Date: May 24, 2024

Today’s Start Point: Prairie City, Oregon

Today’s End Point: Baker City, Oregon

Today’s Mileage: 66.8 Miles

Cumulative Mileage: 600.54 Miles

When I woke up, my first worry was my shin. It still hurt, but not as bad as last night. After getting some helpful advice from John Duggan and my faithful physical therapist, Scott Johnson (Pegasus Physical Therapy), I went out and bought some athletic tape and bound it tight. Since today was close to 70 miles and three passes, this would be a test.

Today I would either be going up or down, no flat terrain. It was going to be a “take jacket off, put jacket on”, kind of day. Three passes, all within the first 36 miles and each over 5,000 feet of elevation. After the three passes, it was a 30 mile descent into Baker City, Oregon.

The first climb up over the Dixie Pass started pretty quick. About one-third up the climb, I stopped at a scenic overlook, complete with a replica of a covered wagon. When I arrived, there was only one person at the overlook, and I asked if he could take my picture. His name was Elyion and he was from Germany on vacation. We chatted a bit and he said that he was touring the “flyover states” by car. It was going to take him a couple months. When he heard I was from Chicago, he wondered if it was as dangerous as he had heard. It makes me sad of Chicago’s reputation, even abroad. We said our farewells, he going east and me continuing west.

I continued the climb. The morning was sunny and the views pretty as usual . As always, I was accompanied by herds of cows as they fed in the high pastures.

I reached the top of Dixie Pass and my left shin felt good. The combination of the tape and the three Advils did wonders.

Once at the top, it was time to eat and layer up. I always eat at the top of a climb. The downhill was steep, fast and cold. Although not fast by most cyclists standards, I was hitting 40 mph. Not bad for steering something that has the aerodynamic characteristics of a sheet of plywood.

The sun was still out when I hit the bottom, and as anticipated, once I was down I was climbing back up Tipton Mountain. It was hot on the climb and I was going through a corridor of evergreens. With about three miles from the summit, I was attacked by swarms of what we would call horsefly’s back home (I have also heard the term bottleflys). Unlike the cicadas back home, these things bite. I would swat five or six of them off of my arms and legs. Not easy when ascending on the aforementioned sheet of plywood.

As I climbed, I eventually rose to a level that appears to be out of their habitat, and the attacks abated. Just think, I worry about bears, wolves, cougars and dogs, but it turns out that the flys were the first to get me.

Throughout the morning, I had seen clouds in the distance, but with the descent of Tipton Mountain, they started to move in and I could feel some rain. The descent was as cold as the descent from Dixie Pass, but had the added benefit of rain to make it even chillier.

Once I was down from Tipton Mountain, I went right back up to Sumpter Pass. The clouds all around started to look formidable, and I could see it raining in the distance. I was lucky, however, since it only lightly rained on me as opposed to the soaking I observed in the surrounding mountains.

At the top of Sumpter Pass, the next 30 mile descent was broken into two parts. The first three miles was fast and steep. The next 27 miles was much gentler. As I went lower, the sun made a short but welcome appearance. White peaked mountains once again surrounded me, set against a now blue sky. I was definitely not in Chicago any more.

About 13 miles into the descent, I began riding along the Powder River. The Powder River flows out of Phillips Lake, which appears, but I might be mistaken, a man-made lake. I have ridden along many rivers so far on this trip, but the Powder River might be my favorite. Clear and fast paced, the sound of it as it cascaded over the rocky riverbed was wonderful.

With about 10 miles to go, my shin began hurting again and I just wanted to get to my hotel in Baker City, Oregon. I know, I know, you’re asking “he’s staying in a hotel again?” The answer is-yes I am. With the pain in my shin and the need for general recovery, I am going to spend two nights in Baker City to recover. There are going to be great stretches in the future where camping will be my only option, so be patient all you sadists out there.

I rolled into Baker City at about 5:30 pm and settled in for some R&R. I had a good meal at the Mexican restaurant across the street and am now lounging with various ice packs splayed about my body.

Since tomorrow is a rest day, there will be no posts (I’m not sure I have the literary talent to make tomorrow interesting). Posts will resume when I hit the road on Sunday.