ROUTE:
Wilbur to Spokane, WA |
DISTANCE:
69 Miles |
TOTAL CLIMBING:
2,785 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. Another warm sunny day. Start
temp was 66 deg and ended with temps at 89 deg. Winds were 5 - 15 mph as a head wind for
until we reached the AFB.
In
general this was supposed to be an easy ride today. Rolling hills into Spokane
and no major climbs. Both boys were quite happy about that. We left the Coulee
dam after a well rested night sleep and drove into Wilbur were we started our
ride (see yesterday.)
There was moderate head wind that
held us back a bit. We pace lined the entire way taking one mile pulls and then
the lead rider would fall back to the back of the pace line. In this way you
would pull for aprox 4 min and then rest for 8 mins. It works pretty well - just
like the Tour de France (except we are going a lot slower; lot slower!)
The real treat for the day was
getting a chance to talk with the Boys and Girls Club on the Fairchild Air Force
base. We had no problem getting our vehicle on base and went straight to the
youth center. We were warmly welcomed by the staff and John Smith their
director. They had prepared a little fruit lunch for us since hadn't had lunch
yet. It was very nice.
We then had a chance to meet with
all the youth and staff. We talked about the trip, preparation, planning, the
whys and hows. We then had a questions and answer secession. The boys and girls
had lots and lots of good questions that John & James answered. We were
running out of time so we went outside and held a group photo shoot. It was
really a great time.
We
said our thank yous and good byes and headed over to the base exchange so John
& James could get a hair cut. They decided that with this warm weather they
needed a lot shorter hair. While we were there we talked with a number of
super folks that were very interested in our ride. They ranged from triathaletes
to a Naval Corpsman Chief who had retired several years ago. She was kind enough
to gives us some bottle water because she didn't want us to use tap water to
fill our water bottles. A real sweet heart. Thanks!!
Overall it was a very positive
experience for the boys. We then bike the remaining 15 miles or so
downtown to the Marriott. We would like to say a special thank you since they
covered our rooms for us. This is a very nice hotel; but specifically it is
right on the Spokane River
Centennial trail which we will depart on tomorrow. We will be using over 50
miles of bike trails between WA and ID.
Well once again it is after
midnight and tomorrow we are off to Idaho. Until tomorrow.....thanks for joining
us.....ride
safely!!
The Riding4Hope Team
YOU DON'T SAY:
Skip - We were packing out
in the morning from the hotel "you guys know I am a Type
"A" personality for my vehicles; I have never had so much junk
in my car!" John
- John is the Navigator today (He makes all the decisions on our bike
route for the day, reviews the maps, etc.) While we were at Fairchild
AFB I asked John how were going to get to our hotel. He said "I
don't know, let's just bike downtown until we find the right one!!" James
- "The best part of today was answering questions from all the kids
of the Boys and Girls club. That was really a lot of fun!" David
- The AF base was a little farther than predicted/discussed during the
evening briefing, James was bemoaning the fact that it was actually 54
miles vice 50 miles. So I said "From now on I am doing to add a 10%
error rate to all distances!" James retorted "Don't play with
my mind like that!" |
DID I REALLY DO THAT?:
We were 15 miles out from
Fairchild AFB with a persistent head wind. John was at the head of our
pace line followed by myself and then James. When cycling in a pace
line, the lead cyclist is responsible for alerting the other rides of
obstructions, debris, etc because your field of view is very limited. I
had mentioned to him before the need to be looking ahead; not down. I
just happened to be able to see around John that there was something up
a head so I shifted slightly left to avoid the obstruction (and so did
James.) Well John did not and hit a freshly killed opossum dead center.
Fortunately for him all he got was a few bodily fluids sprayed on his
shoes and tires!! Yep pretty gross!!

|
PHOTOS OF THE DAY |
This was everyone's friend today for the sore
butts from yesterday's ride! |
A friendly visitor during one of our rest stops. |
Always a little time for some horsing around!! |
The Boys and Girls Club of Fairchild AFB - you
rock!! |
Feeling a lot better after a nice shower and
promise of a big meal.
|

One
of our new friends from the B & G club. |
More
photos on Facebook Album
Yesterday
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