May 31, 2005

A fine day for cycling!

Nick and I decided to stay on the Washington side of the Columbia River to avoid I-84. Yesterday’s experience with the flats was a bit discouraging. The Washington side has more hills. We started the day with a climb from 174 ft. to 915 ft. over approximately three miles. This was our highest elevation of the day. There we 25 to 30 MPH winds from the west all day long. Fortunately we were heading east. After the first climb we went up and down all day ranging from 200 to 500 feet. With the stiff tail wind the hills really were not an issue. The roads were smooth, fairly clear of debris; a far cry from yesterday.

Columbia River Gorge

We started something new today. We are giving every 18-wheeler a friendly wave. It started paying dividends very quickly. These truckers talk to each other as they drive and we found that they began waiving back, giving us a lot of space, and sometimes a friendly double hoot from their horn. We plan to keep this up the rest of the trip to see if it works in other states.

We made great time with the winds and decided to take advantage of them when we have them and pressed on past our planned destination. Our route brought us back into Oregon over the I-82 bridge which crosses the Columbia. The cross winds over the bridge made the crossing a tenuous endeavor.

We were asked to write our first entry in a touring cyclist log at a small convenience store on the Washington side. That was pretty cool! We just missed a couple from Australia who were crossing the river there and heading south. Too bad it would have been good to chat with them.

The long road ahead

We rode all day in dessert terrain with the view of the Columbia from the plateau. Our pit crew (Sandy and Barb) delivered eight tire tubes and four bottles of water, with their 38 ft. motor home, about forty miles into the ride. They were amazed with our progress in such little time. So were we.

We decided to end the day after 115 miles with an average of 17.5 MPH, at a small campground in the middle of nowhere. The owners who, we met when the arrived to pick up the drop box registrations, were very nice and suggested that we take the site with the most protection from the wind, which was an excellent suggestion.

Great views, great company, and good miles today. So far so good.

Jim

© 2005 - JNS

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