So I read the weather report for Sunday and Monday, and, weird – all it said was carpe diem.
So I decided to go find a forest to look at for a while. When you live in the TriCities, you have automatically committed yourself to a double century if you feel like visiting a forest. But that seemed ok, and I headed outbound before sunrise on Sunday. The bank thermometer said 34, but I soon found out that that was a lie – water bottles and camelbak tube froze solid by 6:00am. Well, anyways, the sun came out as predicted and i pushed on through Yakima.
The forest I was heading for was only a few thousand feet of climbing away, so I fueled up at a Starbucks and headed up-valley. The climb over White Pass is actually quite nice westbound, lots of great views and nothing too difficult. I stopped on top to refill some bottles, and a couple of snowboarders grilled me on what the hell I was doing up there on a bike – but it all turned out good when they kindly lent me a phone so I could check in with Sammi.
And that’s when the fun started. I decided that I had worked hard enough to get to the forest, maybe I should take a little time and enjoy it as well. After clearing the move with the boss, I returned the phone, told the kid to put some ice on the knee, and plunged over the edge to the west side of the state.
No boring details here, just a really long ride out to the I-5 corridor then a short jaunt north to Centralia, arriving in time at the Mcmennamins pub/hotel for a room and a plate of halibut.
Day two was quite a bit more … trying. After 15 hours on the bike Sunday, and no real restful sleep, 4:30 found me lying in bed wondering what to do for 2 hours until I could find some coffee. The hotel wouldn’t open until 7, so I couldn’t check out until then, and I was starting to realize I was a bit short on fuel.
I got dressed in a pair of clean riding shorts and some clean socks, then layered on yesterday’s shirts, jackets, gloves, hat, snot-covered face mask, and pants. (Oh, interesting side note here: somewhere in Yakima on Sunday I snagged my over-pants on my saddle and ripped a big flap out of the ass. Which I never found until I went to use them to go to dinner. So, I guess half of Yakima now gets to talk about the guy on the bike with the torn pants.)
I rolled out to the grocery store that Sammi used to work at, a lifetime ago, found some bread, peanut butter and honey – and a free cup of coffee. I stuffed all the supplies in my pack, went back to the hotel, made sandwiches, and found another complimentary cup of coffee.
I retrospect, I was worried about getting such a late start – what I really should have done is stayed another half hour to eat a good breakfast. Seems that day two - with zero stored glycogen, makes for a really, really tough day. Add in the extra weight in the pack – can of peanut butter, can of honey, can of hummus, loaf of bread, 2 litres of water – and my forward speed was really low. My energy levels would plummet till the sandwich kicked in, then drop off again until I could muster the courage to eat another one. This went on for 4 or 5 hours until I finally got far enough ahead on my intake to stabilize my power output. Really a miserable way to ride – you don’t feel much like a racer. But at least the weather was good and the scenery was better than scrub grass and sagebrush.
I arrived in Packwood after 70 miles and 3000′ of climbing, bought a turkey wrap which I washed down with a red bull, and headed for the pass. Eastbound to White Pass is quite a bit more difficult – it’s 20 miles and 3500′ - all with an extra 12 pounds in the pack. I suppose I didn’t climb quite as fast as a tour rider – but of course I hadn’t been towed to the base of the climb by the peloton either.
Anyways I made it over the top, manage to relight the system out on Rimrock Lake, and was feeling pretty good by the time Sammi met me at the Saloon in Naches … Total two day mileage – enough to make next week’s hill climbing work memorable.