Date: Wed, 17 August 2016
Time on Bike: 6:38:30
Total Travel Time: 11:16:19
Miles Covered Today: 62.54
Total Trip Miles: 2,159.2
Average Speed: 9.3, Maximum Speed: 35.0
From: Omak, WA
To: Mazama, WA
(Uploaded on 25 Aug 2016)
Man, 16 hours of sleep will really help you feel better. And drugs!!
I got emotional yesterday when I told the gang I might not be able to continue with them. It was hard for me to even think about that possibility after having thought about this trip for 32 years.
Carl could relate. He had already cycled through some diversity himself. First, he fell off his bike and broke his collarbone and a rib. He went home to see his doctor and to recuperate. He rejoined the group up the road about a week later. Then, in Wyoming, he got dehydrated and had possible heat exhaustion. The entire group camped out at a hotel for a day or two allowing him to regain his strength. They started cycling the next few days at 4 AM so they could ride in the coolest part of the day. So Carl could really relate to my concerns.
Yesterday evening while Bunny was at Walmart she bumped into the entire gang. Not a small Walmart, but a small town!
They were staying at a Warm Showers house and were out buying food for dinner and for the next day. Once Bunny saw how much they had, she insisted on taking it to where they were staying in the Prius. They readily agreed! The sag wagon & driver came thru again!!
They asked how I was doing. She said I was sleeping. They expressed concern and said they hoped I would join them tomorrow morning. If I could, they were be leaving at 6 AM.
I woke up and felt better. Still a stuffed up head, but I was breathing better. I was not going to miss this opportunity to ride with these guys and finish my trip.
I put the address of their Warm Showers house in Google Maps and biked the ~0.5 mile to them. For a change, they were not waiting for me to show up but still finishing up their breakfast. It was a great view from the back porch where they were sitting. Pretty sweet!
They had made oatmeal. Rachel loves her porridge! She can go a whole day without eating as long as she has her bowl of porridge in the morning! Bunny & I even turned her on to the oatmeal from McDonald's. It is actually not bad. Healthier than a lot of other options there, but I suspect I like it because it has a lot of sugar in it!!
I had been riding with these guys for over a week and I had never realized that Jenn’s handlebar bag was a Liz Clairborne handbag!! Duh!!!
She said she could not find a handlebar bag that she liked… Girls!!
We headed out of town as the morning rays of sun were painting the mountains across the valley.
It was a gorgeous morning and I was feeling pretty good about the day and the impending climb up to Loup Loup Pass. I wasn’t going to let yesterday’s hiccup screw up my day... or my entire trip.
We started early enough in morning so that there was shade, a nice cool breeze, and all in all I was feeling good, considering…
You can even tell that I am feeling better today as I was taking more pictures. Yesterday, my total for the day was about 25 pictures. On a regular (read normal!) day, I will take 100 or more!
I was feeling tall in the saddle this morning!
We started out on HW 215/20 that paralleled the Okanogan River.
We entered and departed the town of Okanogan and the climb started. There were a lot of apple, peach, and cherry trees along the road as we climbed.
The early slopes seemed very steep, even brutal at times. Or maybe I was still not totally back on my game.
Below is my favorite picture of Rachel from the entire time I rode with her. The smile on her face says a lot. She was always happy, upbeat, and positive. My favorite comment that she would make before a big climb was “Let's just get it done!” She always did!! What a great travel companion!
More times than not, Jenn & Carl climbed together. No matter how long or steep the climb, I could hear them talking and laughing! And I was just trying to breathe!!!!
Bunny & Woz caught up with us and found a good stop to rest. No sooner than we got the gang together Rachel decided it was time to finish this climb. She put her helmet on and headed out to conquer Loup Loup!
Woz was resting in the weeds and seemed in no rush to leave the shade!
The climb kicked up at the end just to remind us that we were in the Cascades!
But soon Loup Loup was also in the history books for all of us! I was feeling much better when I summited the pass.
Woz got his picture taken for his FaceBook page
As did the gang. Three of four done! FYI, we are all raising three fingers.
Downhills are always a blast. After all that work climbing these guys, I felt we deserved that free ride!
But I have to work the downhills just to catch Rachel.
I guess I just enjoyed cycling with someone else after all those weeks of solo biking.
It leveled out for a while and then there was a BIG downhill to Twisp.
At the bottom of this big downhill there was a Stop sign. BRAKES! If you missed the stop, you got a free ride into the Methow River!!
We were stopping in Twisp for lunch. I could tell it was a pretty funky town from all the studios & galleries we passed.
Lunch was at Logan's Steakhouse. I got a Reuben. Had a hankering for meat.
And across the street was a bakery. We all of course had to check that out. Bunny & I shared a very decadent fudge brownie.
Many times lunch ends up being an extended break for this group. We were in Twisp for two hours or more.
But it had gotten hot during our lunch break.
and we still had ~23 miles to go when we left Twisp at about 2 PM.
Carl saw this great bumper sticker that gave us our marching orders! ‘Nuff said!
It was a hot and slow road to Mazama, WA.
So hot in fact that I think I started to hallucinate. I could have sworn I saw the next generation iPhone 10. Bigger is better?
We took a rest stop in Winthrop. Water bottles needed to be filled. We were not the only cyclists in town it seemed!
Winthrop was kinda touristy.
Now I know why our hotel in Mazama was expensive…
After all these miles cycling on the Northern Tier Bicycle Route, this was one of the first Share the Road signs I had seen!
As evident by the round river rocks all the way up the roadside, the Methow River had at one time been a major river course.
Jenn took a quick dip in the Methow River and Carl soaked his shirt in the cold river water. It was so hot and dry he said his shirt was bone dry within 20 minutes!
We left the main road (HW 20) and rode on a side road into Mazama.
It was a long day. Over 11 hours on our bikes by the time we hit Mazama. The gang was staying in a another Warm Showers house. I left them after they found their destination. No cell phone service to find Bunny with Find Friends.
I was shocked! No cell service! Have I mentioned that AT&T sucks yet?
I soon found out the reason our Inn was expensive is because it was the only game in town! It was actually pretty nice, but for me, all I need is a place to lean my bike, take a hot shower, and sleep.
But there was one perk at the Mazama Country Inn… a hot tub! And I got to enjoy it with Bunny & Woz! The boy sooooo wanted to join us!
So... Mazama is the start of the climb up to Washington Pass, our last climb in the Northern Cascades.
I was pretty happy with how I had bounced back today. No doubts in my mind now that I was going to complete my trip.
An early start tomorrow morning. Mt. Washington is a serious climb. I was ready.
More pictures for your enjoyment.
