Pearson & Pete ride through the High Desert (Photo by Meghan Sheridan)

We’ve spent two days traveling through the Oregon desert on Route 20.  On Friday Pearson and Pete rode 106 miles from Bend to Riley in 110 degree heat, fighting the wind most of the way.  Saturday they faced an even more severe head wind for the entire 68 miles from Riley to Stinking Water Pass, but the heat relented to 103.

Pearson & Pete Filling Water Bottles with Ice (Photo by Meghan Sheridan)

Saturday the gravelly road gave Pearson the first flat tire of the trip and he found changing the tube to be quite a challenge on his new Raleigh Bike.

Pearson Fixing a Flat

The diversity of landscapes (mountains, lakes, desert, city, farms…) through Oregon has made for beautiful shots of Pearson and Pete riding and the sunsets have been breathtaking.

We’ll continue to keep you posted on the progress and hopefully add some video soon.  Thanks for all the support and comments!  

Best, Julia

Pearson & Pete at Route 20's Beginning in Newport Oregon

Pearson and Pete began their cross-country bicycle trip on Nye Beach in Newport Oregon at sunrise on Pearson’s 30th birthday (Tuesday Aug. 12th), they cycled hard and fast for 96 miles to Sweet Home Oregon. Meghan Sheridan (our amazing driver and photographer) and I followed/chased them in our van filming every step of the way.  

Meghan, Pearson, Julia & Pete at Nye Beach in Newport Oregon

After a brief birthday celebration and a short rest we continued our trip on wednesday through the grueling 96 miles of Cascade Mountains from Sweet Home to Bend Oregon.  Pearson rode like an animal,  killing the 4250 foot, 4650 foot and 6400 foot mountain passes in just over 7 hours of pedaling!

Pearson on a brief food break in the Cascade Mountains

Our rest day today in Bend Oregon was great.  We had two media interviews, one for KTVZ Channel 21 and one on KBND Radio News.  We toured the Deschutes Brewery and hung out with Jeff and Patti Evans, two terrific and generous local cyclists.

In addition to touring this incredible country we’ve been receiving a good deal of media attention here are a few links to recent articles:

Gazette Times – Corvallis, Oregon

Newport News Times – Newport, Oregon

Skaneateles Journal – Skaneateles, New York

Auburn Citizen – Auburn, New York

We begin moving again tomorrow, 108 miles into the Oregon Desert in what are anticipated to be record high temperatures.

From a stop in Little America, Wyoming

We’re one day away from Oregon and three days away from the start of the cross-country bike ride!  We’ve been driving across this incredible country- seeing by car the diverse landscape and people.  It’s been eye-opening and has further built our anticipation to truly experience this vast country at 15-20 mph and meet the people in the places we’ve just buzzed through.

All best,

Pearson & Julia