[ORRando] Shaniko - Condon Perm Report

[John Henry Maurice]

Joanne and I attempted the Shaniko - Condon perm last Saturday.

It was a bit much for us and we made several mistakes.

The first mistake was we thought the we set 8:00 am for the starting time,
but we discovered that the cards said 7:00 am.  We started at 7:30 am.

Secondly, there is nothing open in Shaniko at 7:30 in the morning.  The
hotel is closed as is the gas station/market..  There is no ATM.  We flagged
down a car driving past the old hotel and asked the occupants to sign our
cards.  The only reason they left the highway was that they were looking for
a bathroom.

We were in Antelope at 8:00 am.  We stopped at the store (which opens at
8:00) and got a receipt even if it was not a control.  We were there about
15 minutes.

We then headed for Condon and we stopped only once, to talk to another
cyclist who resting along side of the road on the climb to Fossil.  We
arrived in Condon at 1:33 pm; it took us five and one half hours to ride the
53.2 miles.  We made the control by 3 minutes.

We stopped for lunch as we were very hungry and low on energy.  However, the
small cafe was very slow and we had to spend way too much time there.

Leaving Condon, we missed a turn.  We continued straight instead of turning
left on Walnut Street which is SR-206 but is unsigned.  We returned to
Condon, stopped at the Condon Hotel and they pointed out our way.

We were feeling better as we were finally on some flat ground, but then the
wind hit.  Not only did it hit, but it increased in intensity.  Our speed
slowly decreased.  Once we made it to the John Day River gorge, we thought
that we could make up some time on the five mile descent.  The was not so.
The wind was, if anything, much stronger in the gorge.  I brought the tandem
down to 15 mph due to the gusty side winds and I even was considering
getting off and walking.  It was that bad.  But we made it to the river and
started up the other side.

We gained over 1,200 feet in the next six miles, all of it into the very
intense head wind.  We had to drop down to our lowest gear (26 x27) and
slowly work our way up the canyon.

When we finally reached Hay Canyon Rd, we got some relief from the wind, bit
only 2.7 miles, then it was back into the wind toward Moro.

We intended to make a very short stop in Moro, but as we approached, we
admitted to ourselves that we needed to eat as again, we were very low on
energy.

Entering Moro at 7:00 pm (45 minutes after the control cutoff), we
discovered that the market was closed.  The cafe had the "open" sign on, but
the door was locked and we could not see anyone inside.  In desperation, we
tried an unmarked door and found ourselves in a bar, an empty bar, with the
bar maid playing solitaire.  Yes, she could make us a sandwich and she
whipped up two ham wraps very quickly.  We wolfed them down and got back on
the tandem.

It was now dark, and we had three hours to do 38 miles with at least 1,500
feet of gain.  We started off, but we were not doing well.  We were riding
along side of US 97, in the dark, on a four foot shoulder, with a very
strong side wind pushing us into the traffic lane.  In addition, oncoming
cars did not see the need to dim their bright lights for a tandem,
effectively blinding us.  In five miles of this madness, we decided we had
enough and limped in to the next town of Grass Valley.  Nothing was open in
this town, so we stood beneath a street light and waved down a Good
Samaritan who took Joanne back to Shaniko to get our van.  I sat in the post
office for an hour waiting for her.

We finished with 115 miles in 12 1/2 hours and 9,600 feel of elevation gain
(the perm was advertised at 8,000 and we still had over 1,000 left to do
before Shaniko).

-- 
John Henry Maurice
www.onyourleft.net
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