Ride up Mount Bachelor

So Alex and I have taken a few trips to Bend and love going there, just the two of us. We have two Bed & Breakfasts that we have gone to and love! We like to take our bikes and ride a bit while we are there. Another couple, friends of ours, came with us this year. We left Vancouver around 9:30 in the morning or so, our kids being left in the hands of my cousin, Adrian and his wife. They were thrilled! It takes about 3 hours to drive to Bend and it was POURING rain that morning, so we figured our ride that we had planned might have to wait until Monday or something. But, as we got closer and closer to Bend and later in the morning, it started to clear up. Things were looking good! So when we pulled into town around 12:30 or so we decided to get this big ride out of the way and relax the rest of the weekend. Up for a good challenge, we planned to follow the bike course for the Pacific Crest Triathlon which is 56 miles up and down Mount Bachelor! Before you get too excited, we started 10 miles in, which turned out to be a good choice for us. So we pulled over, changed our clothes in the trees on the side of the road and got our bikes down ready to go. Felt a little groggy after driving for three+ hours.
It was amazing riding up a mountain like that. I don't know how many times I said, "I don't think I can do it." and then just kept riding cuz there was no one around me to hear me anyway. We just kept going and going. The longest ride I'd ever done. The air was thin since we started at 3600 feet. It made me kinda nauseous at first. Then I think I got used to it. Brian, our friend, just zoomed right up. Being ten years younger than me and 14 than Alex...well.
We just kept going up and up and up. I remember going around corners and wondering what I would see and just seeing more and more uphill road! It was unbelievable. We rode 28 miles up that mountain, climbing 2800 feet! We saw beautiful scenery. What a feeling when we reached to top! It was a great accomplishment. Then...it was time to head DOWN!
18 miles downhill! I was more sore from this the next day in my upper body than my legs were! Alex reached speeds of 52 miles per hour! UH...not me. I did not like this part so much. There were huge gusts of wind and it was scary! I got up to 40mph but kept it around 30 (by riding my brakes the whole time) It was tense and it seemed to take forever.

Once back down into town I felt like my legs couldn't go another mile. It was great. 46 miles. We spent the rest of the weekend hot tubbing, playing Frisbee golf, eating good food, staying up all night playing cards, and sleeping in!! Wonderful!