Day 5 - Glendale, OR to Grants Pass, OR (September 17, 2009)   

    Another cool start to what was the longest distance for the week, if you can believe that.  It was hard to get moving this morning.  I wasn't sore, but I don't sleep terribly long during the nights.  Breakfast got a late start, but they had some good sausage this morning.  I was still on the road by 6:45am.  I made good time despite the weariness.  At the first ODS rest stop, the good people at Heaven on Earth cafe provided us with free baked goods.  If I had known, I would have skipped breakfast.  They had donated all of it, and from what I saw on the CO forums afterwards, many people traveling north stopped by to get more at the end of the ride on Saturday.  I know the next time that we're traveling south on I-5 we'll have to make a stop at the Azalea exit.  I didn't eat much while I was there, though, for fear of having it come back on me on the climb over Goolaway Gap.  It started sprinkling a bit as we passed the Galesville Dam and reservoir.  It sprinkled on and off as we made our way up the climb.  It was a good climb, and I think I climbed this same route back in 1998 because I kept having déjà vous through there.  It was pretty wet over the top, so it was hard to get too much speed, but after 2 miles, the road cleared up along with the sky as I rolled into second breakfast at the Elderberry Flat Campground.  It wasn't completely read for us to be there, but I wasn't the first one there either.  The road on down was rough and didn't allow for much momentum, but we got off the chip seal finally.  The road was terrific between lunch and the next rest stop, and I saw 14 deer along the road side grazing.  Some does, fawns, and young bucks with their just growing antlers.  I would have liked to stop to take pictures, but I was riding well across the valley floor and the weather was perfect.  I hadn't stripped off my arm and leg warmers yet, but I was definitely ready for them to be off.  I took it all off at the next rest stop in Wimer.  At this point, I spent several minutes trying to figure out what happened to my gloves, but someone had picked them up thinking that they had been lost.  I got them back finally, and took off again.  The rest of the ride in was on rough road surface, so it was difficult to keep up the momentum, and there was a short steep climb just before crossing under I-5 into Grants Pass.  The Black Bear lodge had lined up what must have been 20-30 nutcracker statues that were 7ft tall along the road into town.

    I arrived into Riverside City Park and staked my claim on a lovely shaded piece of grass on top of a hill over looking the Rogue River.  After setting up my tent and taking a shower, I headed over to the Community Cycling Center's tent to drop my bike off for a cleaning.  My frame wasn't looking too good with the sticky energy drink dripping on my down tube all day.  They clean it in a couple hours for a $40 donation.  Not a bad deal.  Then it was over to Pizzacato for lunch, read the Oregonian, and called Jada.  I took a nap on the grass outside my tent in the shade.  It was wonderful...except for the occasional bug that woke me up.  I woke up in time to go to dinner.  they were a little late.  At least, we thought they were late, but it turns out they had changed to time of dinner to 5:30pm instead of 5pm without posting it.  Ohwell, we still got to eat.  At announcements, they decided to not open the course until 8:30am so that the volunteers could sleep in too since it was an optional ride day.  That's fine for them, but what am I going to do with myself until 8:30am?  I actually stayed up to listen to the entertainment since I didn't have to be up early.  It was a band from Portland that does live Karaoke as in you can sing with an actual band instead of a recording.  They were good on their own, and there were several good singers in the crowd too.  A couple of people made up their own songs including one to the tandem teams which made me miss Jada even more. 

    Observations and logistics:  Not a single day more than 78 miles.  That's really short for the CO's I've done in the past.  Great climbs, but it could use some more mileage.  All week on the long climbs the Sag drivers have been posting riddles to take your mind off the climb.  I've actually been able to come up with a couple of the answers.

See what the Oregonian had to say about today.

Continue to day 6.