Brutal – that’s the most descriptive word that I can tag on Day 4. It was everything we expected and more – and I loved every minute of it! 94 miles and around 7,500 feet of climbing today. Now I definitively know why they call this the Cross Country Challenge. It’s good to have that one behind us.
The day started with breakfast at 6 AM and the first group rolling out at 7:15. Our group started at 7:45 and we quickly woke up our legs with a few short climbs up to an old highway along the Columbia River that is basically now a great paved bike path. We hugged that road as we climbed up the river gorge and had some beautiful views of the river valley getting smaller below us. Since this was our biggest day of climbing for the whole trip, Day 4 always tells the truth. The excitement from the start has faded and the routine has set in – your body begins to realize that this isn’t just a ride – it’s a lifestyle for the next 7 weeks – and we were put to the test today.
Today’s ride took us yet deeper into the Oregon hills as we left the Columbia River gorge area and climbed our way up into the high desert areas with wheat fields as far as the eye can see. We had a series of pretty challenging climbs up to our lunch stop at mile 53. After a great lunch at a small town park in Wasco, OR we started a series of rolling hill climbs that took us into the wheat fields. All the climbing paid off around Mile 63 as we had a thrilling descent into our next rest stop at around Mile 68 before the big climb.
After topping off our water bottles and nibbling on some fruit, we started the 8.6 mile 2290 foot climb. The first 2 miles were definitely the hardest as we were all crawling along on a 12-14% grade in our lowest gear. The sun beat down on us pretty hard and it seemed much hotter than the 82 degree air temperature and most of us were soaked with sweat after about 20 minutes into the climb. At points, I really had to dig deep to keep turning the pedals but as the feet ticked down on the climb, the grade leveled out a little bit and made it a little more bearable. When it was all done, my climb took me 1 hour and 27 minutes and I am feeling every bit of it tonight.
The last 17 miles into Condon were a little more bearable but we still had about 700 feet to climb before we made it to the Hotel Condon. I can’t recall ever having a nice long shower feel as good as it did after a day like today. Tomorrow’s ride takes us into Hermiston, OR which will be our last in the state before getting into Washington. Hopefully it will be a little easier with 4000 feet of climbing and big downhill push at the end.
Due to limited WiFi bandwith in the town of Condon – no YouTube short just yet for this post but I will try again tomorrow!