Category: Ride segments
We are in Omak, Washington tonight (Wednesday, May 30). This is about half way across Washington. Offical route milage so far 211.5. I have riden another 50 or 75 miles beyond that.
There was a lot of climbing yesterday and today. Tuesday was Rainy Pass, elevation 4855 feet and Washington Pass, elevation 5477 feet. Today was Loup Loup Pass, elevation 4020 feet. This is a lot of climbing for a flatlander. The Bianchi Volpe touring bicycle is heavier than my road bikes and I am using a handlebar bag that adds more weight. Translate this to slow climbing.
The grades have varied from more than 4% to 8.74% (I have a slope meter – the Garmin GPS units will measure this for you. My speed up hill has been from about 4mph to as much as 7mph. Today I had two long down hills, which were very short time wise. Coming down from Loup Loup was a 6% grade for 7 miles! Maxium speed is not impressive in the low 40s.
Grade for the curious is measured in percent – a 1 foot rise in 100 feet is 1%. Many of you are familiar with the football field – 100 yards, or 300 feet. The 8.74% grade for a football field lenght, rises 26.22 feet. Think of a three story house at the goal line.
I rode for a while with a fellow from Washington named Tim. He had a temperature function on his bike computer. It was 37 degrees F. at the peak of Washington Pass.
I have pictures on my phone. No cell service until two communities today – for three days. This has made logistics meeting Terry very difficult. You will probably read continual complaints about the lack of service with t-mobile.
Terry is taking a lot of pictures also. I will add pictures later.
I will add more later. The Nothern Cascades are beautiful. The have been called the American Alps. The route generally is following Washington highway 20.
I started Sunday morning from Anacortes, riding to Rockport, WA. This is 66 miles of the route. I was off the route three times and Terry was not at Concrete when I arrived. Two fellows from New Jersey that I met earlier in the day, Randy and Jeff, were getting back on the road at Concrete. I rode with them to Rockport. I ended up riding the hills almost ten mles back to Concrete. Terry was waiting. She had left the place where I would have seen her to make a reservation at Grandy Creek KOA. My total for the first day was about 90 miles.
The ride was beautiful. After getting away from Fidalgo Bay there was a lot of agriculture. Later in the day I rode along the Skagit River valley. We are at the edge of the Cascade range. I took pictures with my phone, but I have no service here. I will post about my disappointment with t-mobile later. My camera stopped working in Seattle. Jeff suggested there might be a reset under the battery. The lens does not retract and it will not take pictures.
The KOA is very nice and clean. I had breakfast here this morning. I chatted for a while with Larry the owner. I still have to take down the tent and get back to Rockport to start the ride. I will be cross the mountain passes this afternoon. It may be 10:30am before I start riding.