Sore Legs

Sunday
An easy ride to prairie City: 45.5 miles on the odometer and a seat time of 3:32 hours. I had a good dinner for the first time in over a week in a restaurant that featured all the peanuts you could eat, local beer, and some fifty stuffed heads. I stayed in an RV park that ajoins the prairie City terminus of the Sumpter Valley Railroad, built in the late 1800's to ferry timber, freight, passengers, and cattle from this location Eastward to Baker City. Very cold, probably into the mid-30s, necessitating a shopping trip for long underwear.

Monday
A very - and I do mean very- long day: 67 miles on the odometer and a seat time of 6:40. I just made it into Baker City with a sore butt, back, and legs. Time to rest up. The ride included the transiting of three passes in relatively quick succession followed by a long descent along the Powder River. The total climb was some 3,500 feet. I can make these climbs, albeit with some effort particularly if the grade exceeds 5%. Time does not fly when you are traveling at five miles per hour for and hour or two at a strech.

Found a great motel at $30 per night and had an excellent dinner at the local brew pub.

Tuesday
I am spending the morning fixing and re-stocking. I'm determined to lighten the load and am sending a box home. At the same time I need to buy some cold weather clothing: hair needs cutting and glasses need fixing. I may lay over or, more likely, leave around noon for a forty mile level ride into Hell's Canyon. The most beautiful part of the trip approaches and I look forward to it. By my count I have traveled some 620 miles in the first eleven days, crossing countless passes. It is developing a rhythm of its own. If only my butt, knees, and calfs would get it together.