Day 1: 64 miles, Baker City to Huntington, Oregon

Today was a relatively quick ride. After some fitful sleep, at 6am the sounds of zippers all around roused me from the tent. After a full breakfast we spent about an hour breaking down camp and getting our bags loaded on trucks, and didn’t set off until 8:30am.

The ride started with a loop on rural roads followed by a few miles of climbing. Once the climb was over we began to descend into a place called Pleasant Valley.

The views from the road were incredible and for the next 30 miles we rode downhill at high speeds on freshly paved but empty roads. Pretty much the best day ever on a bike.

We finished the day with a short steep climb but overall averaged 19mph and we were done riding by 1pm.

About the only downside today was the heat — the temps ran around 90°F and we all had to fight heat exhaustion a bit. The rest of the week looks much more mild, so I’m looking forward to cooling off.