Short Day... Big Hill

Date: 6/14/06
Mileage: 60 (easy pie)

Today we left Baker City, Oregon and headed to Halfway, Oregon. The first 45 miles were extremely easy. All downhill and with the wind at our backs! After that we had a lunch in a small town knowing we only had 15 miles left we were very happy! Little did we know that one of the hardest mountains was only .5 miles away... waiting for us! It started out easy enough. The grade of the climb was nothing we were unused to. But it slowly got worse! the last 3 - 4 miles were at a 7% grade! It was definately the most challenging climb we have had yet. I had to drop to 9mph for the last mile. Adam looked the strongest of all of us during the climb... I think he is a freak of nature... No one is that strong! Hopefully we will have more mountains like that. Everyone loves a challenge :)

(Stump and Adam at the top of the mountain!)

(That is too steep for too long!!!)

Now we are in Halfway, Oregon staying with Tom and Linda Collier! They have a beautiful house with an amazing view. Linda is making a hugeee pasta dinner! I can't wait to eat :) They have an awesome dog and a million cows on their property. They rent out their land to people who have cows but don't own their own land for them to graze.

We also got our official AFC jerseys today!! They were donated to us by Keith Rohr who owns a company called Maryland Physical Therapy. We have a few extra jerseys and we want to raffle them off when we have our finishing party in Ocean City, Maryland at Shennanigan's Irish Pub on 4th Street Boardwalk! It will be on September 3rd, Labor Day weekend. If you are reading this blog you are invited. If you want more info about the party and the bike ride we are having with everyone at the finish email me at pblair12@gmail.com.

(Those jerseys are flyyyy)

My verizon aircard does not work in this valley and it may not work the next few days but I will update the blog whenever I get a connection. Tomorrow we have a 102 mile day, followed by a 106 mile day, followed by a 150 mile day!! It will be hard to do back to back to back long days! I can't wait!

(Random pic of AndyK)

Side note about Jesse Stump:

On May 8th, right before we left for our trip, Jesse had surgery to have his thyroid removed because the doctors were worried that it may have been cancerous. We were all very worried that he would not be able to do the trip with us. Luckily, he came out just fine and the doctors gave him the OK to bike across the country! He is adjusting well to the thyroid medications. His only problems so far are in the mornings. He is very tired and a little out of it every morning until around 11:00 or 12:00. When we get to Missoula, Montana he is going to have some blood work done and have the results sent back to his doctor in Maryland. It is amazing how quickly he has recovered from such a tremendous shock to his system!! Jesse Stump is tough as nails!! :)

(See... look how healthy he is!...)

-Pattt