It was a pretty remarkable day. In crossing the Blue Mountain range we rode over 3 steep mountain passes, representing a total elevation gain of 3,600 feet. The grades were so steep that most of the way up we were crawling along in our next-to-lowest gear* at 4 mph, and we had the brakes on full almost all the way down the descents. We got a fairly late start out of John Day** and thus hit the first pass (Dixie) as the sun well up in the sky, causing us to get very toasty. Fortunately the temperature cooled off in the afternoon so the heat was not a major factor on the last two passes.
We stopped for lunch at the cafe/store in Austin Junction*** after the Dixie Pass descent. There were at least a half-dozen cyclists in the parking lot, sleeping or resting in the shade. They looked really tired and grungy, and reminded me of Mel Gibson and the other characters riding motorcycles across the Australian outback in the aftermath of world nuclear war in The Road Warrior (one of all-time my favorite trash movies). Later, Carlos confirmed (see below) that those guys had not enjoyed a shower for a couple of weeks, but said he loved traveling with them as they "were hilarious traveling companions."
The Austin Junction cafe had guitar instrumental music playing while we were at lunch, which I originally thought was really nice. But we quickly realized it was the same song over and over and over again - "Hail, Hail the Gang's All Here". The woman who ran the place and who served us appeared to be oblivious to the constant repetition of the same song. In contrast, we were both filled more with nausea than nutrition by the time we were finished.
We met up again with the cyclist from LA (Paul) and learned that he plans to ride through Colorado Springs on his way home (in early September). We invited him to stay at our home that evening, an offer he really seemed to appreciate.
We also met Carlos, another east-to-west cyclist. He and his friend Joe are traveling from New Jersey to Portland, OR. They are also writing a blog and had a set of "business cards" made up in conjunction with their trip. Carlos asked if we'd seen 6 grungy guys and one grungy gal traveling together and we filled him in on our stop at the store. Carlos had a bad crash about a week ago and was still pretty skinned up, but like almost all the riders we've met on this trip, was upbeat and not deterred from moving on to his destination.
*For years some of my riding buddies have teased me because for a long time I have been using triple cranksets with very small gear ratios on all my bikes.
(You can probably imagine the nature of most of this abuse, relating to me having tiny things. Using such 'weenie gears' has greatly helped save wear and tear on my knees. For self-supported touring and anytime on the tandem small gears are simply essential. So I have just learned to ignore the ridicule and have smugly enjoyed watching those same guys more and more start using a compact crankset, if not a triple). I just consider myself a visionary for being a low gear weenie before it became socially acceptable.
**I failed to mention in yesterday's post that John Day, for whom the town and the river are named, was - in the terminology of the winning (white settler) side of the settling of the area 'an Indian fighter who helped subdue the hostile tribes in the area'.
***I use the word "the" to describe the store/cafe because it is the only thing in Austin Junction. It is the only place on the TransAmerica route to stop for food or water in the 45 mile, 3 mountain pass stretch between Prairie City and Sumpter. It is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, another illustration why you need to plan your ride carefully. If you show up at the store out of water and/or food on the wrong day you are SOL.
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