Day 35, September 5th 2007 (Sisters, OR to Eugene, OR)

I woke up with no intention of leaving anytime early. With a beautiful fitness club one block away I was ready to enjoy the benefits of being hooked up so well. I was able to knock out another 1500 meter swim early in the morning and followed it by a nice steam room experience. From the fitness center I was able to have a great breakfast and early morning chat with Greg. He had showed up for work and I stole him from his job for a couple of hours to have a great conversation. I knew he was busy so it was just great for him to be offering me so much of his time to make sure I would have an even better time on my trip. He was able to write me out all sorts of great things to see while in California and wanted to make sure I didn't miss the Golden Gate Bridge or Yosemite National Park. He had well laid out directions for both the areas and it was so nice to be able to let someone with a better idea of the area do all of the planning for me. I can't express how much in debt I am to not only he and his family, but all of the great help I have been blessed with so far on this trip. After spending some time setting my things in order and getting ready for the road I was able to chat with Greg's mother for a little while. She is a marathon runner, an active swimmer, and has currently taken an interest in road cycling. You can only imagine what comes next. She's right up there with all the rest of us cool folks, and she wants to be a triathlon competitor. I can't wait to hear about her first race which will probably be her first victory. I was just about to head out on the road and it was so hard to say goodbye. I headed towards Mckenzie Pass, highway 242, and just fell in love with the road. It started with a nice gentle incline through some beautiful redwoods with hardly any traffic at all. It then started to incline to a great climb that was as windy as possible all the way to 5,325 ft. I was feeling so great at the top and the scenery had changed extavagantly. I was at the top and it was a sea of lava. The redwoods and beautiful green had turned into a black lava bed that covered the top of the mountain. Incredible rock formations were everywhere and they had the coolest place to sight see. There was a place where you could walk into a cylindrical tower that was made of all of these great rock formations. At the top there was a room that had a little look out square to see each mountain, and below the look out was a description of what you were looking at. It was absolutely amazing. I left the top and was on the craziest downhill adventure I had been on. It was just as much of a chaotic swirl going down as it was coming up. I would ride for a good couple seconds and then apply my brakes to go around the turn on the road. This lasted for a good 3,00 feet before I made it to the bottom of the road and it was so beautiful as all of the lava from the top turned into a nice green forest to the bottom. This is now by far the best road I have been on and once I reached the bottom I thought seriously about climbing back to the top to do it all over again. I looked ahead at a sign that told me I could turn right to stay at some hot springs in the area or turn left and head about 60 miles to Eugene. I was planning on staying in the hot springs, but I was also ready for a good ride. I started heading towards Eugene and was making such great time, because it was mostly downhill, that I decided I would stop for a quick bite to eat and then push myself towards Eugene. At the nice restaraunt I was able to chat with a great couple and recieve some encouragement before on the road again. I ended up staying at the restaraunt for almost an hour, much longer than intended. At the restaraunt I was also able to speak with the family that I was planning on staying with in Eugene and couldn't wait to spend the evening with them. After eating I was back on the road to see some cool things. The ride was so great as the road followed a magnificent river all the way towards Eugene and was lined with some small waterfalls on the right hand side of the road. This was too great of a ride and I didn't want to get off of my bike because it was such a nice area. Eventually the sun started to slowly fade away on me and as it became pitch black I was able to chat with the family I was going to stay with. They were quick to come and pick me up and there was nothing I could say or do to stop them. I was only about 10 miles outside of Eugene and it was great to be given such a special ride to finish my day. I felt horrible that it was 8:30 by the time I made it to the house and had made them wait so long to eat. Barbara and Scott Stroh insisted that it wasn't a problem and were quick to throw a magnificent meal in front of my face. After a great meal was served it was followed by a heaping bowl of ice cream and it was just what I needed. It was an awesome feeling that this being the third warm showers house that I had stayed at, I had finally not popped a tire at the end of the day. I was able to find out that Barbara was a teacher at a local school and I knew that she must have been a nice teacher because she was such a kind person. They had three kids, but only one of them had truly fallen in love with cycling. They mentioned he was 20 years old and had just recently taken atrip from Oregon to Mexico and explained to me that he had gotten the "bug." The bug was of course that he had fallen in love with cycling and was ready for another trip. They told me about their daughter who was living in Honduras and said that they had recently taken a trip down there to see what she was up against. It sounded absolutely great down there and like it would be a great place to visit. I had taken a backpacking trip much further south in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile about two years ago and it sounded like the people were just as pleasant as they were on my backpacking trip. With a full stomach and tired legs I went to bed on a nice soft mattress.
Daily mileage: 84.9 miles
Average Speed: 15.2 mph
Total mileage: 2,041.8 miles