Day 11: Biking is a Breeze

"Piece of cake" describes the ride today. The ride was only 42 miles, most of it was downhill, AND the wind was at our backs. Also, except for a 10 mile stretch on the interstate, the roads were traffic free. Sweet!

Once again the scenery was gorgeous, especially on the interstate when the valley came together and we wound our way through Oregon mountains. Riding on the interstate is a pain. There is so much junk on the shoulder of the road and so much traffic that the surroundings need to be spectacular to break through my defensive mode. This ride met that qualification. The worst part of the ride was a section of I-84 where it was reduced to one lane and the shoulder was shrunk with concrete barriers. Add rumble strips to that limited space and it added up to a tense 5 minute passage. The irony is that the more tense you are, the worse you ride. "Cautious confidence" is the optimal attitude; "fearful uncertainty" best describes my attitude during that one segment. I still managed to wobble through.

I arrived in Huntington at 11:15-the whole afternoon stretched before me. I did the most productive thing I could think of-slept on the grass at the city park. Huntington promotes itself as the "Catfish capital of Oregon." They were obviously stretching. There isn't much in Huntington; their two claims to fame are being a connecting point for the railroad and being the location of the Van Orman massacre in 1860. There are these painted words on the side of the local bar/diner, "All White Help: Good place to eat." A painful reminder of the prejudice against Chinese immigrants who worked on the railroad.

Last night the winds blew. We were camped at the local school which was set up from the town. Around supper time the wind picked up a small tent and blew it end over end the length of the football field. We were confident the embankment at the end of the field would stop it, but the wind blew it up the 15 foot embankment, over the concrete retaining wall and down the road. A tree stopped it momentarily, but then it flew around the tree, finally coming to rest against a fence.

The winds got worse, gusts of 40mph by one estimate. By the time I went to bed several tents had collapsed and a number of riders decided to sleep in the gym. I stayed in my Sierra Designs 4 man tent and watched the wind nearly flatten the front of the tent. I waited for one of the poles to give way and packed up my stuff so I could make a quick exit. But the tent remained solid, yielding to the wind but not giving in to it. Thank you nephew Dan for steering me in the direction of Sierra Designs.

I'd like to think my life resembles that tent-yielding to the winds of adversity, but not giving in.