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Out of thedesert, into mountains

Linda Osmundson was happy to pedal out of the desert heat. Then came the hills of the Donner Pass.

By JON WILSON
Published June 21, 2006

This is one among occasional updates of Community Action Stops Abuse director Linda Osmundson's 52-day, nearly 4,000-mile bicycle ride across America.

Monday evening, Linda Osmundson pulled into Grand Junction, Colo., after a 97-mile day in desert temperatures that reached 95 degrees.

"One guy was so dehydrated they took him away in an ambulance,'' Osmundson said in an e-mail.

It was the end of the 16th day of her journey, an event called the Cross Country Challenge, organized by New Hampshire's America by Bicycle.

It's not a race. About 34 riders are accompanying Osmundson. They gathered June 3 in Burlingame, Calif., leaving the next day after a tire dip in the Pacific Ocean.

Day 4 took the group over Donner Pass, a section billed as the ride's toughest. It was 72 miles with a total climb estimated at more than 8,000 feet over the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas and the pass itself.

"We screamed down the other side. ... Some were going as fast as 50 mph. I hit about 35, was chicken to let myself go much faster,'' Osmundson wrote.

"We had spectacular views most of the ride. A huge, antlered deer bounded across the road in front of me,'' Osmundson wrote. She said she was one of the last to finish the day in Truckee, Calif., with some riders finishing three hours earlier.

"For about 15 miles we had to ride on I-80 with big trucks whizzing by us. The shoulder of the road was littered with pieces of chains, gravel and remnants of tires. ... The downhills with such clutter were very scary."

Tuesday the group reached Montrose, Colo., and today is scheduled to pull into Gunnison. It is expected to reach Portsmouth, N.H., on July 25.

[Last modified June 20, 2006, 22:16:26]