A beautiful and manageable ride of 45 miles continuing upstream along the John Day River. Though we gained 1100 feet in elevation there were no challenging long climbs. Chris did a great job planning the route and for days to come we will now be on Adventure Cycling’s signature TransAmerica route, their first.

Somewhat ironically given that our trek started with a brush with hypothermia, the heat has been a factor the last two days, with temps in the mid 90’s yesterday in the shade, hotter out on the pavement . We stared riding at 6;15 this morning so as not ride in the midday sun, and are planning to do the same tomorrow, a much more challenging day over three passes.

We are hitting our marks, and surpassed today the 400 mile mark in total miles on our journey.

Reflection from Joe:

Each time I sit down to write a reflection post I’m reminded of a New Yorker cartoon. A woman who is giving a eulogy from the pulpit at a funeral service says “But enough about me and my blog….”

I don’t know what life lessons to take from something that I’ve observed over this journey, but thought I would share it with you.

A large part of our route so far as been alongside rivers, first the Willamette, then the Columbia, and now for several days the John Day River. We ride upstream and have gained more 3500 feet of elevation. Yet most of the time it feels like we are going slightly downhill when we hug the rivers, even when we can see water coursing down the opposite way than we are headed.

What to make of this illusion? Part of it is of course is that we have been lucky with the winds so far and are often being gently pushed upstream. But I think there’s more to it than that. After steep uphills, gradual uphills feel like welcome flat terrain or gentle downhills. It’s all relative; after major challenges normal uphills feel like riding gently downhill , a soft wind at one’s back.