Day 1, Masochism: Boardman --> Condon

Masochism. That is the word that kept running through my mind as we wound our way up and down through the wheat fields of Eastern Oregon.


We rode 80 miles and climbed 6100 feet. Many on the ride became intimately familiar with "puncture weed." I don't even know what it is for sure but it looks a bit like dried out brush or grass except that it is riddled with sturdy, sharp thorns and will tear your leg, clothing and yes, bike tires apart. At rest stops, lunch and other such pauses people often strew their bikes about the side of the road and in "grass" and many - many many - people got flat tires this way. And if that weren't enough, the day ended with a 12 ish mile climb into Condon.

The signs announcing we had made it were most welcome. I have to admit I was feeling pretty tired and sure that everyone else on the ride was "better" than me because it took us close to ten hours - between taking a long lunch, stopping at rest stops, stopping to stretch and just going plain SLOW on the hills - to get into camp. I felt much better after finding out that 200ish people didn't finish that day's ride and had to take the Sag Wagon in. (The Sag Wagon is a large van that picks up people who get injured, have mechanical failure that can't be fixed on the road or just plain give up.)

Despite the cold that night - in the 30's - I slept very, very well!