Day 7 - Riddle to Sutherlin (September 19, 2009)   

      It was in the mid-40's again this morning.  It was cold in the tent over night.  It as the coldest that we had felt in the tent all week.  I packed up my sleeping bag and cot before I woke Ellen up at 5:30pm.  She wasn't happy to be getting up until I assured her that her friend was probably already at breakfast.  We did see them in the tent when we sat down, and they left shortly after.  Breakfast was the usual plus muffins.  We packed up and got out as soon as we could.  We put our bags on the truck bound for long-term parking.  On the way to the start line, we stopped by rider services to pick up a copy of today's Cycle Oregonian which we hadn't gotten at breakfast.  Then we were on the road by 7:!5am. 

    We rode with the other tandem with Ellen's friend off and on all morning.  It was chilly, but the sun helped warm things up a little more quickly.  We had one short, steep grade of about 10% early on.  At one point, we passed what looked like it might be shaping up to be a rodeo with several women riding horses around a ring.  Ellen was so mesmerized, she forgot to pull out the camera.  At the first water stop, I found the mechanic that had helped me out on the hill the previous day and tipped him a couple bucks.  Then we hit the slightly longer 12% grade, but we tackled it ok.  Slow and steady keeps us from falling over.  The ODS stop was at a vineyard.  It was a massive one too modeled after what I'm assuming Italian vineyards are supposed to be pictured as with a large fountain as a central feature.  Ellen and her friend hung out for a while and exchanged emails in case we get separated before the finish line.  After that stop, Ellen and I dropped the hammer and just flew.  There was a bit of a crosswind, but nothing too bad.  We stopped at the final water stop to visit the blue rooms.  While we were there, I got to pass along a compliment to Jay Graves, the owner of Bike Gallery, to one of his mechanics at the Beaverton store that has come out to our house to help with the quad.  We also saw Cowboy again, and thanked them both for the great tour.  Ellen's friend was coming in as we were leaving.  We hammered again to the finish line which was impressive.  We came in to Sutherlin and up the main drag under a ginormous American flag draped between 2 fire truck ladders.  Then the right turn into the finishing chute with balloon archways and cheerleaders.  No chocolate milk, which was a little disappointing.  We did get a dog tag, a sticker, and a poster along with a picture in front of a commemorative sign.  Ellen's friend's mom came over and introduced herself since her daughter had been talking about her constantly all week apparently.  We waited for them to cross the line.  Then we went to eat our lunch of pulled pork BBQ sandwiches.  Yummy.  The walk to long-term parking was kind of a drag, but we did manage to find our bags quickly, and get a lift on a 4-wheeler to our car.  Well, Ellen got a lift.  I had to walk the bike across the pasture.  There were cowgirls on horseback directing traffic in the field.  We packed everything up, and we grabbed the clean clothes that we had put in the car at the beginning of the week to walk back for showers.  I again, managed to get a ride for Ellen on a 4-wheeler back to the showers where she saw her shower buddy, Jeri one last time.  Ellen was so happy to get to see her and say goodbye. 

    Then we drove home and met Jada and Phoebe for dinner at the Macaroni Grill.  It had started to rain a bit.   

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