The day went great. A good wakeup at the hostel and then burned a quick 43 miles to Ritchland, 7am -> 11am with 2:47 on bike and a stretch break at 22 miles. The riding was amazing - cool, slight tailwind, mostly downhill snaking along a beautiful river. I spent a lot of it imaging I was a portion of the river, flowing with it.
It's actually easier than when in the river - when floating a river you feel controlled by it in way, or even at odds with it. You feel it's push and pull on you. But riding next to it, snaking when it snakes, flowing when it flows, working any time I have to go against gravity, I feel like I can understand it, become it, not be a "part" of it, but just be it. Empathize with it. It's more of that BS that I think about while riding that doesn't work when put into words. ;)
Anyways, I took a food break in Richland (canned Ravioli, canned pears, that kind of thing) then had a 1 hour, 6ish mile hot climb out of town and a 7 mile downhill into Halfway where I planned to stay. I got in at 1pm, 56 miles, 4 hours on bike.
But Halfway didn't work out really. In 2003 we stayed Lions Park but I don't think they host anymore, in 2014 I stayed in a church but I couldn't get a hold of them. A local offered to let me stay in her yard, but she was 6 miles the wrong direction for tomorrow. I dunno - The older I get the more I dislike the "figure out where to sleep in this town" dance. I used to have to, because I didn't have the money to pay to camp every night, and often the search led to amazing adventures - but meh... I didn't want to go 6 miles the wrong way. I could have hung out and figured it out, but the other option was really good.
It was only 1pm, and the riding was good, the wind mild, and I knew I could go 17 more mostly downhill miles to a campground. I could probably push 17mph for a lot it. I had nothing else to do that today, so I figured "Hell, why not go for a bike ride?"
It's an attitude I picked up on The Divide, where camping is relatively easy. I don't mind getting in at 4 or 5 pm if I don't have to find a place to stay, and what was I going to do in Halfway? Sit around and think? I'd rather ride my bike and think. You can burn some long days like that.
The added perk is it takes 17 miles off a 56 mile day tomorrow through Hells Canyon, which is named because it's HOT AS ALL GET OUT, so now I'll be through it before it gets warm. That said, I don't really care. It was maybe 95 deg the entire 17 mile stretch I just did, it doesn't really bother me. It's a dry heat anyway. All in all, the decision seemed clear, so I ate another canned pasta thing, drank another gatorade (I'm buying these, not carrying them) and headed out at 2:30.
(Editors note- in 2003 Hells Canyon was HOT, in 2014 it was overcast and cool, and I got rained on a bit the days after. I have warm clothes and rain gear packed just in case, but I likely won't need them. This is looking like a hot version of this route. You never know what your gonna get. That's part of the beauty of bike touring. You just have to adapt. It's a good lesson. Also, it's still me. I'm the editor.)
On the way I finally met another Trans Am rider going East to West. Ken started in April so he's a few months in, 63, retired, he wanted to do this ride when he was 21 but got a job offer that he couldn't pass up, so he waited 40 YEARS! He's killing it though pushing 80 mile days through the mountains.
I got here at 4pm, 5:20ob, and 75 miles total. So now I'm in a campground - I got the last tent site, so that could have been sketchy. It's also tiny compared to all the others, which is probably why it was still around. It it HAD been full though I'd have just approached other sites, which are huge, and offered them $20 to let me share it. I'm sure I'd have been fine.
I just swam in the Snake River, cooled off, ate food, and now I'm hoping some of these campers near me will offer me some of their yummy smelling food. This is way better than hanging in a city park wondering if I'll get kicked out.
Tomorrow is now only 40 miles to Cambridge and they have a park that explicity allows bike tourists. I'm looking to see if I can go further, but nothing between Cambridge and New Meadows looks promising, so I'll likely just have an easy day. Sweet!
No comments:
Post a Comment