What a day 104.5 miles with 5400 feet of climb. Ken and I were on the road early at 6:20
Am. Feeling strong and looking forward
to a ride to one of the big land marks on the tour. Who has never heard of Grand Coulee Dam? It is billed as the largest concrete
structure in the world. However I think
this info may be out dated as I think that Three Gorges Dam in China has more concrete
in it. However this maybe the way concrete structure is defined.
So down the road we go the route follows the Columbia River
for the first 20 miles before making a sharp right turn up a gorge with drops
into the Columbia Valley from the plateau above. The climb is just over 7 miles of 7
unrelenting percent or 2600 feet. So
even though we had left early the heat of the day had set in and the canyon was
into the 80’s. A totally brutal climb by
any ones perspective. After we reach the plateau we are treated to a
series of huge rollers, each one higher than the previous one. But wait we also have a head wind which while
not large in velocity is blowing a hot gust straight out of the blast furnace
into your face. Out on the blacktop it
is easily into the 100’s. Picnic is a
long way down the road at 60 miles but Ken and I struggle in. Picnic is grilled Costco sausages warm and
toasty in fresh buns. I stop at a store
and buy 2 Arizona Iced teas and guzzle them down (46 oz total). With
just over 40 miles we are still looking at something around 4.5 hours.
Down the road we go and now the sausages are talking back
and my stomach is turning over. It isn’t
far now it is only 35 miles. Oh no
another huge roller. Keep going as it is
only 30 miles well 10 to water stop and so on.
Touch down in Coulee Dam and I am so exhausted I lay in the
grass until supper at 6:00 pm. Something
like 11. 25 hours in the saddle. After
supper I assemble my tent and crawl into bed.
There may be a take away here; don’t go on a C2C bike ride
with zero training when you are 66 years
old.
Terry
4 comments:
You are the man! Can’t top 11 hours in the saddle on a 100 deg day. Way to go grinding it all out. Know you can have an easier day biking Cour dAline.
Terry, you are completely nuts, but still an inspiration! And you know it's hot when the breeze doesn't help cool you off at all, in fact it works like a convection oven and cooks you faster... Watch out for heat exhaustion and whatever you do, don't try to recover from it by drinking Margaritas! (Voice of bitter experience here). I am sure the days will get a bit easier as you ride back into shape. I would be totally done in by now, I cannot conceive of pitching and tearing down a tent day after day on top of all the pedalling. I would definitely need a real bed, a shower and ideally a hot tub. And I am younger than you!
Yes.. well.. training would have been beneficial but you made it.. take Hillary’s advice and look out for your health.
I remember this ride in 2014 as being a particularly long and brutal day. There was newly laid chip seal to add to the discomfort.
Canada Ken C.
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