June 27, 2006
Day 8: To Ochoco Reservoir
The morning was warm and bug-free. There are advantages to being on the dry side of Oregon. I talked to neighbors, did chores, and didn't get on the road until 9:30 AM.
There is a good network of back roads between Bend and Redmond. It was nice to see the irrigated pastures with great views of the mountains to the west.
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I ate lunch at a Safeway deli on the south side of Redmond, then rode through the town. It's a bustling town of 20,000 people, much smaller than Bend. I pedaled a few miles north of Redmond and turned east on O'Neill highway towards Prineville. This put me on the ACA Transamerica bike route but I didn't see any other touring cyclists today. The landscape becomes steadily more arid.
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Near Prineville I passed huge warehouses for the Les Schwab tire company which is headquartered in Prineville. The town of Prineville sprawls for several miles but it was easy to get through town. It seems to be fairly prosperous.
I arrived at Ochoco reservoir (3130 feet elevation) at 3:30 PM, unusually early for me to arrive at my campsite. The hiker/biker site there is close to the highway. I was tempted to pay full price for a campsite farther from the highway.
While setting up my tent a couple approached me and said they were interested in bike touring. They practically begged me to go out to dinner with them so we could talk about bike touring. So I rode with them in their car back to Prineville and we ate dinner at a nice steakhouse. We didn't actually talk about bike touring very much. At 9 PM they dropped me off back at the Ochoco reservoir campground. I took a shower while they planned to set up their telescope. But after my shower I found that they had gone because clouds rolled in.
Today was sunny and hot with a high of about 95F. Tolerable because the humidity is very low. It was a very easy day because I had a tailwind for most of the day and there were no big climbs. Sometimes the spacing between campgrounds forces you to choose between a very easy day and a very hard day. Today I chose the easy day.
Distance: 44.6 mi. (71.4 km)
Climbing: 666 ft. (202 m)
Average Speed: 10.9 mph (11.4 km/h)
Maximum Speed: 36 mph (57.6 km/h)
Today's ride: 45 miles (72 km)
Total: 352 miles (566 km)
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7 months ago