Day 3 Welches OR to Kah-Nee-Tah OR

Day 3
Welches OR to Kah-Nee-Tah OR
Miles Ridden 65.1
Climbing 4873 Ft.
Average Speed 13.5
Total Miles 221.2
Miles To Go 3414.2

We left town at about 1000 feet above sea level and within 13 miles we were at 4000 feet of altitude, That's a lot of climbing and a lot of effort as I moved nearly an eighth of a ton of man, bicycle and gear ever higher and felt every foot of it.

First major climb of the Cascades

 Within that short distance, there was a noticeable change to the terrain. Everything looked drier and the lush trees and undergrowth were getting scantier as we moved to the east side of the Cascades. and out of most people's stereotyped vision of wet and rainy Oregon. Signs of civilization and habitation got very scarce very quickly. Mt Hood had been in sight from the end of the first day and was now behind us. One  last picture.

Mt. Hood in the rear view

As we had started the day with the big climb most of the rest of the day was fairly easy riding. The heat was something else. I'm not sure what the official temperature was but Evin's bike computer read almost 120 as the strong sun of late June beat down on the black pavement. The last 20 miles or so were through the Warm Springs Indian Reservation

Abandoned farm on Warm Springs Reservation

Pretty depressing with many abandoned buildings including the town hall and police station. Most of the houses were rundown and the farms and ranches looked parched and failing. In this part of Oregon it takes irrigation water to grow anything and it seems irrigation ended when you reached the reservation. The heat continued to build as we descended into dry canyons and cooled off a little at 40 MPH.

On the descent  into Kah-Nee-Tah

Our stop for the night was at a resort run by the 3 tribes that live on the reservation  It was accessible only by climbing what looked like a wall in the hottest sun of the day. I had to get off my bike and walk the last 50 yards. Evin walked the whole hill,  I stayed at the resort 8 years ago and it was a busy place with a casino and lots of pale people from western Oregon looking for some sun. The casino had been moved to a place on the nearest main road and the place was almost deserted and clearly running down. Another sad note from the reservation.

First line of butt defense

Butt pain has become critical. These are some of the cyclists tools but once things have been rubbed raw it's hard to recover. Imagine something like a bad diaper rash and then sitting on a three inch wide saddle. Add to that moving up and down while you pedal 80 times a minute, 4800 times an hour for 6 or 7 hours a day. I'm suffering.