Day 19: Bend, OR

Journal for 2016-09-30 | Published on 2016-10-02 08:39:38

A pretty normal night and morning. We obviously are in a different climate now, the air is much drier and the inside of our tent had zero condensation due to it. After our jaunt off-route yesterday we decided to shave a little off the route and stick on Highway 20 leaving Sisters instead of following the route we already rode.

Unfortunately Highway 20 is a very busy road and we generally fellt stressed from the constant traffic buzzing past us. We had a wonder person who tried to envolope us in a cloud of diseal smoke as we rode, but the wind just blew it away from us, congrats on being a horrible human Mr. red truck driver.

We followed the ACA route and got off the 20 as much as practical, found another set of wrong directions, but this one was obvious. Generally we enjoyed the rolling brush and views of Sisters mountains in the distance.

Getting closer to Bend we turned in to the wind and ground on in towards town. The riding wasn't easy but the traffic was light. Along the scenic bikeway we were cycling we saw over a dozen other cyclists riding it, all in the other direction, but cheerful exchanged "hello"s with them.

Paused for a lunch next to Tumalo Creek, and got into the outskirts of southern Bend. There seems to be a fair bit of planned development going on and the roads have bike lanes and traffic circles. We rolled on in to our hotel and got checked in.

It turns out we weren't far from the local REI and we needed some equipment so we wondered the mile over to the Old Mill District on the Deschutes River. Seriously impressed by Bend so far, the mill district has great walkways along the river, nice dining, shopping, and just a laid back feel. We ate giant hamburgers at Red Robin and then found more than we needed at REI. Along the way back the sunset was amazing and we settled in for a nice nights rest.

Time: 2:41:09

Distance: 26.46

Average: 9.8

Max: 27.7

Climb: 1381