Trying to make up for yesterday's rest day we had a very early start. A quick snack at Mcdonalds for breakfast then a fast pedal through Riverside than Tonasket. A couple miles beofe the pass we once agian grabed some ice cream. (For our thoughts about the pass, please jump below to indivdual opions)
AFTER WAUCONDA: Rolling into the biker town of Republic, a dash Andersons, the towns grocery store, we stocked up on food for breakfast and snacks for Sherman pass tomorrow. Riding into the Ferry Fariground where we going to camp for the night, we found a motorcycle convention occuping the space. Awkard stares from the leather dressed motorist were thrown to spandex dressed cyclist. With a 125 entry fee to add to it, we decided to move on and find a spot on the side of the road. Right away we started climbing, we were on the foothills of sherman pass. Not finding a decent place to pull off, and not wanting to climb the 5500 foot pass, we pulled off into the driveway of a house with a large lawn. A older gentleman answered the door, donald and Hank explained our situation and offered 40 dollar to set up on the lawn for the night. Declining the money, he offered us to sleep for free. We have noticied that the locals in this area to be very kind; unlike the travling motorcyclist.
Wauconda Pass: 24 miles up
HanK: Our 4th pass, and my least favorite pass. It was a very slow and gradual hill, which does not fit my riding style. Looking at the grade and milage on our maps I thought it was a very easy pass. I ended up not drinking enough water and became very dehydrated. overall i would rather climb washington pass a couple times verses climbing wauconda. At a small diner, 3 miles from the top we had a very large lunch. That only made me extremly tired. Overall, screw Wauconda
Donald: The hill itself wasn't too bad for me, although before summiting the last 3 miles we ate a huge lunch and sat around for an hour which definitely killed my flow. I got so tired after eating I felt like I had no energy. not too mention the clouds started rolling in as we took off. Funny enough it started to clear up and about a mile in I was just sweating with all my layers and rain gear on. Fortunately we made it to the coolest town in the world, Omak!
Beau:
steady start
long up winding
exhausted by this point
ive played this game before
hills
nothing but hills all around
empty stomachs
sandwitches an eye couldnt eat
more climbing
republic of washington america
empty wallets
motors growling in the morning
a helping hand
green blades on a well kept yard
truned into a bed
Kane
ice cream then up we went up wahconda pass. nothing but rolling hills and cows. stop for a break at the half way point to watch a guy drink beer and drive his lawn mower. It started to rain, so we ducked in to a small whole in the wall diner. the rain stoped and we made our way up the pass. our camp site was over ran with dirty drunk bikers so we crashed in a old mans front yard...
Evan : he is asleep...alright now I'm awake. One thing about rides like this for me is you forget a lot about it. I was listening to Billie Holiday and staring at the road five feet in front of me for 5 hours, going 24 miles up a slow, gradual pass. So my mind is pretty blank then. It's when you reach the top that you think, "Holy shit we've been riding for a long time!" I didn't care that it was raining when we went downhill, I just like seeing those mile postings go by faster.
No comments:
Post a Comment