Sunday, June 24, 2007

Saturday, June 23, 2007, John Day, OR to Baker City, OR, 81 miles, 9 1/2 hours, 7 hours& 40 minutes on the bike, Ave. speed: 10.5 mph, Climb: 4781 ft.


This turned out to be a surprisingly good day. I think I am finally figuring out how to fuel my body to keep me going without getting too fatigued.

We had 3 big hills to climb today and I started out really tired, with no gumption and low energy and wondering if I was going to make it the whole way (the prospect of 3 more big hills was really bumming me out...). And, before we even started I had my first flat tire. Fortunately, it was as we were loading for the day and the mechanic fixed it pronto.

The first hill was miserable, but I did slog up it. The photo here is not even to the top of that first hill. I did much better on the second climb and did OK on the third. One of the hardest parts of the ride was the last 20 miles. It was relatively flat, but we did have a headwind. Usually I am riding by myself (we are spread out and most people ride faster than me), but this time I got into a pace line with two other riders. Darrell (aged 69) and Jan (aged 65) and me (aged 47) [what's wrong with this picture??!!!!] rode into Baker City at a fairly good clip. Darrell led and Jan and I got to draft behind him. He is my hero for the day!

When we got to Baker City, there were bicycle criteriums in progress. It was fun to watch for a while, but I was hot, tired, sweaty and stinky, so I headed to the hotel to clean up.

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