Today began with an up, then a magnificent down, then some hot hot weather on the flat, then another surprise up resulting in almost every single one of us bonking. The first “up” goes by the name of Sherman Pass AKA the tallest pass in Washington state. Rainy pass, Washington pass, and Loup Loup pass trained us well for Sherman pass. I felt so well-trained for climbing this pass that I actually reached a new level of boredom on my bike today. After about 10 miles of climbing at an undeniable pace of 7mph, Reid and I started singing to each other. Once that got boring I started playing around with ways I can pinpoint specific abdominal muscles depending on where I place my hands on my bars - yay anatomy.
The other side of Sherman pass was a whole new story. Jacob and I took off in a 2 man draft absolutely sailing. We absolutely nailed our drafting strategy on this descent. Switching lead every 30 seconds or so we held a solid 38-40mph for at least 5-10 miles - it was awesome. At some point we were wheelin so hard I swear I took out at least 2 monarch butterflies every odd numbered mile.
Once the descent calmed down a bit Webster, Oliver, Jacob, and I fell into the rhythm of a killer pace line. The pace line brought us to water stop 1 where we enjoyed the luxury of a clean gas station bathroom. Funny how much we’re learning to appreciate civilization and clean bathrooms.
We all learned a valuable lesson today… That being said, it was 100% my fault. I was leading the flock down a pretty rural road around Kettle Falls looking for a turn. I got like half way passed an unmarked turn and realized that was the turn I needed so without thinking I last minute took a sharp turn which resulted in the following 8 riders half wheeling each other and then 2 people on the ground. I learned a lesson, and I don’t think any of us will fail the turn communication game for the rest of the trip. Valuable lesson learned? Yepp.
After lunch we experienced 20 of the hottest miles yet. This is when Webster officially become world’s worst DJ. I swear this kid played elevator music from the 1800’s and called it “classics”. This one track dragged on for over 9 minutes. Rather than the music pumping us up to power through these final miles as it should, it literally drained the energy from me through my ears.
The surprise “up” was discovered at the final water stop where we realized it was actually 11 miles until we got the campground. We all started to bonk a bit… or a lot a bit at this point. Webster took off incessantly talking to himself, Jamie trailed off with some Steve Aoki track, and I found some freak burst of energy to push to the top.
We rolled up to Beaver Lodge just outside of Colville, WA to a beautiful lake. We all immediately dove in to the mountain water and felt so so much better. The cabins at Beaver Lodge are so homey! They gracefully agreed to host us for breakfast tomorrow morning early early before we take off for our first century ride. Whoot whoot, let’s go flock!!
xoxo,
JT
Shoutouts:
The other side of Sherman pass was a whole new story. Jacob and I took off in a 2 man draft absolutely sailing. We absolutely nailed our drafting strategy on this descent. Switching lead every 30 seconds or so we held a solid 38-40mph for at least 5-10 miles - it was awesome. At some point we were wheelin so hard I swear I took out at least 2 monarch butterflies every odd numbered mile.
Once the descent calmed down a bit Webster, Oliver, Jacob, and I fell into the rhythm of a killer pace line. The pace line brought us to water stop 1 where we enjoyed the luxury of a clean gas station bathroom. Funny how much we’re learning to appreciate civilization and clean bathrooms.
We all learned a valuable lesson today… That being said, it was 100% my fault. I was leading the flock down a pretty rural road around Kettle Falls looking for a turn. I got like half way passed an unmarked turn and realized that was the turn I needed so without thinking I last minute took a sharp turn which resulted in the following 8 riders half wheeling each other and then 2 people on the ground. I learned a lesson, and I don’t think any of us will fail the turn communication game for the rest of the trip. Valuable lesson learned? Yepp.
After lunch we experienced 20 of the hottest miles yet. This is when Webster officially become world’s worst DJ. I swear this kid played elevator music from the 1800’s and called it “classics”. This one track dragged on for over 9 minutes. Rather than the music pumping us up to power through these final miles as it should, it literally drained the energy from me through my ears.
The surprise “up” was discovered at the final water stop where we realized it was actually 11 miles until we got the campground. We all started to bonk a bit… or a lot a bit at this point. Webster took off incessantly talking to himself, Jamie trailed off with some Steve Aoki track, and I found some freak burst of energy to push to the top.
We rolled up to Beaver Lodge just outside of Colville, WA to a beautiful lake. We all immediately dove in to the mountain water and felt so so much better. The cabins at Beaver Lodge are so homey! They gracefully agreed to host us for breakfast tomorrow morning early early before we take off for our first century ride. Whoot whoot, let’s go flock!!
xoxo,
JT
Shoutouts:
- S/O to Oliver for powering up Sherman pass while hurling over 5 times and then still managing to force food down his throat to keep himself fueled
- S/O to Jacob for biking through endless hills today with a bike that absolutely refused to shift from big ring to little ring on command
- S/O to Reid for only falling twice today
- S/O to Gabby for powering through after hitting the decks (oops my fault) and then getting multiple bee stings and continuing to push through the hot hot hot miles without a complaint
- S/O to Sid & George Marshman our flock parents for the week!!!
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