stats as of 110928

date time dist max ascend end

minutes miles mph feet loc

------------------------------------------------------------

110908 249 45 37.1 2172 sawmill cg

110909 248 42 36.7 3136 ohanapecosh cg

110910 204 34 32.4 1804 cole creek cg

110911 203 46 33.9 1339 yelm wa

110912 249 51 22.8  622 grays harbor hostel

110913 319 62 32.3 2441 willaby cg

110914 183 35 27.9 1181 kalaloch cg

110915 198 37 35.7 1680 forks wa

110916 390 72 37.7 3527 port angeles wa

110917 373 70 36.1 3304 oakharbor wa

110919  87 13 36.0 1096 san Juan county park

110920 250 42 42.4 3937 Moran county park

110922 121 20 43.3 1670 odlin county park

110923 221 40 33.3 1988 bayview sp

110924 268 54 27.6 1739 howard miller cp

110925 210 34 31.2 1850 colonel cg

110926 352 63 34.2 5230 winthrop wa

110927 355 72 33.8 2073 lake chelan sp

110928 486 97 35.1 5699 ellensburg wa

sauk campground was closed for the season

so i pushed on for ellensburg. i took this shot of this old homestead at last light. had to push to ellensburg during the dark, but luckily there was very little traffic.

the headwind faded...

...and eventually i reached the pass.

turning out to be a long day

at the start of blewitt pass i had a pretty good headwind. that worried me as i was starting to run out of daylight. it gets darker earlier this time of the year in these northern latitudes.

starting to see signs of fall

bikes are right up there with tractors in these parts

back on the columbia river

lake chelan

columbia river to lake chelan

for the first 40 miles today i had a slight negative slope and some tailwind. once i turned south along the columbia river i hit the most immense headwind ever and lasted for the next 30 miles. ugh. it was so bad that at one point i swear i was rolling backwards. well it felt like i easily could've been.

new best friends wishing to join me for lunch

there was a third dog, but i could not get a good picture of him.

lunch

i ate the pie first, btw

lunch stop

more

had a slight tailwind and gentle down slope for once

central washington (tuesday 110927)

what a day (monday 110926)

so like i said, it started raining when i tried to cook dinner. and it continued raining for the next 24 hours. as i climbed towards washington pass, i became colder and colder as i was drenched, the temperature was dropping (to a low of 32 degrees, thus the snow), and i had a wind not only pushing into me, but also cooling me down to the point i could no longer feel below my knees and elbows. i finally pulled off into some trees to get out of the wind and put on my thermal undershirt followed by a garbage bag, my cycling shirt, cycling jacket, and then rain jacket. i put the shower cap i normally use to protect my saddle at night on to block the wind on my head. i also put garbage bags over my hands too. then i ate the rest of the bag of granola that i'd started for breakfast. this all seemed to help as i started to feel my hands again. i could no longer feel my feet and had no bags for them.

after i started to descend washington pass, the misery continued in the form of hail and the speed of the wind as i descended at 35 mph. luckily there was very little traffic as i hogged the lane in spite of a healthy shoulder which was covered in snow and slush. other than the elements abusing me, the sad part was i could not enjoy the beauty i knew the backside of this pass held -- that usually made paid me back for all the climbing i'd done in colorado.

as i descended the temperature started to climb. at 37 degrees F, i could start feeling my knees again. it wasn't until 40 deg F that i got back all my feeling except that my feet actually felt cold now. i'll take it! cold was a feeling and i was glad to get it.

as i approached winthrop the temperature climbed to 47 deg F. to be honest, i was worried i was going to make it before i put on all the plastic. funny how when you get to a low point like that that what would've seemed like bad weather before now felt like the best weather ever.

when i arrived in winthrop i was thoroughly spent so i got a hotel and cranked up the heater to dry everything off while i went off to an excellent dinner.

the whole town had this old west look and feel: