Day #55) August 6, 2011. Bend, OR: Off day.
Not a whole lot to say on a non-riding day. Stayed up till 11 pm and got up at a recreational 6:30 am. That felt so good. Just walking outside this morning to get a red-eye from Starbucks, the aroma of fresh pine from all the pine trees in the foothills around here is just refreshing. Reminded me of ROMO in Colorado. The temp outside was a brisk 49 degrees. I’m going to have to really bundle up for tomorrow’s ride. Did red-eye coffee and worked in the morning till about noon, and then headed out on the bike to the downtown Bend area.
This is really a wonderful place. I mean to see the Sisters Peaks off to the west just towering over the foothills here in Bend, it’s quite beautiful. The city itself has a great vibe to it. Kind of a super outdoorsy place to live and recreat. I rode to a couple bike shops to put some air in the tires where I could use the pressure gage, and then looked around for a jersey top. Found one in the second shop, but at $115 that was just way too much for a souvenir jersey for this trip. I was good with 75-85 bucks, but not 115. I’ll look more on the coast.
Took a ride around town on my super sensitive butt – I mean we’re talking SORE – and went into the park down along the Deschutes River. Great, clean place with this big hot-rod car show going on, so it was just packed with people. Then hit the Old Town district for lunch. Did the Bend Burger Co, for an absolutely amazingly great burger. They had like 10 different burgers to choose from, and honestly each sounded like a winner. I ended up with the Black Butt Burger – filled with jalapeños, special burger sauce, cheese, caramelized onions. Great! Temp here is now about 78 degrees and nice and dry.
Going to just lay down and rest for a bit and have a couple micro brews from Bend’s local micro brew – the Deschutes Brewing Co. My legs were super tired on the noodle ride into town. So today was really much needed. I think I picked two great days for my off days on this trip: in Ft. Collins to visit Brad and Andrew, and here in Bend, probably the coolest city I’ve visited in 3500 miles.
Tomorrow is 60-80 mile ride o McKenzie Bridge, OR, and I’ll have one pass, Mckenzie Pass at 5200 feet to ride up. Then it’s a descent to the town. Monday with be a shorter ride 50-60 mile ride to Eugene, OR. And Tues, the last day will be a 60-65 mile ride to the coast.
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