June 17, 2018 Everett to Skykomish

The first ride of the cross country ride is in the books.  A short 67 miles with 2400 feet of climb.  Although I have ridden this very same ride three times this is the first time it has not been pouring rain.  And I mean West Coast pouring rain.  Where it is pouring when you get up and pouring when you get in.  It is an absolutely a beautiful ride, which I have never seen. 

After the wheel dip you can see the mountains way off in the distance.  The sun reflecting off the water was beautiful.  So we charge off up a bunch of relatively steep rollers following the Skykomish River.   Then as we are climbing a longer steep hill I get a flat.  Yikes 40 riders and only 14 miles into the ride and I get the first flat of the tour.  Ok somebody has to get it but why me and only 14 miles in.  To make matters worse the tire is the tightest tire I have ever had to wrestle with.  Tom R came along and he is a huge guy and immensely strong and he could not get it off.  The two of us wrestled with it for almost an hour before we got it off.  I think that the tire had settled itself onto the rim as the bike had been hanging in the garage since 2014  Having said all this one of the riders came off his bike in the parking lot of where we did the wheel dip. He has 5 stiches in his upper lip and a lot of road rash on his face. I guess the flat wasn't so bad.            

Now I am the very last rider and I have to catch up with the rest of the group or at least get to picnic before they wrap it up.  As you ride east along hwy 2 the mountains are getting closer and closer and of course the road is getting steeper and steeper.  I was really surprised at how much traffic there was along hwy 2.  I sure don’t remember it that way. 

By the time I get to picnic I am pretty much exhausted.  It is really clear that my training which was basically non-existent since we left Phoenix and headed back to Kelowna in mid-February.   In fact that is kind of understating the case.  However it is only 27 miles to camp so I climb back on the bike and peddle on.  About 5 miles out I realize I have left one of my water bottles at picnic and I am dangerously low on water.   The temperature gauges on signs are saying 76 F but it is probably close to 90 out on the pavement.  I really don’t want to go back so I peddle on it is only 10 more miles to water.   I can’t believe I made such a rookie mistake.  Fortunately  I find a café at mile 50 and get a coke and that tides me over the last 5 miles to water.   After water it is only 12 miles into camp.  To say I was glad to see camp was a total understatement.   I am totally all in but here and after a shower and supper feel much better. 

Early to bed tonight.

Terry hot biker

Sorry for the really little pictures but no internet and only 1 bar on the phone signal.