ROUTE:
Chelan to Wilbur, WA |
DISTANCE:
86Miles |
TOTAL CLIMBING:
7,060 feet |
Click here for
Garmin
ride data
(This is cool
if you like lots of data! It may take a few seconds to load but you can hit play
and time compress our ride)
DAILY REPORT: David,
John, James and Skip. Warm sunny day. Start
temp was 64 deg and ended with the low 80's. Head a head wind for the majority
of the day 5 - 15 mph.
Since
the boys spent the evening with the Burtons last night I went over in the
morning to pick them up at 7:15. Then April Burton convinced me I needed to eat
at their continental breakfast to ensure I was fully fueled for the day. So with
all this running around, getting James' bike all set-up we didn't hit the road
until 0930. But then again we knew this was a 'short' day of only 80+ miles. An
easy day to break James in on :)
A special thanks to Cambell's
Resort who waived our hotel room fee to support Riding4Hope. Thanks Libby!!
The first excitement was the
climb out of Lake Chelan heading east. The boys didn't fully appreciate what a
12% grade is. They did know that a 5 mile hill was going to be long!! They both
did great but were glad when it was over.
Since we had a late start, we had
a late lunch. The unfortunate thing out in the middle of Eastern Washington is
that there are no
trees. Consequently there was no shade when we had lunch. We pulled some of the
gear out of the trailer so that we could sit inside the trailer in the shade.
Both boys took a little cat nap before we were on our way again.
The coming into the Grand Coulee
Dam was pretty impressive. the view was great but what was erally cool was all
the power lines coming out from the dam. Since my ungrad major was in Electrical
Engineering specializing in power distribution I had a captive audience with the
boys discussing line losses, lagging power factors, current flow, electro
magnetic fields and conductance, etc....Truth be told after the first several
minutes they said, "Dad it's time to go!" and rode off.....I'm not
sure they really want to be engineers!!
We were going to stop at the dam's
visitor center at the bottom; but once the boys realized they were going to have
to bike two miles off their route, they both quickly agreed it wasn't going to
be that interesting anyways and we should keep going. And to think they weren't
interested in riding an additional 4 miles (round trip)!
The
navigator for today, James (ie the biker responsible for briefing the party on
they days events, safety issues, key stops, etc.) forgot to mention that once we
biked in to Coulee we would have to bike out over the ridge on the other side.
There were a few groans to say the least once this was brought to their
attention. We had 20 miles to get to Wilbur and we had another major hill at the
end of the day. This really let the wind out of John's sail and he was starting
to fall behind.
So we are now 5 miles or so out of
town and Skip gives me a call that we have a slight issue. Turns out the hotel
we had for the evening was back in Coulee not at Wilbur like we thought. A
slight mix up. Now the Coulee House Inn and Suites had offered us two rooms free
of charge. What to do?? We have suffered 1/2 way up this huge hill and there was
little, nope; no desire to go back into town and have to bike up this hill
(mountain) again!! So it was decided we would bike into Wilbur and then Skip
would drive us all back to Coulee. Ah, the advantage of having a support
vehicle!! So the reason for the title above as Grand Coulee Dam.
The
last eight miles were a hoot. It was slight "rollers" and more or less
down hill into Wilbur. John got his second wind and took off. I told James to
hang on and "suck my wheel" (bikers know what I am talking about). We
were averaging the high 20's mph to low 30's mph all the way. We caught and
passed John the last 1/2 mile out side of town; but John got on James wheel and
followed us in. The last 100 yds John sprinted in and won the Yellow jersey for
the day. I was very proud of both boys on how well they rode today. This was the
farthest James has ridden this year.
We have a speaking engagement
tomorrow at Fairchild AFB @ 1300. So we will have to get up early and drive back
to Wilbur were we will bike 50 miles just outside Spokane. While on base
we'll take care of a few things like hair cuts, pick up some supplies, etc
before we bike into Spokane for our hotel accomidations.
Well once again it is after
midnight and I see I have written too much. Oh well....until tomorrow.....ride
safely!!
The Riding4Hope Team
YOU DON'T SAY:
Skip - I was really
impressed with you guys today. After that huge climb out of Lake Chelan
( 5 miles / 12% grade) "You guys weren't even breathing hard. I
would have had a heart attack after the first 1/2 mile!" John
- On the 2nd MAJOR hill out of the Grand Coulee Dam, John said after he
got to the top "If I went around one more turn and saw this hill
keep going; I was going to have to get off and walk!" James
- The famous quote of the day -- "I don't need sunscreen." At
dinner John said - "Boy James you are really burnt!!" John
- We are at a pizza parlor and deciding what to order. Dad asked John
what he wanted to eat.."Oh ya I am hungry; we can eat two LARGE
pizzas!!" |
DID I REALLY DO THAT?:

Skip handing out cold beverages while we were
on the road. I personally was looking for a REAL cold frosty beverage to
take away my pain!!
|
PHOTOS OF THE DAY |
 The
morning picture send off from Cambell's Resort. |
Thanks goodness for the trailer! We would be hard
presses to carry all this! |
Skip providing his positive encouragement while
laying in his lounge chair while we bike up this 5 mile, 12% grade hill.
|
The dynamic dual climbing one of many hills
today. They did very well!
|
Go figure; Skip likes Skippy peanut butter on his
PB&J!
|

Now
this is the right way to replenish over 4,800 calories burnt today - two
large pizzas!! |
More
photos on Facebook Album
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