Day 4 (6/8): Baker City

So, I'm going to start this with saying that this was an important day for me. Even if down the road things don't work out with this little adventure my getting to and leaving Baker City...on my bike...was something that I had to do after last year's attempt.

Was having a pretty good nap at the Spokin Hostel when my alarm went off. I say "nap" because with others in the room there was a lot going on which kept me from getting really deep sleep but it was definitely better than no sleep at all. Again cannot say enough about the folks at the hostel, just really great people who do their absolute best to make cyclists' lives a little easier. 

As a rolled out of bed I was assaulted by a loud conversation coming from downstairs - the Greeks; two guys from Greece who were participating in the race. Now, before anyone gets bent out of shape about me calling them "the Greeks" that is what they asked us to call them because their names are difficult to pronounce accurately. I was a little irritated with the volume of their conversation - people were still trying to sleep - until I found out that they were in the middle of a FaceTime session with a Greek television station. They were being interviewed about their experiences with the race so far...pretty neat to be celebrities.

Breakfast - cereal and a bagel with peanut butter and then upstairs to repack the bike. I took this time to reassess how my bike was packed and moved things around a little bit. One of my frustrations on last year's attempt was how long it took to reload the bike after pulling things out of the bags. This year I set up my kit in the hopes that it would be a little easier. It was a little more efficient but it still took a while, especially with the amount of stuff I'm carrying...something I will have to look at down the road. Once packed I said my goodbyes to everybody - there were still half a dozen cyclists at the hoste - and then set out on the climb out of Mitchell.

The Mitchell climb is not super difficult but it is long and steep in places. What surprised me was how different it looked this year vs. last year. Last year the area was still in a bit of a drought and everything was...well...rock-colored. This year the area received a lot of rain and everything was covered in green vegetation and/or wildflowers... nice to look at while grinding up the 6.5 mile climb. Note that I thought I took a few more pictures but I guess not...you'll have to take my word on how pretty it was...

Once over the climb it's random terrain down to Dayville, OR. Last year, I got to Dayville on a Thursday and was able to eat at the local cafe (excellent burgers). No such luck this year (only down side of being ahead of last year's pace - they are open Thurs-Sun) so off the shelf food from the local "mercantile" was the fare of the hour. Not a lot to choose from; some sandwiches, snack crackers, etc. Owner told me that supply chain issues were still affecting their inventory but that it was starting to get better - they weren't able to make sandwiches two weeks ago.

The attack cat in the picture is "Mufasa"...he did get some of my sandwich 🙃

Still works!

After lunch, back on the road. Weather was warming up a bit which made for a sometimes nice ride, sometimes rough ride, especially when climbing. It was more humid than I had expected it to be and I found myself shedding layers when going up only to have to put them back on again when going down a steep grade.

Eventually made it to Prairie City and upon rolling in spied a person that I just had to talk to. So last year by the time I got to Prairie City I was in a bad place, headspace-wise. I went into this little store to get some supplies and this guy struck up a conversation with me. Now, I did not want to have a conversation at the time but after a couple of minutes I found that talking with him was helping my mood. I didn't know it at the time but he was/is the owner of the store and frequently is the voice of encouragement for folks coming through this little town. Last year he sat and talked with me for over an hour...just about anything and everything...and he remembered me this year when I rolled into his store.

This is a guy who is likely on the complete opposite end of belief systems, politics, etc. from me but still was willing to help me out... important thing to remember I believe.

While I was sitting there Stuart and Rodrigo, TransAm racers, rolled in. Stuart is from Scotland and Rodrigo hails from Guatamala and as it would turn out I found myself riding with these awesome guys for much of this adventure. After restocking and taking a well-needed break we discussed strategies of getting to Baker City. While Baker City is only about 65 miles from where we were, there are three large, time-consuming climbs on the route. There is also not much between the two locations in terms of resources and there is an awesome bike hostel in Baker City so we decided to make a run for it.

During the first two climbs we still had decent illumination...remember my reference to the 16 or so hours of useable daylight that Oregon has this time of year. Climbs are steep but manageable with the right gearing though it is not a place for a 11/28 or lower rear cassette unless you are super-human. Having said that there was a guy riding a single-speed on the race this year so perhaps there is evidence of super-humans 🤔. The Oregon Trail runs through this area and near the top of the first climb there is a replica of a covered wagon which is pretty neat to explore.

Rodrigo tearing up the 1st climb

A very unflattering picture of me 🙄

Top of the 1st climb...two more just like it.

Hard to see but this is a whole herd of Elk at the bottom of the 2nd climb.

We had plans for a quick stop at the Austin Cafe in Bates, OR but found it closed. I don't know if they were just closed for the day or otherwise but didn't see any signs of life. We also didn't see the little room that the owner had set up for TransAm racers during previous years - spent a few hours resting in there on my 2021 attempt - and so we pressed on 

By the time we got going up the 3rd climb it was getting dark and was dark as we approached the top. Stuart happened to look back over his shoulder and snapped this awesome shot of Rodrigo and I coming up behind him (Stuart is a climbing beast BTW).

3rd climb between Prairie City and Baker City (photo credit: Stuart Campbell).

Once over the top it is a 25 mile mostly downhill run to Baker City. At this point it was getting a little cold so everyone snivel-geared up and down the hill we went. As with everything in Oregon after dark, the ride down the hill was a bit freaky - lots of wildlife making weird noises, patches of weird fog...felt a little like a horror movie at times. At one point Rodrigo dropped out of view and didn't show back up right away. We had just had a car come by us that was acting a little stupid and I got worried so we went back up the hill a little ways to make sure he was ok. He was...uh, nature had called and so he had stopped for a minute or two.

After the long descent we arrived at the hostel around 1245am...only to find that it was locked up tight and appeared that no one was there. As we were looking at options (I had a actually pulled out my sleep system and was going crash in the patio area) we heard footsteps and then the side door swung open. Brian, the hostel owner poked his head out and waved us on in. As it was so late, he had gone to sleep but Rodrigo, who got there just after Stuart and I, had knocked on the front door and woke him up. Introductions all around and then we were in. Several other racers were there already...as could be derived by not only by their bikes and gear but the copius amount of snoring that was going on 😆

Long day, hard day, but good day. While not mentioned above as we passed the spot where my race prematurely ended last year I might have made an obscene gesture....maybe 😉

Time to sleep