Thurs, July 3

Even though I knew the likely reason I hadn't heard from the guys in a while (poor cell phone reception in the mountains), I was still relieved to get a voice mail from Sarah (Oyler - Bill's wife) at about 1pm saying that they were OK and had just gotten on the road for the day.

The guys had a full day yesterday. They made it the entire 152 miles that they planned on, but it took a lot longer than they hoped. There was a steady 8% grade for miles and miles, and the heat was intense. The scenery was fantastic - they were surrounded by craggy peaks with snow blanketing their tops. Occasionally they passed a stream where the mountain snow melt flowed down the rocks. David said biking past those streams gave them a blast of frigid air like opening a freezer door, and it felt wonderful. At one point, they stopped to cool off in a waterfall.

They pulled into Mazama, WA at 10pm last night after about 17 hours "in the saddle." The sun had set about 45 minutes prior to their arrival, and David said that he barely had the energy to plug in his cell phone and iPod before he fell into bed and immediately fell asleep. It was a long, exhausting day, and it tested their limits. They let themselves sleep in as late as they could this morning.

They got on the road this morning about 11am and plan to do an easy half-day of riding, going only about 60 miles. They had a good breakfast, and they were in Winthrop, WA (about 30 miles down the road) when they called.