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Although I wrote down pages of personal observations after each day’s ride, I’m at a loss for what to write about the entire Ride Around Washington. The word “Wow” comes to mind. After resting, showering and doing laundry Saturday, I feel great. If reality wasn’t a factor, I could have easily gotten back on the bike this morning, continuing on through Oregon and California.
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Including intentional side trips, I covered 486 miles and am, theoretically at least, within reach of logging 1k miles for the month. The week went something like this:
| Day | Miles | From | To | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 90.4 | Oroville | Okanogan | Side trip to Osoyoos, BC, to officially “dip the wheel” into Canada. |
| 2 | 92.0 | Okonagan | Chelan | Loup Loup pass (4,020′); Side trips in town for a pint of ice cream, mail post cards to friends. |
| 3 | 67.37 | Chelan | Leavenworth | Did battle with headwinds most of the day. So… tired… |
| 4 | 95.34 | Leavenworth | Yakima | Blewett Pass (4,120′) plus Yakima Canyon. Delicious tailwind for the 14 miles into lunch, where I averaged 28 mph. |
| 5 | 74.35 | Yakima | Bickleton | Humming tunes of the 70s, 80s and 90s |
| 6 | 67.35 | Bickleton | Maryhill | Side trip to the Oregon side of the border. Dave Flood of ARES (rightly) thought I was nuts for doing this. |
The best things about the ride:
- ARES crew — Bob, Gene, Fran, Dave, Holly, Nadine and Bill seemed to be just around the corner everywhere.
- Fantastic route – Yakima Canyon was especially gorgeous. The stars in Bickleton were amazing. There were three mountain passes (Loup Loup, Old Blewett and Kennowac).
- Except for one spot near Yakima, the route was marked well-enough I didn’t need the map. They provided altitude profiles that helped me pace myself by anticipating where the ‘harder’ parts would be.
- Marshall Brown’s sweeping of glassy areas near Yakima.
- My (futile) attempts to haul a tumble weed in for “Decorate Your Helmet Day.” After the third one fell off, I gave up.
Detractions were few, but of note:
- Lack of toilets enroute. This was especially egregious in areas where there were no trees.
- Some miscoordination, e.g. showers being unavailable until 4pm in Chelan. It gave me an excuse to go into town.
Photos:
 Batch 1 |
 Batch 2 |
 Batch 3 |
Great Pics!! Congrats on another epic ride!
Congratulations on your triumphant return! The ride looks like it went through gorgeous country. Most impressively, you had enough energy and attention to spare to take all of those fantastic photos. Kudos to you!
Thanks, to both of you.
I am SO impressed, although not surprised—knew you’d do it, although didn’t expect the damn extras too! And I’m not even kidding here about the impressed part. What you did was very cool indeed.
Amazing! I thought of you as we were biking (OK…walking and trying not to shove the other tourists over the side) the Golden Gate bridge. 1K in a month, though? Jeez…makes my little 8 miles a weekend/9mpd on the stationary bike seem like nothing. I’m so glad you had a good time 🙂