Day 4: Elgin to Pendleton

Today’s Highlights:

This morning I tried to wipe the dew off my bicycle seat and it wouldn’t come off. It was ice! I had to scrape it off! It was 33 degrees when I started riding at 7:00. I was bundled up again, but it didn’t really help. Within minutes my feet were numb and I was soon sweaty and freezing, and stayed that way for almost 4 hours. One mile from camp we started a 20-mile climb over the Blue Mountains. The climb was fine for 10 miles, then it got tiring and colder. The downhill was welcome, but even colder going 25+ mph. Finally, at about mile 33, we left the forest and the landscape opened up to vast open rolling hills, and the sun finally shown on us. I felt just a bit of welcoming warmth. At mile 41, we rolled into the little town of Weston for lunch and the temperature jumped up to 60. I stripped off all my wet gear and put on a dry jersey that I was smart enough to pack. The day just turned from torture to good as I sat in the sun and ate lunch.
The second half of the ride was awesome! I even stopped several times for pictures. For the next 35 miles we cycled though beautiful rolling hills of crops, sometimes seeming to stretch 100 miles to the horizon. We had one fun steep winding decent, complete with several hairpin turns. There was a picture perfect sky to compliment the landscape. I rolled into Pendleton at 3:00 after 75 miles and 5000 feet of climbing feeling pretty good. We are camped up on a hill tonight with a nice view. The band is playing and it’s almost dinner time. The day just keeps getting better.

Pictures Of The Day:
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Statistics:
Zoom and pan the map to explore the route. Click the name or ‘View Full Detail’ to view more information at Ride with GPS.

Check out Cycle Oregon Classic Day 4 on Relive! https://www.relive.cc/view/1845989438