Date: 8 June Friday (Day 5)
Starting Point: Winthrop, WA
Ending Point: Tonasket, WA
Via: Twisp, Loup Loup Pass, Okanogan, Omak
Mileage: 72.1
Time: 7:10
Mph: 10
Terrain: hilly with one mountain pass
Temperature High: 80
Temperature Low: 54
Cooks: Janet, Dave and Æde
Food: Vegetarian lasagna and meat lasagna, salad, cake with strawberries and whipped cream
Weather: sunny and warm
Lodging: Adventure Cycling Association supporter’s backyard
Cumulative Mileage: 266.9
Miles to go: ≈4033
Today was supposed to be a somewhat long day (72 miles) combined with climbing one pass that had a six percent grade for ten miles. I was somewhat concerned about what the weather would bring because we were now getting into eastern Washington where the land is much drier and barren than west of the Cascade Mountains. Visions of 90º+ danced through my head, thanks to last year’s tough weather. It was very fortunate then that I was disappointed with all my worrying. There were just a few miles when the air heated up, but the prospect of being boiled didn’t materialize.
There was a point three years ago when I stopped at a field with a birdhouse mounted on the fence surrounding the field. That bird proceeded to dive bomb me. I stopped at the same spot to see if we could have another visit, but the bird never showed.
On the way up the pass, I spotted some sort of a woodpecker tapping on a telephone pole. There were many other birds that were invisible, but I do know that there were viris. After the pass, where we met a group of three women biking from Seattle to Long Island, New York, there were downhills aplenty. There were also lots of cherry orchards that looked just about ready. We passed a few apple orchards as well, but they were far from picking.
On a stretch after Riverside, we ran into a group of Finns (Mika, Jako, Emma and Walteräa). I stopped to talk with them a little, because it looked like they were having a little trouble. None of them were wearing a bicycle helmet. I tapped the top of my helmet and suggested to Mika that a helmet might be helpful. He showed me that his helmet was safely tucked behind his bicycle seat. I then suggested that it might be more useful on the top of his head. After I rode on, it was obvious to me that my breath was ill-spent; they all kept riding without the helmets. The two younger people had ipod earbuds in one of their ears---the side away from the road. I wasn’t even going to bother about that.
When we all assembled at a supporter’s house, it was revealed that our New Zealander, Clive, had an injured knee…the popular expression is that he “blew out” his knee. He was taken to the emergency room and it wasn’t definitive whether he should continue or not. So he’s planning on continuing.
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