John's Ride Across America Blog: 6/28 Baker City to Ontario, Or.

Last night at dinner I sat with Patricia, who has the only touring bike and the neatest bike here, and six guys. None of the guys knew ANYTHING about their gears. “What does 39, 15 mean?” “Do you have a triple? – I don’t know.” “Is the big gear on the front the low gear?” I mean they knew nothing! This just blew my mind. And then today, when we were loading the bikes on the van, a guy with a custom titanium bike (by Davidson out of Seattle) couldn’t get his front wheel off.

I woke up well rested today, possibly because I had a glass of wine last night – the first in 6 days!

Although we start on a beautiful “Old Highway 30”, today we will get our first taste of riding on an interstate highway. Mike, the leader, says “I like riding on interstates. The trucks pull you along 2 to 3 miles faster than you’d normally go.” I think he’s crazy.

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything. - Charles Kuralt

In some states, particularly out West, it is legal for bikes to ride on the interstate (shoulder). But if there is construction and the shoulder is blocked, then you can’t ride on it. And that is the situation we faced today. So we had to be shuttled about 8 miles past the construction. Which poses a dilemma for me.

I’ve had a motto, or a goal, for this ride. It’s reflected on the front of my rear view mirror: “REFI” or “Ride Every F___ing Inch”. This means no sag and no walking. But I was forced to ride the sag today to get past the construction. So did I blew it? Missed my goal? Do I need to re-label the goal “REAI” – Ride Every Allowed Inch? What do you think?

The last 25 miles of so are along the Snake River. Terrain here is fairly flat (it’s been downhill most of the day) and there are a lot of farms, probably irrigated from the river. Ontario is the “onion capital” of Oregon. - During this part of the ride I had my first flat tire.