Please indulge me as I tell a quick story. My lovely girlfriend Laura has used her feminine wiles to get me to listen to National Public Radio (NPR). There's a show I have become quite enamored with called Marketplace. The program focuses on the latest business news both nationally and internationally, the global economy, and wider events linked to the financial markets. During each show, the host, Kai Ryssdal introduces the daily results from the financial markets by saying "Lets do the numbers" Why did I tell you this? Because I'm going to steal his phrase to report my daily results. So without further ado......
Let's do the numbers!
Distance: 58.95 miles
Ride Time: 3 hours, 40 minutes, 21 seconds
Avg: 16.05 MPH
On every week long tour I have done, something always goes wrong. Does it make me upset? Nope. Why not? Because everyone makes mistakes and more importantly, I paid for an adventure and an adventure is what I'm getting. The latest example of this happened this morning on day one.
A little background. The Seattle-Tacoma area has increased in population by quite a bit over the years. Unfortunately, they can't expand west because of Puget Sound. They have exhausted the land to the north and to the south. The only area available to expand is the mountainous east. This means a bunch of towns and homes have sprung up along highway US 2. Because of this, Adventure Cycling made a decision a few years ago to shuttle its Cycle Washington riders up US 2 to the Stevens Pass area and start the ride there. This way it bypasses a lot of car traffic that could be potentially dangerous to the riders.
A bus was to pick us up at 7:30 AM from Redmond Elementary and shuttle us to the Steven Pass starting point. 7:30 came and went with no bus. Our ride director Tom Radley informed us the bus would be delayed and would be here at 8:15 AM. Ok. No worries. 8:15 came and went with no bus. Tom whipped out his phone to inquire what was going on. As it turned out, the bus driver went to Stevens Pass, thinking we were to be picked up there and dropped off at Redmond Elementary. It's 1 1/2 hours between the two locations. The bus finally showed up to Redmond at 10:30 AM. That meant our ride did not start until noon. But like I said, I wasn't upset. I paid for an adventure, and by golly, I got one! :)
Stevens Pass is 4,000 feet in elevation. So to start by riding down this mountain range was AWESOME!! At one point, I hit a speed of 40.6 MPH. That's the second fastest speed I have ever achieved on a bike. There were a couple of eye opening climbs as well, but I handled them with grace, aplomb, vim and vigor. It was a great way to start my trek across the state of Washington.
Here's a video of the Wenatchee River rapids I rode next to today:
My cycling tatoo:
And yes, we did ride on Easy Street today!
What Will Gary Wear Tomorrow?
My El Tour De Tucson jersey. This jersey is special because I have done this event 7 times which is the most of all of the TNT events I've participated in. This November will mark my 8th time riding this event. And I CAN'T WAIT!! :)
Tomorrow, we leave Wenatchee for a 65 mile jaunt to the little the hamlet of Pateros. I'll talk to you then.
Hole!
Gary
"The bicycle is the noblest invention of mankind." -William Saroyan
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