Today's ride was dedicated to our friend who passed away, Landon Hansen.
The Morning Glide
I say glide instead of ride because this day we started off exceptionally fast.
It was the first day with L.A. local legend, Steve Carlston, and the energy and the optimism he added to the group was well welcomed.
We covered our first 50 miles in 2.5 hours.
We made it to Pateros, WA (31 miles from our inn) for a quick break to enjoy the sun, river, and good riding weather for a bit.
Once again, we all felt fantastic.
The roads were pretty clear, we had a nice downhill ride for most of the morning.
Today is going to be a good day.
All good things...
One thing that has held true to this ride is that everyday is a new challenge. Today was a challenge of heat.The total miles for the day was 110. As you read previously we did the first 50 pretty dang fast, but then the afternoon came.
After a small town of Bridgeport, WA we basically dove into and rode a desert with a heat that probably was close to 100 degrees.
We can ride all day long in morning weather, but as some of you probably can understand, when the heat gets going good that alone is just brutal.
It seems to easily sap a lot of energy.
This is where the testimony of hydration begins.
We went through bottles on bottles on bottles of water. In 20 miles I probably drank 120 oz. of water.
I imagine the same for the rest of the guys.
We had lunch about 15 miles outside of Coulee (Coo-lee) City, home of the Coulee Dam.
In the van.
In the sun.
See, maybe some of you can see me as being a baby for whining about the heat. The thing is though, what made it worse is that riders that passed us said that it's pretty flat and then there is a big hill into Coulee.
Don't remember too much flat.
The hill was a let down.
Down and Back Up Out of Coulee
Isaac Newton said, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
It seems the same goes for hills when biking.
"For every downhill, there is an equal and opposite uphill."
The uphill out of Coulee was by far worst than the downhill. I just got out of the Cascades! I thought I was done with this crap until Glacier National!
Errr! Wrong!
This hill slaughtered me.
Matt, Kev, and Steve, though, plowed up it like champs. One of the best lessons of humility is having your Dad, twice (and then some) your age, smoke you up a mountain on a bike. I'm 25! What's this whole "You're in your prime" crap? ;)
My humility was only exceeded by my pride for that man.
I was so happy for him. He killed it up the Cascades and this hill.
Straight shot to Wilbur
After that it was smooth sailing. We made the last 14 miles to Wilbur on a road that was as straight as can be. Little ups and downs (mostly down), but easy ride in.
We ate at Billy's Burgers on the edge of town. We were able to keep em' open after they were supposed to close.
I love small town mentality.
I'll be posting Days 4, 5, 6, and 7 today. We got in super early to rest so we can enjoy Glacier and the Road-to-the-Sun tomorrow, bright and early.
You know the usual! Feel free to leave comments, questions, anything and I'll do my best to give the people what they want.
Pics will be from here on out since I took my camera on my bike.
-Jordo
P.S. The Goatee is going strong. I'm keeping him convinced to keep it.
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