Unity, Oregon

Unity, Oregon

I guess it’s time to talk about the challenges of this trip.  The first four days riding, which brought us to Centralia, were relatively easy – in retrospect.  But Diane’s derailleur was troublesome almost from the get-go.  This was surprising because the 600-plus miles of riding during the summer before the trip began gave no indicia of what was to come.  Rob had made three or four adjustments during the first days of the trip, the last of which allowed Diane to over shift when moving into her best cruising gear (big ring on front, little ring on back).  This created too much torque, but the damage did not become apparent until the following day. 

We had gotten to Napavine, about 20 miles south of Centralia, when a spoke broke on Rob’s bike.  Luckily, it was opposite the gear cluster, and he made a quick (about 30 minutes) repair.  Less than three blocks later, his tire went flat.  These two events were not related.   Another 30 minutes or so and we were on the road again, for about 10 minutes.  That’s when Diane’s derailleur gave up.  We were dead in the water.  We called our friends, Dana and Jerry, who came to our rescue.  Dana got us and the bikes back to our house in Olympia, where Rob labored all day and into the night to get Diane’s bike refitted with another derailleur.  It took so long because there were multiple trial and error attempts involving multiple steps that only Rob can explain.   Long story short, Dana and Jerry then drove us to Woodland, so we could get back on track with our trip.  That was an 180 mile roundtrip for them, and we can never thank them enough.

The ride from Woodland to Stevenson was uneventful, but our diagonal route seemed more up than down, particularly since we were headed to the Columbia River.  Our memory of US 14 between Washougal and Stevenson was not so good, either.  Instead of the gentle uphill along the Columbia that we recalled, we were on the taxing inland climbs instead.  But we made it into Stevenson before the grocery store closed, and ate a good chili-from-a-can dinner in our room.

The next day, into Biggs Junction, Oregon was also a day free from mechanical difficulties.  But the interminable climb got the best of Diane.  As we were resting at a scenic overlook, some 12 miles from Biggs Junction, Diane felt she could go no further, without a long long nap.  A woman and her collegiate daughter were passing through on the way to Maryhill Winery, three miles from Biggs Junction, stopped to take in the view and struck up a conversation with us.   Lo and behold, they had a bike rack on the back of their rig, and offered us a ride into town.  Diane jumped at the option.  Rob, knowing Diane was in safe hands, encouraged Diane to go, but he was bound to ride it.  Interestingly, he arrived fifteen minutes after Diane did, since she and her new found friends had stopped at Maryhill.  Turns out the woman’s husband is also a University of Idaho Law grad (1981) and had his first murder trial shortly thereafter, in front of the Idaho court judge Diane clerked for 8 years later.  

The next day’s ride to Condon from Biggs Junction began with a 9 mile climb to Wasco, followed by a precipitous plunge into the John Day River Canyon, where the temperature was in the mid 90’s, and from which we had to crawl back up to get to Condon, 34 miles distant.  There was just no way Diane would make that climb.  We had been on the bikes for more than 4 hours, and had only covered a little more than half the distance.   So, once again, Diane cried “Uncle” and this time, Rob relented and joined her when she flagged down a pickup.  The owner/driver was Emma, a senior at Mitchell High School.  She and her companion, Jayle, a junior, were headed to Mitchell, through Condon, and happily gave us a ride into Condon.

Condon to Spray was another shocker.   Condon’s elevation is 2884 ft.   But in the first nine miles out of Condon we dropped 400 feet, only to climb five miles up to Cummings Hill Summit, at 3310.  Then downhill to Fossil , at 2837, then a second pass,  Butte Creek Pass, at 3788 feet, after which was a screaming 10 mile downhill to Service Creek, followed by twelve miles of river road bumps into Spray, with a 10-12 mph headwind, and a temperature in the mid-nineties.  But we made it on our own!!

Not the case, though, the next day from Spray into John Day.  We attempted a 69 mile journey, and almost made it, but Diane was getting weaker and weaker in the heat.  Twenty miles from John Day, Diane surrendered, and flagged down a pickup—owner/driver Terry and his passenger, Willard, helped us load the bikes into the bed and took us to our hotel in John Day.

Diane was not fully recovered the next day, so after riding 10 miles toward Unity, she solicited another ride.  Kent and Sharon were headed our way, and took us twenty miles, which got us over the first pass.  They dropped us off at the Austin turnoff and we began a climb to the second pass.  A few hundred yards from the summit, a spoke broke on Diane’s bike.  It was the kind of break that could not be fixed on site.  So, once again, we flagged down a pickup, driven by Jared, a high school senior at Long Creek.  He drove us to Unity.    There, Rob borrowed a HUGE crescent wrench, which combined with a specialized tool that Rob carries, allowed him to remove the gear cluster so he could replace the broken spoke.  Trueing the wheel came next.   Ultimately, the mission was accomplished!