Saturday, July 25th, 2015
Start/End: Ochoco Divide/Bend, OR
Mileage: 65+
Weather: Another cold morning with warming throughout the day
Sometimes it can be really tough when you make it to the top of a mountain and do not get to go downhill but that is ok. This morning we woke up…nearly frozen. So that may be an exaggeration, but it was very cold and at least in the 40s when we woke up. As yesterday, a little tough to crawl out of our warm tents and sleeping bags, but especially when the sun began to leak through the trees, we felt its warmth, as well as a slight sense of urgency to get going.
Today our ride was dedicated to Andrew Park, a classmate of one of our rider’s from high school. During his senior year, Andrew went from being a perfectly healthy young man to being diagnosed with a brain tumor. He fought throughout the entire academic year, and had a few moments where there was so much hope. By the end of the year, though, Andrew lost his battle with cancer. This was a very real example of how devastating cancer can be in such a short time. So today is in Andrew’s honor.
As we got rolling for the day, we headed down Ochoco Pass which we had climbed the day before. Compared to some of the other downhills that we have down, this one was definitely not very exciting, but it did allow us some time to look around us and enjoy the thick, green forests which surrounded us. As we went through the day, traffic overall got a lot more busy, especially as we were within 30 miles of Bend. We were passing through this beautiful valley filled with corn and wheat fields and lined with large foothills that led to several snow covered mountains in the distance. They were so beautiful to look at throughout the ride.
As we got closer to Bend, we were so amazed to see a huge cycling community. We had team vehicles with sponsorships carrying bicycles that cost a lot and were decked out with top components. As many of us are newer to cycling, seeing these bikes was really interesting. One group even saw a professional cycling team with at least 15 cyclists riding in close formation with a chase vehicle. We would later learn that this week is the Cascade Classic, which is apparently a series of races for professionals and amateurs through Bend, OR.
After so many days of being in very unpopulated areas, seeing this much traffic was quite a transition and a reminder that other people do exist! We were delighted that there were so many bike lanes in Bend, in addition to vehicles that were friendly to cyclists.
We rolled through Wall Street through Bend on our way to our stayover for the next few days where many of us scoped out some coffee shops, places to eat and just a cool community to explore. Very excited because today we get showers!
We want to thank the community of Bend as many local shops agreed to donate some awesome pizza for our team to eat for dinner. We especially would like to thank Abby’s Pizza, Versante, and Round Table Pizza. We are very well tonight :)
-LAH