Day 76: 67 Miles

Mitchell, OR to Redmond, OR

I had a great night of sleep at the Spoke’n Hostel last night. When we got back from the Painted Hills trip, we walked back into the bunk room to find all of the privacy curtains closed around our beds with individual reading lights turned on over each bed. Pat and Jalet, the owners of the hostel, knew how to add all the small touches to make our stay great.

The ride this morning involved a short downhill followed by a climb that went to the top of Ochoco Pass at 4,720 feet. We started at 2,777 feet and the ride looked tough, but the elevation map made the climb look worse than it was. It ended right at mile 16 of the day, so it wasn’t a long climb and while it was steep, I don’t think it ever went over 7% grade. When I got to the top I found Joe and Jordan who was playing a ukulele. We waited for Lincoln and Stephen to get to the top and then had 30 miles of mostly downhill to the town of Prineville.

In Prineville Jordan and Lincoln took a detour to go to the grocery store and pick up some items from the post office that had been mailed to them. Stephen and I found Joe at at sandwich place and we all discussed what we were thinking of doing the rest of the day. Joe was planning to stay in Prineville for the night. Stephen was moving forward on the route to a state park. I’m taking a detour off route into Bend, OR tomorrow and decided to head to Redmond, OR which would set up a short ride to Bend in the morning. We said our goodbyes and each went our separate ways. I’ll most likely be riding solo for the rest of the trip, but it’s only a few more days, so I should be able to manage. I will hopefully see Stephen and Joe again once we are all back in NYC.

The ride from Prineville to Redmond was just 19 miles. The road had a lot of truck traffic and a small shoulder so I had to pay a lot of attention to the traffic around me. Along the ride a few snow covered mountains popped into view. I’ve got one more big climb in a couple of days which will get me through the mountains. I’ll then have a long downhill stretch into Eugene.

When I got to Redmond I found a cheap motel to stay at for the night. I took a shower and then a nap before heading out to explore the town. Redmond is the largest town I’ve been through since Missoula. There was a nice main street and a farmers market going on. After checking those out I headed to Wild Ride Brewing to have a few beers.

Tomorrow I’ll take a short ride into Bend where I’m looking forward to checking out a few more breweries. Bend has well over 20 breweries in town, so I’ll try to get a tour of the town by walking around and trying some new beers.