July 3, 2015
McCloud-Burney, CA: Doesn't everyone want a flat tire for their birthday?
Green Gable Motel, 37371 Highway 299 E, 530-335-3300 $81.40 includes tax. Medium size room. wi-fi/flat screen TV. micro/fridge. In center of town. 5 miles off route. Fine for the money.
Did I mention I tried to load ridewithgps on our phones? Jacinto is having no trouble with his, the lady talks to him just fine. On my phone (iPhone), yesterday I followed Oren instead of the phone routing, the lady didn't reroute and quit talking to me. Today I tried again, but it said I had loaded only the maps and not the cue sheets, so no verbal instructions. Interesting that Jacinto had the lady talking to him and I loaded the same info. I'm starting to think it's an iPhone/android issue. Luckily routing today was very simple. Hwy 89 to Hwy 299. That's it. I can handle one turn a day.
Oren and I rode together to the highway, then he was gone. My legs were tired. I think leftover from the heat issues yesterday. I just didn't have any zip. Plus the road was gradually rolling up. We probably did twice the climbing necessary for the total elevation gain. Ugh. On the plus side, there was very nice cloud cover and we were back in tree country instead of dry grass country. Scenery was nice.
We have had fun the past few days speculating that the Dead Horse Pass is related to the Dead Indian Highway. Who knows. I certainly did feel better at the top today without any heat related issues. I wasn't so happy when I started downhill. Hmmm, sort of felt like the rear wasn't following along. I got off and squeezed the tire. Yep. Going flat. Not too flat yet. Maybe I could make it down some. I decided not to try that, as lower elevation would mean hotter and right now the temps were comfortable in the shade.
I am decidedly slower changing a tire than Genny is. It took me a half hour, although I did patch the tube. I found the hole right away in the tube, but didn't find anything in the tire. ???? I hope that was it for me for the trip. Jacinto has had one rear, two front (except I think that might count as one), Genny had the spectacular blow out in the rear and bulge in the front that never actually went flat. I'm surprised. I would have thought we'd have trouble on the interstate between Cascade Locks and Hood River. That was the dirtiest section of road I've ever seen.
Highway 89 today had zero shoulder. It really wasn't an issue. Everyone moved over nicely. I had several friendly toot toots. I did have one big semi hauling equipment blare his horn. The irony there is he was in the middle of about ten vehicles all traveling slowly. I had nothing to do with his slowness. Go figure.
As a general statement, this trip has been excellent for road quality and traffic being nice. Scenery is excellent. Where are all the cyclists? I would guess scared off from the climbing. There's plenty of that, for sure.
Why is it, it doesn't matter how many miles I am doing for the day, as I near the end, I am SO done? I really didn't want to do the last five miles into Burney. That is off route, we will have to retrace that tomorrow. I debated. Had we continued on to Old Station and skipped Burney, that would be a 68 miles day. Kind of long if the conditions weren't good. Not near as many services. But it would save 5 miles into Burney, 5 miles out. Jacinto thought it would be better to stay in Burney and then go on to Manzanita like Jim and Genny are doing - since they are carrying sleeping bags. We (Jacinto) weren't willing to do that, so we are stopping tomorrow at Old Station where they provide bedding.
As I made the turn, I received a text from Jim - they were at the Blackberry Restaurant. Breakfast is served all day. I had eggs, hash browns, and ham with fruit instead of toast. It was excellent. I tried to call Jacinto, no answer. He sure misses out on a lot by leaving so late. Except today he did get the hot breakfast included at the B&B. He wasn't impressed. He said they gave hime 5-6 things, but it two bites of each thing. He wanted a plateful! Quantity is important!
We've done the getting to town routine. It is nice to get here early enough to relax. But it is also nice to leave later in the morning. I do believe tomorrow we are leaving late since we are only riding 28 miles. We are anticipating eating at JJ's Cafe - famous on the Pacific Crest Trail as having huge portions. I certainly hope it lives up to the reputation as we are having a lay over day and that is the only place to eat.
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Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 1,160 miles (1,867 km)
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