| Distance | Average Speed | Max Speed | Time | Elevation gain |
| 52.84 miles | 13.9 mph | 42.0 mph | 3:46:37 | 4452 feet |
I actually slept in a little bit this morning like most people, apparently. I work up at 5:30am. I got on my first layer of clothes and went to breakfast. There wasn't much of a line yet, and it was cold just as predicted. (27 degrees). We had scrambled eggs, pancakes with blueberry syrup, sausages, and, of course, oatmeal. The oatmeal was the only thing that stayed warm after getting to the table...that and my hot chocolate.
I went back to my tent to start packing and selecting layers. I went with wool socks, shoes, toe covers for my feet; heavy tights over shorts for my legs; jersey, arm warmers, a long sleeved jersey and a vest for my upper body; knit gloves under short fingered gloves for my hands, and a skull cap under my helmet. I took my time getting packed, but I was still ready to go by 6:40am. It was a very quiet morning other than the rattling of my bones as I rolled across the 9 cattle guards on our route today (I shouldn't complain. There were 13 yesterday). I rode a very moderate pace as the first climb started right out of town against the flow of the Grand Ronde River. We rolled up through a forested canyon and finally out onto a large mountain valley with ranchland with a snaking river through it where our first rest stop was. It turns out that the ranch and the surrounding land had been a popular film site for westerns back in the day. The road continued up after this to 5933 feet. Then we continued to roll until heading down into Granite for lunch. I had my lunch around 10am today. A long, slow climb followed lunch up to 5706 feet, but then came a fun down hill into Sumpter...well, mostly fun except for the weather cracks in the pavement.
I rolled into the old mining town of Sumpter just before Noon. The field was huge, but very dusty and grassy. The dirt was pretty soft, though. I didn't have to wait 1 second for a shower today. The camping area for the non-tent and porter service folks like myself was pretty well spread out. And getting in early, I had a good selection of areas. I even got a ride on an ATV with my bag to my soon to be tent space.
It was still pretty early, so I walked down to the main drag to look around. I checked out the Sumpter dredge which was a huge boat-like contraption used to dredge (hence the name) for gold. They launched into a small pool of water, and the dredge scooped up dirt from the bottom of the little pool, sifted it out the back catching anything that might be gold, and filling in the pool behind it with tailings. In this way, it just carved out it's own little pool of water it took with it. I don't recall how much gold they were able to get this way, but it was enough that they operated 3 of these beasts in this area alone. The last one was stopped in 1954. It was one of the first things to have electric power in these parts, and it had it's own power plant supplying power to it near Granite.
I noticed an ice cream shop nearby and stopped in for a blackberry shake. It was already in the mid 80's. After finishing that, I found a nice wooden Adirondack chair in the shade of the porch of the Dredge Superintendent's house. It was one of the Oregon State Parks places of interest, so I chatted with the ranger stationed there while we watched the riders roll in throughout the afternoon until it was time for dinner.
After dinner, I went in search of the elusive pay phone. There was one at the edge of town with a long line already. This was one of the few towns along our route this year with no cell phone service. So I waited in line for a change. After 45 minutes, it was my turn for the phone. It was difficult to hear anything being said on the other side since I called during bath time. I only had time to check in, so Jada didn't like that very much. I checked back later in the evening, but the line was still long even after announcements.
We had great news at announcements that night. The Elkhorn mountain fire was contained, but the fire crews would only open the road past their fire camp at the base of the mountain between noon and 5pm to allow us to pass so that we wouldn't interfere with their fire equipment coming and going too much. The Elkhorn Scenic Byway would be opened only to we on bicycles and our official CO support vehicles. I guess I'll just plan on a long lunch while I wait for things to open up.
I headed to bed after announcements. I could still hear the entertainment ever so faintly from my tent even though I was no where near the main stage tonight. It was another funk cover band, but this time it was more jazz fusion (think Chick Corea w/ Yellow Jackets and Lee Rittenour) combined with Earth Wind and Fire. I was tired, so I was sorry I missed it, but I could hear just enough of their rendition of EWF's "September" as I drifted off to sleep.
Continue to Day 4.