7/10 Bend, OR-Sweethome CENTURY RIDE + 1!

Not that it's been a big goal of mine but I was hoping to be able to say that I clocked in 100 miles one day. I stated earlier that I slowed up a ways back and had to take a shortcut to the coast so I planned on getting to the coast in 2 days which meant 190 miles in 2 days.






So I rolled out out of John's cool little house around 73o knowing this was going to be a long day. Rolled into Sisters 22 miles down the road which is the last town before climbing over the Cascades. As I was leaving town, I noticed another cyclist getting ready to pull out of a parking lot onto the main road. As I got closer, I was saying to myself "could it be?"

Sure enough, IT WAS HENRY, THE OLE DUTCHMAN I LEFT IN YELLOWSTONE!!

What an amazing start to the day to run into him. If you recall, he left for Montana from Yellowstone whereas I headed south into idaho and we had hoped that we would run into each other once I rejoined the route in Oregon. I had asked people along the way if they had run into him to which they all replied that they hadn't. He had met the same people telling him that I had asked about him. Apparently, I was a day or so in front and had caught up when I took the day off in Bend. Just hilarious to run into him.

So we climbed over the last major pass together.


Unfortunately, since I had decided to leave the official route again and take a short cut to the coast we were going to leave each other after lunch which turned out to be this little resort on a beautiful lake.





Quick hellos and goodbyes yet once again we were going to try and catch up on the beach to stuff our faces with crab and microbrews. Turns out his wife was going to fly into Portland and they were going to rent a car and cover the coast including San Fran for 2 weeks. Lucky Bastard!

The scenery and topography couldn't have been more different once we toppled the pass. Lush, lush, lush. Ferns all over covered the ground and huge trees covered in moss.



The road was relatively free of traffic and get this....

I had a 6% grade for 11 MILES!! Didn't have to pedal for 11 miles and for the most part maintained a speed of 30+mph the whole time!

So I got a little help with the 100 miles:)

Stopped by an old covered bridge a few miles from Sweethome

Finally got to Sweethome and stayed in an RV park across from this lake.

Foster Lake

Hated to cough up the $23 for it but needed a shower and not much else around. Plus I just walked across the lake and jumped in. Really going to miss these mountain lakes.