Hill climbing is fun!

I took a few shorter days but finally got to Tonasket where I stayed the night in the city RV park. Two other cyclists also stayed there. I had met Aaron and Phillip several days earlier heading into Winthrop. They are riding their first tour, in fact, they bought their bikes and all their gear in Anacortes. They had some interesting stuff they were hauling, Aaron's queen sized inflatable mattress was certainly unique!


Heading across the country with brand new gear- talk about jumping right in! It was fun to hang out guys. Maybe I'll see ya down the road.

The last couple of days have both had major passes. I had initially panned on riding south from Republic along the Sanpoil river and crossing Roosevelt Lake by ferry but when I got to Republic, I found out the ferry was out of service. That meant I had to keep going east over Sherman Pass before cutting south to Spokane.

Today, I was pleased to find that my climbing legs are back. I hauled up the pass quite easily even though it was pretty relentless for fifteen miles and three and a half thousand feet. The sign at the bottom really wasn't kidding.


After several hours of climbing, I could see my my favorite sign from a ways away telling me I'd finally made it.


I have developed a bit of a ritual, once I get to the top of a pass. I take a picture of the pass sign and Sam.


Next, I put on biking tights, long sleeves and my rain jacket for the chilly downhill. Finally, I crank up Springsteen's Born to Run album on my iPod for the downhill cruise.

These passes have been long but man, the downhills are glorious! Today, there was lots of mock orange blooming by the road that I could smell as I zoomed by. I could also feel the chill of streams as I crossed them. And the reward of a home made strawberry milkshake while sitting next to Roosevelt lake made things even sweeter.

Tomorrow I ride down to Spokane and will fly home for a few days. I hope to be back on the road soon!
-- Post From My iPhone