Day 7 -- Today is a testament to water

June 27, 2004

ROUTE: Baker City to Ontario...not the province.             
DISTANCE:   83 miles                  
WINDS: Nice kicking tailwinds until the flat section into town where it became lighter, but still behind us.

WEATHER: Almost purrrrrrrfect...a little hot at the finish...but it is the desert for heaven's sake.        TERRAIN:  Downhill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Last 20 miles into town were pretty flat...but HOT.
TOTAL CLIMBING: 2190 feet

RIDE OVERVIEW: Oh, the joys of a bike ride.  We woke to a beautiful morning with cool temperatures and a brisk westerly wind... and did someone say we were going downhill today???  We started out with a gentle climb out of town and rode a frontage road that paralleled the interstate for the first 25 or so miles.  The climbing lasted about 4 miles and then we started a slow descent of over 2000 feet over the next 30 miles...I heard yodels of ecstasy all morning as riders zipped by my van as I was snapping photos.  After the last two long days with lots of climbing, it's nice to get an active rest day with down hills most of the day and a nice push from the wind.  All the tired bodies, legs, and minds were in good spirits today.

Today was our first day on the interstate and some of the riders were a bit apprehensive about the fast traffic.  I tried to give them a few pointers about interstate riding, such as how to get around exit ramps and trash on the shoulder.  Out west, it is legal to ride the interstate in some areas, especially areas in which the interstate is the only road.  We popped onto I-84 twice for a short period.  We'll be on again a few more times before this ride is through.  We usually have more flats on interstate from all the little wires that blow out of radial tires so I told cyclists to check their tires every time they stopped...more times than not, they pulled out a wire...hopefully, most of the time before it got into the tube. 

The final portion of the ride today took us along the fertile Oregon Slope Belt that lies adjacent to the Snake River.  When we climbed away from the river all we saw was dry, brown rolling hills, but when we descended back into the valley, the stark change was astounding.  Above right, Greg enjoys the scenes as he pedals along the Snake.  I've never seen such a diversity of crops in one area.  I'm from Indiana where there's miles and miles of corn and soybeans with maybe some wheat thrown in for variety.  Now, I live in Alabama where all you see is cotton fields, but out here it's one crop in one field and another crop in the next.  In one short stretch I passed fields of onion, wheat, corn, barley, potatoes, alfalfa, mint, sugar beats, soybeans, peaches, apples, and cherries.  Where I'm from, we relied on the summer rains to nourish our crops, but out here they irrigate...and you can tell exactly where the extent of the irrigation is...if it doesn't get irrigated here, nothing grows and it's brown.  I was talking to a farmer today and he said the water they use for irrigation comes from a reservoir that's 66 miles away.  They've even developed underground irrigation.  They place "seep hoses" under the surface which requires less water to irrigate the crops...helps prevent evaporation.  Neat idea.  The Ore-Ida Food Corp is in this area.  Somehow it's connected to Heinz Foods.  I see where it got its 57 varieties now...Oregon.

I was in the van today and happy for it. I was getting pretty tired myself from all the climbing and was ready for a day off the bike and a chance to get some work done.  My morning was pretty hectic with trying to take over 200 interesting photos, but the afternoon settled down as I was bouncing back and forth near the last riders late in the day.  The only distraction I had was Robert who had a couple of flats that I helped him fix and Ian who broke two spokes on his bike.  The tires were easy, but we strapped Ian's bike in the luggage truck to haul it to Boise and gave him our spare bike to ride.  He has odd sized wheels so we don't have a spare wheel for him to ride...he'll have to ride the spare bike.  When I came upon him afterwards, he was really liking the new bike (right). He and his dad, Russell, have been riding hybrids. Now that he's on a road bike, he thinks he likes it a lot. Watch out dad ... instead of getting his wheel rebuilt in Boise, you may come out having to buy a new bike.

