This morning began with a quiet first three hours of riding. During today's ride, there was only one gas station/convenience store between the starting and ending towns, and this was in Riley, OR. Fortunately today's ride was relatively flat. There was one noteworthy climb out of the valley east of Riley. Much like the day before, I noticed that my knees were still sore; to the extent that I had never experienced discomfort like this before from bike riding. As I pedaled up the hill, I mulled over what could be contributing to this discomfort in both knees. Then, it hit me: I wanted to stick a firm palm to my face, but that likely wouldn't have done well for pedaling and handling the bike. What had occurred to me: I had never adjusted the bicycle seat to my height! This was such a glaring oversight on my part. To know that this knee discomfort could have all been avoided by simply adjusting the seat height really grinded my gears. At the top of the hill, there was a rest area. While here, I adjusted the bicycle seat to my height and surprise, surprise: with the first couple of pedals, the knee discomfort was considerably diminished, if not almost absent. If one leg is not fully extended in the motion of pedaling, a lot of stress gets put on the knee(s). Man, did I feel extremely foolish. The remainder of the ride to Burns wasn't as uncomfortable and went relatively quickly. Once in Burns, I set up camp, got some groceries for the following day, and had dinner at a local restaurant: the Pine Room. I splurged and had garlic shrimp as an appetizer and a burger for dinner all washed down with two waters and two beers. After riding today, my appetite was near insatiable.
Fun facts about Burns: it is in the largest county in Oregon and this county is the ninth largest county (by area) in the United States. Burns is also the hometown of current free agent NFL QB Kellen Clemens. After dinner, I returned to the campground to prepare for the next morning. This was when I first realized that I would ride into a different time zone the next day. Between that change and the distance to ride, it was going to be a long day. 114 miles separate Burns from Vale. Between the two are two gas stations and one cafe. Otherwise, on a map there appeared to be endless, wide and empty spaces between these two towns.
