Fort Rock is a neat geologic feature that we appreciated while downing our breakfasts. After breakfast, it was back to the bikes where the plan was to head up to Cabin Lake and enjoy the surprise Nick buried out there a few days before. He headed out before the excursion and buried a styrofoam cooler filled with ice and beer. The only mental hurdle to get over was cracking a beer open at 8:00 a.m.
We quickly got over the mental obstacle, cracked a beer and toured the facility. It is a really interesting spot that does not seem to be used for much of anything anymore. Many a moon ago, there was a lake but you would be hard pressed to find water around there. We had filled up with water at Fort Rock as we knew it would be quite a while before we had the chance to refill.
After a couple of hours of puttering around Cabin Lake the bikes were back on the road as the wheels gobbled up more miles of gravel. The plan was to potentially ride all the way back to Bend depending on how Nick's foot was doing (achilles was starting to bark a little). The road took us up to China Hat where we started to run in to more peeps and cars. We crested and then knew Bend was in sight relative to being 'doable'.
As we dropped in elevation from China Hat we started to hit more traffic and had a couple of crazy ass drivers hauling booty on the dirt roads. A couple of dirt bikers goosed Nick, several cars punched it as they went by us creating a nice dust cloud for our efforts. A few F bombs were dropped and we plodded along. At this point, I was on a mission to haul until we got to some pavement and get away from the knucklehead dirt road kings of stupidity.
I got to the paved section of road and hung out before Nick popped around the corner in short order. The paved road was enjoyable for a multitude of reasons...it was smooth, it was not dusty, we were getting closer to home, and perhaps most importantly...people were driver with a little more sanity.
As we started to pedal, we saw a couple of roadies...we waved which elicited zero response...for some dumb reason that kicked my competitive juices into gear and I was determined not to let them pass me on the downhill...so after 200+ miles of riding a 50+ lb sherman tank, I got in a comfy position on the bike with the elbows leaning on the bars and started to churn the pedals. About 10 miles downhill, we got to a stop sign and I stopped and watched the roadies cruise by a few minutes later. Somehow they had gained some manners and were a little chattier when they got up to me...funny stuff.
I worked my way through Bend's paved roads where Nick and I hit our Y in the road...he headed home, and I pedaled towards the DRT to catch that trail back home. All too soon, I was decompressing and enjoying being home...my sit bones were in agony but all I wanted to do the rest of the day was shower, rest, and eat....and eat...and eat...I could not get enough to eat!
As they say, all is well that ends well....
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