Again writing this from the depths of my sleeping bag. That was supposed to be a loooong day and I made it even longer. After waffle breakfast in Ashland I hopped on my bike and started climbing up the Dead Indian Memorial Road. Nothing extreme because it’s 20km up with 1k of elevation gain thus 5% average in theory but in reality it’s not that steady, starting really easy just to pick up the gradient at the end. At the very bottom I felt good, almost too good! Occasional backwind have me physical and moral boost so I decided to go all out on this one. It went fine till like 15th kilometer where I could not sustain the power and effort anymore. Kept on pushing hoping it will be enough for top ten if not a KOM. But hey I can’t even check it right now… no service at all! 😅 (Edit. Just checked - not even close!)

Rest of the day was supposed to be easy - 3 rolling hills then a descent for a lunch break. First two went by fast while the third one was quite long but I kept on pushing till the end. Just to realize I went the wrong way… This never happened before! My inner compas failed me! I barely use any navigation app and still usually end up exactly where I wanted. My rule is simple - if you are going uphill that’s probably the right way, if downhill yet towards some mountain covered in snow then it’s also the right way. 😅 It didn’t hold today. This mistake really crushed my morale as I was battling the bonk lurking round the corner and was already out of energy bars. Still have two gels but these are for even darker times. Anyways I somehow managed to get to the nearest shop which was merely 75km from the top of the climb and I stuffed myself with some junk just in order to tackle the remaining 50km. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Despite the overall struggle I still enjoyed this day and particularly the scenery. Beautiful old pines and occasional prairie valleys intertwined with the forests. Stumbled upon a multitude of snowmobile signs and I definitely can see why - these open fields and rolling hills must be a blast for wintertime shredding on a snowmobile. Not bad Oregon, not bad at all.

P.S. Yoooo SIS I am out of bars and have only one gel left. Do you want to help me out here? I promise to keep on taking pictures of myself eating your stuff! 😂