Day 5 Prineville OR to John Day OR

Day 5
Prineville OR to John Day OR
Miles Ridden 115.6
Climbing 6129 Ft.
Average Speed 13.6
Total Miles 396.3
Miles To Go 3239.1


For the longest ride of the tour, we got off at first light. The weather started cool but a 20 mile climb out of the gate warmed us up and got us to an elevation of 4700 feet. We cooled off with a 45 MPH descent.

The first summit

That was followed by a very steep 6 mile climb back over 4000 feet in what was turning into extreme heat. Evin was hit by some reaction to the heat and had to take a ride in one of the support vans.  If only he knew that less than halfway  through this very difficult day we had completed the worst of itWe then began a 30 mile descent through beautiful river valleys. At a SAG stop we met a  Dutch couple cycling from east to west. They carried all their gear and his bike weighed over 120 pounds loaded. I thought about climbing the hills like that and realized we really have it easy.

Into the John Day River Valley

The last 35 miles were slightly uphill but a 30 MPH tailwind pretty much blew us home. I was so concerned about today's ride i didn't stop to take many pictures. The day was long, hot and tough but I at the end I actually felt better than I had on any day so far--with one exception. We got to John Day ready for a huge meal but ended up with a very mediocre bowl of soggy pasta and bits of chicken.

Mary and Bob

I haven't spoken about some of the other riders but thought I would start introducing them. This is a mother/son team from Pennsylvania Mary and Bob. She's a doctor who just started riding and had purchased her bike just weeks before the trip. She struggled on today's ride but kept at it and finished in 12 hours. Pretty impressive.

Jeff Blye, one of the riders, put together a useful map that shows the day to day details. It's at the address below.

https://www.easymapmaker.com/map/JeffBCurrentMap