Can you believe this? Prairie City to Dayville. 44 miles

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Today was a day we have both been been looking forward to for many days.

It was going to be a recovery day after the last two hard days.

It was a downhill day from the start following the John Day River downstream from Prairie City to Dayville.

It was a beautiful ride through the John Day valley. We passed huge ranches filled with lush grazing grasslands.

Although we were told we would most likely see some wildlife, we saw none.

The traffic was very light so that was a big plus!

I did pull a complete bonehead mistake today! It is silly in retrospect, but sure had me going for a bit.

Right from the start today, I just didn’t have it. It was supposed to be downhill but every pedalstroke was an effort.

Sometimes for no explicable reason that happens, but today was especially acute!

It was like there was absolutely no strength left in my legs!

I should have been screaming downhill, but was struggling to pedal at 10 mph. It was so frustrating!

Many negative thoughts were bouncing around in my head for about two hours. I just couldn’t figure out why I was struggling so badly.

Was I completely burned out?

Were my legs so tired from the last few days that I just needed another day off?

Had my body broken down so badly that I had lost all my conditioning?

Was I getting sick and it was manifesting itself in my lack of energy?

And many other thoughts.

NOPE! NONE OF THE ABOVE!

I had forgotten to release my parking brake!

Yep! I have a strong rubber band that I use to hold the brake on my bike when I want to keep it from rolling when I stop for awhile.

Somehow I had started riding with it set and didn’t realize it for 20 miles! What a dummy!

Once I finally realized this, all was well. The second half of the ride went rapidly and we were in Dayville at 11:20 before it got really hot.

We have been safely inside all day enjoying the air conditioning.

Danville is another tiny town with a population of 149. It was named after the John Day River which runs all the way through this valley.

In the mid-19th century, Dayville was along the route of a wagon road, named The Dalles Military Road. It connected The Dalles on the Columbia River with gold mines near Canyon City. There is one Restaurant, one tiny Hotel, an RV park and a Mercantile store.

There is another town 35 miles North that seems to be thriving called John Day. We rode through there earlier in the day.

Tomorrow we have a short mileage but we will be going uphill most of the day to climb over another mountain into Mitchell.

There is absolutely nothing between here and there so we will bring some provisions.

Back with more tomorrow.

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