TODAY'S TALES: 

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 knee and a couple saddle sores to contend with.  No one seriously incapacitated...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.  You can see the profile of the terrain...it wasn't for the squeamish.  We didn't have as much climbing as yesterday; but after yesterday, any climbing was a bit tougher than it would have been had they not expended so much energy then.  After today's climbing and yesterday's, they should feel they could do just about 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 having something named after yourself was pretty neat so he took it upon himself to put his name on just about everything around these parts 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 crisp side compared to previous days in the desert.  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 and we started shedding the arm warmers and jackets.  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.  We climbed in the neighborhood of 4600' 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.

Just before the last SAG, we came across a steam engine museum.  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, 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, there's a "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.  Because of this, they can't build the shuttle part any bigger than the tunnel.  If you are like me, you probably 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 behind.  How 'bout that? 

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...but NOT tomorrow!  We are rapidly approaching our first rest day...we need it.  Tune in tomorrow and see how we do.

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