Well, we've completed another day...tomorrow we ride to the Capitol of Idaho...and to a much needed rest day.  I think everyone is looking forward to the time off and a chance to do something besides ride a bike...I know I am.  See you tomorrow.  M

SUSAN'S BIKE  SHORTS: 

• Today I pulled Sweep, riding at the tail of the group to ensure that the laid back riders at the end of the line are supported. I used to think of myself as something of a border collie, but today we got to see some real border collies at work, and I'm nothing like them. They hassle the cattle, nipping at their heels to ensure that nary a one "goes off route." On the other hand, if ABB cyclists want to go off route to eat or visit a museum or soak their feet or bods in the Snake River, the Sweep simply holes up somewhere and waits. . . keeping them in sight as unobtrusively as possible. But, sometimes, the Sweep can't be unobtrusive. Today, for instance, there were several times when there was only one shade tree for 5 miles in any direction. 
• Where did we encounter the border collies? On a section of frontage road hemmed in by a railroad track and the interstate. There were five or six cowboys (and gals), and four or five border collies (one of which was "in training" Cov reported. It hid under White and had to be hauled out) and their trail boss trying to herd cows and calves down the frontage road to a point where they could get them across the tracks and onto a dirt road that led up and around a hill. The cattle took up the entire road, and the calves kept bolting out of the herd...generally for the tracks or I-84. The border collies and cowboys expertly brought them back to the herd.
• When I and about six other cyclists got up to them, one of the young guys who was off his horse decided to grandstand for the cyclists, but when he swung up onto his horse, it shied and threw him to the pavement. The trail boss was furious: "You damned cyclists! Asphalt is hard. Can't you see that we're trying to herd cattle here? You're spooking the horses. etc. etc."... to which we should have replied, "Can't you see we're trying to ride our bikes here?" but we didn't. These guys and gals were tense to the tenth, and we weren't making their job any easier. Think the cattle were getting rid of some Baker City pissa, tho, so our riding styles got inventive as we bunny hopped and swerved to avoid their road deposits and "pissa."
• I was sweeping "The Three Docs," good buddies who like to eat a leisurely lunch along the way and take in the sights. When they stopped for lunch in a little restaurant in Huntington. Mike, who was in Red, joined them for a piece of pie ala mode. I wasn't hungry, so went to a CS down the way and got a popsicle (I should have gotten lunch, too, as I pretty much went into meltdown at the end of the ride.) Anyhow, at the CS, I met a couple from Boise who were curious about the tour. In talking to them I learned that they were originally from Rochester, NY, and that they had attended Brighton H.S., site of my first teaching position. (Are these mini H.S. reunions becoming the norm each day?)
• While the docs were lunching, I climbed the hill out of town and then zipped down the other side to Farewell Bend State Park, on the Oregon Trail and the banks of a wide bend in the Snake. It was treed, shady, and deliciously cool. Picked up The Docs again at the next SAG stop, and the four of us pretty much leapfrogged to Ontario, OR and our motel.
• Odd to see stray onions here and there on the shoulder, undoubtedly dropped by one of the trucks that transports same from the roadside fields to a supermarket near you.
• Got in about 4, which was really about 3 because we switched to Mountain Time in Weiser.
• Finally convinced Andrew to write out the limericks he'd submitted to a Bicycling magazine limerick contest. While he hasn't heard the results yet, I'm banking on him winning. Here they are. One is for his wife, Judith's, Specialized Roubaix and the other for his Serotta:

M'aimé Roubaix
J''aime ma petite Rouibaix

She's always ready to play.
How can I describe her,
All dark carbon fiber,
She's Specialized, fast, and risqué.

Serotta

Old & Grey but Still Hot

Twenty K miles is a lotta
Time to spend with Serotta,
But her tri-butted frame
Still sets me aflame.
It's the ti that binds more than it oughta.

HEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY:

• "YeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"  
• "I've reached the point in life that I don't go all the way very often." [Don on leaving the tour in Boise]

DUH! OF THE DAY:  "When do we get to the 500-mile climb?"

PHOTOS OF THE DAY:

Pete's custom JFKU jersey.

Karen helps Robert with a flat as Jeff provides moral support. Robert had two flats today. With the interstate riding, the group had a few more than normal...such is the case.

Louis trying to get a photo of a mother killdeer as she defends her nest--it was a standoff...she had two eggs laid in the gravel on the shoulder of the road.

Paul stopping to pay his respects to Mike, the exalted, grand, high Photographer Poobah,
 perched atop the van.

James entertained the group with a talk about flora sex:"Unlike people parts that get used over and over until they get old and useless, floral sex parts fall off after one use." 
Lucky for the plants, they grow back.

When we arrived, parking was at a premium at the motel pool.