This morning we left the beautiful Gonzaga Campus and headed towards Kellogg Idaho. As we left we rode along the bike paths in Spokane. The sun was glinting off the river as we were headed East and it was really pretty. I was taking my time an rode with a lot of the back of the pack riders. It seems there is a lot of confusion there as to what the rules of the road are. So I left them and headed on to the next segment of the ride which was a thirty mile segment down some secondary back roads winding though some very pretty rolling hills which are partially wooded. At the 40 mile mark we turned down an even more back road to this park which took us down to the path way system.
A word on the path way system. It is an old rail line which has been totally redone and runs for something like 100+ miles around Lake Cour de Lane. So we get to the lake and get on the path way. There is an old rail bridge across the lake and on the top of the trestle is a osprey nest full of chicks. Mother was sitting on a piling eyeing us to make sure we were being good. It was really neat to see her up close. When we arrived on the other side it was about 10 miles down to picnic which as usual was great. The special of the day was tuna salad which I greedily heaped on bread to make a sandwich. There was still 40 miles to go so I jumped on my stead and bolted off down the pathway. The pathway took us all the way into Kellogg which was great. This has to be the best bike path I have ever been on. Dead flat, with a beautifully smooth pavement top. Nice and wide with nobody on it. I rode along for miles and miles with out seeing a soul. Then about 20 miles out from lunch I spot a mother moose with two calf's right beside the pathway eating water lilies. What a magnificent sight. She didn't seem to mind me stopping to watch her eat. I will definitely get those pictures posted as soon as possible, as once again my Internet is very spotty. So the last twenty miles I am feeling like ya this really peaceful and beautiful but here we are on the bottom end of a three century stretch and it is time for something else. So I just put the pedal down and went for it. I was sure that I was going to be in the bottom end of the riders as I had not rode very hard in the morning and then just before camp I rolled into a Walmart and got a huge pink milk. It was really cold and tasted so great. I put down what had to have been a two liter bottle in about 3 minutes
I was very surprised to see that not many people were in and I wound up with a 3rd on the coast to coast riders and a tenth over all. Not that it is a race or any thing and I just want you to know that I am not competitive, but I know that a bunch of you are hammerheads and keep track of stuff like this. A great ending to a great day.
The mileage for today was 98.5 miles. Tomorrow is and easy 68.5 miles with only one major hill and cold showers as the heating plant in the school is out. It is also awards night but I don't have anything.
Lets Ride!
Terry
No comments:
Post a Comment