I found for dinner last night an old 1950s style diner turned into a Mexican restaurant while the new owners also still include the old diner menu. For dinner, I had what one would call a huge chimichanga and for desert, I went with an old diner style Oreo milkshake. It worked out and was the fuel I needed for what would be a long day of activities for this guy.

Another early morning had me riding on a park trail to a gravel road and quickly onto a paved road that I thought could be used to avoid the hiking trail part of the route. This was after stopping by a convenience store just as I started and securing three Heath bars just like my first big adventure. I crushed two chocolate milks before leaving the parking lot just because I could.

A little over half of the day would be on said road while climbing up to around 4000 feet before the summit at around 5,500 feet. I thought I had avoided a large portion of the hiking trail at this point.

The first part of the day’s route had me going around Hills Creek Lake, which offered some pleasant views and nice cycling. I saw numerous campsites set up to capture the opportunity to get on what seems like some amazing fishing, especially down by the Middle Fork Willamette River.

I also found a stack of wood as big as some of the ones found at a lumber yard typically by a larger river. Talk about a fun job to have, stacking wood at this scale.

The first half of the day was what was to be expected. The second half, well that’s a different story. I will summarize the remainder of the day using the word “Good” like I heard it used by Jocko on his podcast. Jocko was a commander in the Navy Seals during a time when his unit saw some of the most serious action while in Ramadi, Iraq.

Good, I am going to get to ride on a little bit of single track today to connect me to the route up on top of the mountain. This single track is actually unrideable given my bike being fully loaded and not a mountain bike. Good, it is still lightweight enough and I can lift it over the large fallen trees without unloading it.

Good, this can be considered my lunch break, a nice hike for a little over two hours perhaps. I will not get nervous about it taking to long until 1300. Good, looks like there is actually some switch backs coming up and that means we should be getting to the top. These are way too steep to push even my lightweight bike up fully loaded.

Good, I will get some practice of unloading my bike and carrying the four large bags up the hill and then leapfrogging with War Dog. That will definitely keep me from exhaustion and give me a new experience, Good.

Lunch break time has been passed, this will teach me to keep moving without worrying about a timeline, Good. At this point, two mountain bikers come up and they are pushing their rides also. Good, I am not the only one that finds this hard to navigate. They offer a nice distraction from it all and eventually they are at the top when I arrive after a 4.5 hour 5 mile hike up a mountain with my boy War Dog.

Good, I learned that my perception of a tough day on a bicycle was erroneous. I learned that it could indeed always be harder. Good, I learned that when the time comes for me to shut my mind off and just keep taking one step at a time when there is no other option, it can be done.

Actually there was another option that the two mountain bikers showed me on a map when we made it to the top. A little thing called local expertise was found by them when they visited a bike shop in Oakridge and was given recommendations on how to get to the top of said mountain. They still chose this route because they are into that type of riding and on a different route all together.

Good, I know I need to do a better job of using all my resources and I need to do a better map reconnaissance than just taking what is given from the group that created the route. I have to be better, Good.

Once over the top, I was able to finish the day on some red sand for a few miles before climbing up to Diamond Lake where I would stay for the night. Fourteen hours after I started in the morning, I arrived. Beat down, but not out, Good.