Of bears and badlands – Day 5

Date: Monday 9th August 

Route: Redmond, Oregon – Mitchell, Oregon

Distance: 69 miles

Total climb: 2716ft

Net climb: -241ft

The day began (after the usual breakfast routine – is it possible to be addicted to French toast?) with a trip to Trinity Bikes in Redmond who managed to sort out Fred’s Diadora shoes free of charge.  Many thanks to them.  They also informed us that the town of Mitchell – where we are currently staying – was the proud host of a caged bear and a man named Ace who would wrestle with it on command.  Despite the obvious cruelty involved in such an exhibition the image was undeniably funny and one that spurred us on throughout the rest of the day.

By this stage of the trip we were clearly in cowboy country with horses in the fields on both sides of the road.  It is unlikely that these noble beasts marvelled at the speed of our progress, but we certainly made good time to our first stop at Prineville – the first town we had been through in 25 miles.  We stopped at the local pizzeria for an early lunch and noted what has been a recurring theme of apparently family oriented restaurants in these parts – a door barring “minors” from entering and then a dark, some might say seedy, drinking den behind.  I assume that this layout recalls the days of Prohibition, but it is an unusual combination nonetheless.  Resisting the temptation for a couple of lunchtime relaxants we headed out on the climb up to the Ochoco Pass (4720 feet).  At stretches of the climb Fred pulled well ahead as I sat in my lower gears to rest my knee and Achilles tendon which have been causing me grief for the last few days.  After a short rest stop, though, we climbed the final 1000 feet together.  Perhaps it was the heat or maybe the opposing wind as we climbed, but as we neared the summit Fred uncharacteristically lashed out at our poor, defenceless Garmin GPS system – “it said the final climb was about four miles ago”.  I can now say in the Garmin’s defence that the error was all mine, and I can only apologise to both Fred and the inanimate object that he maligned.

After reaching the summit we were rewarded with a glorious 11 mile downhill which led us into the badlands of Eastern Oregon.  The landscape is now incredibly dry with steep rocky outcrops all around us.  To either side of us are “Painted Hills” and world renowned fossil deposits.  There is very little civilisation.  The town that we are staying in – Mitchell – could have been taken straight off the set of a Western; the very image of a “frontier” town.  There is one street with a diner/saloon, a hotel and a few shops.  Sadly most of the businesses in the town have recently gone bust and so it was good to see that a large number of cyclists are keeping the hotel and diner afloat.  The food in the diner was great and the owners seemed genuinely grateful that we had paid them a visit.  As for bears, caged or otherwise, the only one we have seen so far is nailed to the wall above Freddie’s bed.