Coulee Dam to Spokane
It seems like every day starts with a big climb. Maybe that is because towns were on the rivers or at the base of mountains. So today was no exception. We started from the base of the Coulee Dam and head up this canyon road. As i am getting close to the top there is a crop duster flying one of the fields. So it was fun to watch rather than your odometer. However he over flew me about five times and all I could taste for the next few hours was insecticide.
When we hit the plateau at the top of the hill I knew it was big trouble as there was terrible head wind. If you really worked hard you could maybe make 12-14 mph on the down hills and 6-9 mph on the up hills. Then tour van went by me with about 30 bikes on the roof so a lot of people took a bump to picnic. Seeing that left me wondering about my sanity. As we had a second long day all you could do was get down into the drops and grind it out. So I decided that I was stopping at every opportunity. The Sandy's bakery in in some un-named cross roads had great glazed Cinnamon rolls, the water spot by the "GAS" sign had coke, finally picnic was in Davenport which was great. I was riding with Patric and he was feeling pooched so we stopped at an un-named drive-in in Reardon. I had a huge root beer which really filled the bill. Still 30 miles to go. I was glad to see the outline of Spokane on the horizon. The last few miles through town were fun on all the bike paths. I heard a lot of complaints about the wind so I guess that everyone had a tough day. My 15th spot was respectiable considering how often I stopped.
We are stay in the dorm at Gonzaga University in Spokane. It is beautiful. What happened here when I went to school dorms were dumps. We ate in the cafeteria. The food was great. When I lived in the dorm in Edmonton food was horrid. Now my opinion of food may be coloured by having ridden 94.1 miles into terrible head winds but I wandered out full to the brim.
I have not figured my camera and this computer out so pictures will come tomorrow. or later to night if I get lucky.
Terry
2 comments:
Terry, every day starts with a climb so you can get properly warmed up for the day's ride. Or maybe not. Enjoy the ride, and thanks for the blog. Keep up the good work!
Hey Terry,
Great blog and accounts of high adventure. Burr! I'll be keeping up with the coast-to-coast ride I missed. I've done four days of Bike Tour of Colorado and it has been incredible. Skys have been clear and warm afternoon temps. Climbing to 11,000' has been hard...really hard. Two days to go and I'll start checking on you daily. Keep up the good work.
Jim
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