Oregon Outback Day 6 — The final day, or is it?
Up until now, we couldn’t tell the mileage and elevation per day but as this was the last day, my GPS only showed 1200 ft of elevation left. Over 60 miles, that seemed easy. But once again, I underestimated the terrain, and this time, it included the wind.
Our first task was breakfast and water refill. We had another full day without water in between. Shaniko has a General Store and it’s pretty great. The owner seemed to be an old cowboy. We found some medicine, Pringles (these would come in very handy), and instant noodles. Once I was settled up, the owner asked: “You want a sack?” in a thick accent. I really thought I would get a jute sack for my purchases, but alas, it was a plastic bag.
Note to self: have oatmeal in the future and not instant noodles. It was very salty. I took a little stroll to explore Shaniko a bit. It used to be a town that a railroad passed through. It was a bit prosperous for a time. But when the railroad to Bend was complete, they had much less traffic. Then there was a fire that burned down much of the town. They didn’t rebuild it and people moved on.
In 1959, it was named Ghost Town of the year. I also discovered there is a Ghost Town Gazette and it has a catalog of all the ghost towns in the US.
The first 8 miles were downhill on the road. I was enjoying this despite the 18 wheelers passing us by. I was hoping the rest of the day would be like this, except with less traffic. We could’ve stayed on this road but Joseph was well enough to ride and we had no supply shortage, so we stuck to the route.
The route goes through huge farmlands. There were a lot of long straight roads. There were rollers, steep climbs, and it was beautiful. I lost sight of Joseph quite a bit that day. While I waited, I used the time to eat those Pringles (thank you salt and I ran out of salt tablets) and re-grease my chain.
My cassette, when I started the trip, was grimy and black. Throughout the trip, it had been sandblasted by nature, into its original silver color. But now it was a light brown dust color and it was very noisy. Re-greasing only lasted an hour before it got creaky again. I am not sure how to address this in future trips. The drivetrain just took a beating.
There was another epic descent on smooth paved roads with a tailwind. I was easily up to 30+ mph. But then I saw the road turn towards the wind. I was dreading it and I was right to. I quickly checked the forecast, which stated there were 20 mph steady winds with 35 mph gusts. As I made the final climb, I saw a wind farm in the distance. It made sense. They were having a good day.
The final climb over the gravel was very challenging. I saw something shiny across the road. I was thinking it could be a snake and as I got closer, I saw it was! I went a bit too close to the edge to dodge it. And then I saw the twisted cattle grates on a 12% incline. I had to just speed up over it.
The challenge was real and it was about to get scarier. I started the descent and noticed the headwind was now crosswind. I would definitely take a headwind on loose gravel. I would start towards the left and slowly get pushed to the right edge.
I had a few “oh shit” moments when the gusts hit. After the third time, I figured out I had to counter-steer with my hips and legs on the saddle. Descending was faster and easier after that. While the wind was scary, it was also absolutely epic. Seeing the crops move in the wind like waves in the ocean was amazing.
The last few miles on the road were difficult. It was pretty but we were crawling on a -6% descent. We should’ve been flying on our heavy bikes but the wind could slow me down from 35 mph to 8 mph in seconds, all the while pedaling.
Once we made it to the base, we had a choice to make. The ride officially finishes in Deschutes River Campgrounds, 2 miles against the wind. A quick google search revealed that 3 miles in the opposite direction, with a tailwind, gets us to Biggs Junction. There were motels and an Indian food joint there.
This was a no brainer. Onwards to Biggs Junction! Upon arriving, I went to the nearest motel and in hindsight it was the best one: Three Rivers Inn. $100 for a really nice room with 2 beds. We showered quickly and headed to out for Indian food.
Biggs Junction is a through station for truckers but there is a little town there. The cart we went to is Indian Curry and Kababs and I would recommend it. For most patrons, it looked like it was their first time, like ours, but a few locals were there too. We spotted some mountain bikers as well.
I got lamb vindaloo, masala chai, and some garlic naans. Joseph got Maharaja Chicken, a spicy cumin drink, and also some garlic naans. It hit the spot. I later found out they were Bengali when I went to get a Pepsi and water. Those drinks were on the house!
Around 2 am, I had a craving for hot dogs. I ended up getting both hot dogs and McDonald’s. As I was eating at McDonald’s the person at the counter came over and handed me large fries. I loved that.
That’s the end of Day 6. And it wasn’t 1200 ft, it was 3000 ft of climbing. RWGPS lies! Our day to get to The Dalles, where our rental car awaited us, was mostly trivial, but I’ll write a new post for it, and add some extras.
Metrics for the day:
Distance: 64 miles
Elevation: 2,956 feet
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9224322109
