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Day 52 - June 15 - A Stupid Mistake That Ended my Day Early

"Biking off the continent"

Hi, and welcome back to my bike blog.

The Mood Theory

I've got a new theory about what controls my mood while biking. I had previously stated that it's random, but part of the reason I suspected that it was random was because all of the usual indicators - food, weather, sleep, etc. were not contributors. As an example, today I had a huge uphill climb, I hadn't eaten any breakfast, I slept well the night before, I had little wind, and it was boiling hot. If I had a bad day, I'd blame it on hills and hunger. If I had a good day, I'd thank the weather and the sleep from last night.

So I got thinking that maybe the harder I think the day will be, the better it is. Yesterday, I was planning on a three hour day with hardly any uphill. A walk in the park. But that's the thing, that it's still three hours of biking, and thinking of it as nothing just makes me frustrated that it takes me three hours to do it. On the other hand, when I know that I'm going to have a difficult day, I'm hardening myself for length and stamina, and am surprised when it's over. Today I crossed an entire mountain range with only breaks to put on sunscreen and to replace an inner tube that may or may not be flat (I felt that it was a bit soft, and decided just to replace it without any further thought. In retrospect, I think I just wasted 15 minutes).

Yesterday, I stopped by a cafe to work in the middle of the day, thinking it would help the mood, but it was already spoiled by the knowledge that it's an easy day. Today, I know that the next three days are going to be brutal. There is a perpetual headwind along the Columbia River, and today I wanted to make as much headway as I could. I was even in a good mood today! I stopped at Pendleton to get food, as I hadn't eaten anything other than three granola bars, and it was already 16:00. That's when I made my mistake, that ended up cutting my day short.

I overate. I ordered the biggest pizza they had, and, in trying and failing to finish it, crippled myself. My stomach hurt, I could barely stand up, and I figured that I was done for the day. So I grabbed the nearest motel, and spent the rest of the day working on mathcamp classes and going to bed early.

Short Stories About Downhill

After reaching the highest point in the mountain pass the 84 highway goes through, I started the longest and steepest downhill descend I've done yet. It's also the most important one. About 900m net of downhill took me down to around the elevation of the Columbia River, which roughly flatly, flows to the ocean. In other words, this descent was the descent off the continent. If not that, then it was at least the descent out of the mountains.

During this descent, the left lane was closed for construction, and trucks had to drive very slowly as to not lose control during the tight turns. Yet I still had a full lane to myself on the shoulder, giving me a truly once in a lifetime opportunity of passing cars on the freeway. Yes, it's true. On this day, I biked so fast that I was passing cars on the freeway. Tell your friends.

While I was staying with him, Kevin told me that there are some people who are such experts on the local flora that if you plugged them anywhere around Moab, they would be able to tell you their elevation solely based on the plants around them. Today I got to see this somewhat first hand. The descent was so rapid, that I went from thick forest to grass to the usual western Oregon quasi-desert within about 15 minutes. I really saw that the changes in the climate (I literally felt the air getting hotter and hotter as I descended) come from elevation only and not geography. Pretty cool.

I've complained about this before, but let me give another reason why I don't like going downhill. I can't scratch my nose. To scratch my nose up hills or in flat areas, I can take one hand off the handlebar, scratch for a second, and bring it back without much issue. On downhills, both of my hands need to stay on the breaks, oftentimes holding them both down to control my speed. Taking one hand off would not only upset this, but at higher downhill speeds, I can't control the bike with one hand. So every time I need to scratch my nose, adjust my glasses, or move my hand for any reason, I need to come to an almost-complete stop, do my adjustment, and by the time my hand comes back to the handlebar, I'm already at 30km/h.

The Image Gallery

Tall trees! I may have seen some before, but I really forgot how much I've missed biking in the forest. The smells, the streams, the grass, the life! I think the last big forest I passed through was in Texas :o

Hills! Trees! Grass!


This is not the summit of the Blue Mountains, but it is the highest point I got to today (approximately)

I saw a family of elk eating bushes by the highway, and only got this crappy picture, because as I got a bit closer, they all ran away.

Check out the (slightly obscured) view from the start of the downhill

So this was kind of funny, they actually posted three signs warning about the steep grade. There was a first warning, a second warning, and finally,

In this picture, and the next one taken at grade, you can see the different plants across the different heights. Very neat to experience it!


In the above, you can also see the situation that let me bike faster than the cars!

The Map

Today I biked for 85km over the course of four hours and 45 minutes. My total uphill was around 575m, but my total downhill was 1km.

Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!

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