Day 15---Ride the wind! Lakeview to Riley 113 miles.

113 miles, 8 hours 10 minutes.

I didn't get a particularly early start on Wednesday, figuring that I was camping out in the boonies somewhere, and I would just stop when I got tired.  I headed out of the hotel around 9:45, after packing for rain showers.  I haven't packed for a day of rain and it required quite a bit of reorganization, which slowed me down quite a bit.  I also had to figure out how to pack extra water, without completely overloading the bike.

The gentle climb out of Lakeview was lovely, and I had a good strong direct tailwind of 10-15 mph, with stronger gusts.  I kept waiting for the desert to appear, but instead I climbed up to a nice north facing slope that was full of lovely ranches and big trees.

 

 

After gliding downhill with a tailwind for about ten miles or so, the Abert Rim, one of North America's most prominent fault scarps, came into view.  It rises about 2500 feet above the valley below, and I would cycle along it for more than 30 miles.  This part of Oregon is stretching from west to east, and as it stretchs, blocks of land rise or fall.  The Abert Rim is rising, and the land in the basin in falling, and the basis is full of smelly alkaline water (dead brine shrimp) that has nowhere to drain.

Views of the Abert Rim

 

 

 

The wind pushed me along the slightly rolling terrain at about 14-15 miles an hour, and I just kept pedaling through some of the emptiest landscape I've ever pedaled through.  After a longish gentle climb and descent into another basin, sand dunes appeared.  

Sand Dunes on US 395 near Christmas Valley

 







By this point I'd done about 70 miles, and wasn't really tired, but then began a series of small climbs, with a tailwind that would take me to the former site of Wagontire, which has an abandoned motel.  Wagontire is at mile 84 from Lakeview, and when I arrived it appeared the caretaker was there, but I couldn't find him.  Some recent work looks like it's been done to organize a small camping area, with picnic tables and fire pits, and I hung around for a few minutes, eating, wondering if I should stop and just wait.

The wind was still blowing in the right direction, and I had cycled just about 6 hours.  I looked at the map, and the route profile I had, and saw that Riley was another 29 miles.  Dale, who runs the Riley Store and Archery, had told me on the phone earlier on Wednesday, that if I made it that far, I could pitch my tent there.  So, feeling strong, and a bit bold, I took off to do the last 29 miles.

Then the wind shift around a bit, so that I had a side/slight headwind, and even though some of the ride was downhill, I really started to get tired.  It took me just over two hours to do the last 29 miles, and I was really exhausted when I hit Riley just before 8.  Since I'd eaten at Wagontire, I just bought a juice and some chips, washed up at the spigot, and crashed into my tent.  Was asleep by 10, but woke up a few times in the night, probably still buzzing from all those endorphins!  Many thanks to Dale at the Riley Store, it was a good place to camp.