Day 06

DAILY REPORT:  Boy are we in a great weather pattern.  The temperatures have been tolerable on this trip so far and we are really thankful.  I heard several people say this morning that they were a bit tired...hmmm, I wonder why?  We have a couple riders who are on the injured reserve list for a couple of days...sore hamstrings, sore knees, and a couple saddle sores to contend with.  No one seriously incapitated...they'll all be back in the saddle in a couple days.  In spite of that, everyone seemed to be in good spirits even with the climbs that loomed before us as we got ready to pull out this morning.  After yesterday, I think they now feel they can just about do anything.

As you know, last night we stayed in John Day.  Everywhere around here it's John Day this and John Day that.  Seems like this guy's name is on just about everything around these parts!  Who was this John Day fella anyway?  I was a bit curious and when I checked it out, I discovered he was a trapper that came through this area in the 1800s.  One day he was attacked by Indians and left alive but naked along the river where some Europeans found him and named the river the John Day River (sounded better than "Butt Naked River" I guess).  John thought this was pretty neat so he named just about everything around here after himself after that incident.  Now you know how to get something named after yourself...you don't have to do anything important, you just have to find someplace that isn't already named and get naked.  I checked and found everything's already named around here (mostly after him) so I'll have to wait and find someplace else. 

The temperature at departure was a bit on the nippy side somewhere around 50.  But as the road rose steadily to the foot of the first climb, it was great seeing the sun rise over the mesa to our left.  The sunrays glistened through the irrigation machines as they spewed their morning quota of water across the alfalfa fields...so serene...so peaceful.  No wonder I like doing this sort of thing.  It must be tough for the people who live around here to wake up to these scenes every morning...grassy meadows surrounded by mountains...life is good.

Today was another tough day, especially after yesterday which was billed as our toughest on paper.  Many of the riders thought today was tougher, but I think it was only because of the cumulative affect of both days together plus they've been climbing for several days now.  Today's ride had 3 mountain summits to cross each about 5000 feet high with each ascent at least 6 miles long.  We started out below 3000 and descended below 4000 between each summit.  I think we climbed in the neighborhood of 4700' today.  I'm sure the riders hate to lose all that altitude each time they work so hard to get to a summit, but such is life.  Although the effort was tough, the scenery below was breathtaking (and they already were breathing hard after the effort) which made the work to get to the summit well worth the effort.  The great news was that we also had 3 screaming descents to enjoy...ahhhh, life is sweet.

Finally, after the last summit, the road started down for the next 10 miles.  We passed a reservoir where last year a couple of the riders took a dip in the cold mountain-fed lake.  This year the reservoir was so low and the water was so far away that water access impossible.  We also came across a steam engine museum just before the last SAG.  It was an authentic steam engine that would take you on a tour of the gold mines.  This area was dredged over an 8 mile stretch and produced only 1 cubic yard of gold in 30 some years.  Sounds like a bust mine to me.  I could find more gold in my jewelry case...made for a neat story though.

While Karen and I were at the railroad museum, I took time to take a photo of me on the train for my grandson who is in love with Thomas the Train.  Every time I see an old locomotive, I send him a photo of me on it.  While we were there, one of the railroad men told us about the birth and growth of the railroad in this area in the late 1800s...he seemed to be a walking encyclopedia on the subject.  Listening to him was quite interesting to say the least...especially the part about why the tracks are a certain width apart.  The standard rails are exactly 4' 8½" apart...and of course there's a good explanation as to "why."  According to our railroad man, the first steam engines were purchased from England and that's how wide their wheels were so of course we had to build our tracks that far apart.  That begs the question, why did England have them that wide?  Well, they built the trains in the same factories they had been building their wagons so they used the same specs for both to keep from retooling their forges.  Why were the wagon wheels that width you ask?  You would ask that you know...It's simple, the ruts in the roads during that time required them to build their wagons with a wheel width that would fit smoothly into the ruts in the roads of that era.  Ah, that makes sense...but it seems that the cart is before the horse here...didn't the wheels make the ruts in the first place?  Well, yes on that one, but the ruts were made in the Roman Empire times and the British built their wagons to "fit" the roads...er, ruts left by the Roman chariots.  OK, there must be more...why were the chariots that wide?  Seems they had to be a certain width to allow for the yokes to fit around the butts of the Roman horses...now you know why train wheels are the width they are today.  But as Paul Harvey says, "The Rest Of The Story"...The space shuttle has a part that's so big that it has to be transported by train from the factory to the shuttle assembly plant.  This part has to be transported through a tunnel that was only built as wide as the trains that had to pass through it so they can't build the part any bigger than the tunnel.  I think it's ironic that the specs of the most sophisticated and most advanced transportation system in the world are limited by the size of a Roman horse's butt. 

Last item from me today...when we got into town, there was a big bicycle stage race going on.  Got my competitive juices flowing watching the 75-90 bodies flying around town, diving into corners, and sprinting to the line.  Several of the riders went down after dinner to watch the pros race...quite exciting.

Tomorrow we ride to Ontario...the one in Oregon.  I'm sure the riders will be appreciative of the fact that we'll be dropping in altitude most of the day.  After the last couple of days of seemingly unending climbing, we finally get to celebrate some altitude loss.  Bummer...seems like every year I don't get to ride on this day.  We are rapidly approaching our first rest day...we need it.  Tune in tomorrow and see how we do.

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