Pedal On and On...: Day 5 - A Glorious Day for a Ride!!

Prineville, OR to John Day, OR

Distance: 117 miles

Time: 10 hrs

Elevation Gain: 5,338 ft

Today was another perfect day for a ride. We had an early start do to the amount of mileage and amount of climbing. I was up at 4:15 am, breakfast at 5 am, luggage loaded at 5:45, and on the road at 6 am. The temperature was about 40 degrees at 6 am; most of us dressed warm and took layers off as the day warmed up. The rout to the next hotel was easy; turn left out of the hotel, ride 116 miles, turn left into the next hotel. We started with a 30-mile climb back up into a lush pine forest and green meadows with fast running streams and brooks. The climb was long, but it gradually brought us up in elevation traveling over rolling hills and on Rt. 26 E. We reached the summit, Ochoco Pass, at 4,70 ft. The descent was fast and long, about 12 miles. The views on the ride down were stunning!! Lush green forest, streams, open vistas, and rock formations, just to name a few. We lost about 2,250 ft on the descent and the next climb was the big climb of the day. Back up to 4369 ft, but the climb back up was steep; about 6 miles with last 3 o 4 miles at a constant 7% grade. Views on the way up were also amazing, and the descent down the other side was again long, but more like a rolling descent, up and down small hill, that brought us back down to 2,250 ft. We road through Picture Gorge with the John Day River flowing along side the road, there was something new to se around every corner, if I stopped to take a picture of everything I wanted to, it would take me a year to ride down. The land opened to open fields as we left Picture Gorge with many small farms. The finale leg was another 30-mile climb, but a gradual climb with a good tail wind to push us along. I reached our destination of the town of John Day at about 4:15 pm, 10 hours in the saddle!!

Link to My GPS Rout