knows everybody. He asked me what I thought about Klieman’s
current recruiting prospects. And we
discussed Bill Snyder’s legacy. I guess
this explains why Nebraska fans are always getting lumps of coal. My apologies to Ken and Laura...
(Sigh) He just won’t
give up with the intimidation thing.
Stupid mountain.
I said earlier that I’d explain being saved again…
It went like this. I knew I was on the short end of the hydration stick and still had a ways to go when what did I see but the world's largest yard sale at the McKenzie Valley Christian Church. I pulled in and when I inquired, a very nice elderly gentleman told me to head over to the kitchen and fill up.
SAVED!
C’mon – how often do ya see this? Unfortunately, I also got a 5 minute lecture
on how to prevent forest fires. He said its in his contract.
Bah! I've had enough. This is what I
think of the whole intimidation thing. Let me at him. Stupid mountain.
Good Lord. Enough is
enough already!
The pic below is from the supplemental ride. The plan is for Susan to take me up to where I turned around on the supplemental ride and let me loose there to have my fight with Mt. McKenzie. The road is still closed to vehicle traffic, but is open to bikes. (Apparently this happens every spring and local riders anticipate the car free roads all winter.) So – I’ll ride over the mountain and meet her in Sisters, OR on the other side. I think its about 40 miles. From there its on to Prineville for a well deserved rest day on Father’s Day. The idea is that the 6 miles up I did in the supplemental ride won’t have to be repeated on in order to get to Prineville. Prineville was gonna be an 80+ mile day, which we both thought might be a bit much after getting over a mountain first thing in the morning. The supplemental ride will shorten that up by 6 miles.
We'll settle this tomorrow, MR. McKenzie...
Side bar: Internet bonus points for anyone who has had this conversation with their
spouse. “Well honey, what do you want to do this morning?” “Ah, I dunno sweetie. How about I go climb a mountain? See ya for lunch after?”
Well reader, that’s it for today. Tomorrow I’ll report on my fight with the
mountain and let ya know who won.
Till next time.
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