You can see the route 'big picture' here.

This is our (Cameron and I) EIGHTH year doing this ride and it was one of the best by far.

First of all, Cameron did a super job of contributing to the effort. And it's a darn good thing too as when he quits pedaling now, I'm hauling a 150+ single bike around...! Second, the weather was really perfect. [Then again, I can only recall one year where it was damp and then only for the first half of the first day...] Third, Lots of my friends did the ride with us again! Keith P and Craig D and Gary E all showed up and Craig got some of his co-workers to tag along and it was super cool to have company on the ride for a good part of each day. Fourth, Shelley showed up at Leavenworth and we hit the pool, the group dinner and the beer garden together. We also all (Cameron,Shelley and I that is) got to sleep in the same tent! Man, we are SO off the hook; this party never stops.

I tried something different this year after last year's disappointing results in the fund raising department - I didn't ask anyone for money and just paid the full amount myself. Well guess what, after I told people I was going on this ride, I had some very kind folks insist that they contribute and a couple of others that said I better ask them next year. How nice is that! Thanks everyone, and next year I will again ask you all for donations. And just so you know, even $20 is totally appreciated! It really is; I can't think of anything that Cameron and I do that is so cool, creates such a lasting memory or brings us closer together. Okay, I'm going to go get a tissue now and then I'll finish typing up this report...

My training log entry for this day.
Here is this day's route.
All the pictures from day one.

Right then. This year I had not crashed the night before like in 2004 and I did not forget my camera (also in 2004) and even more of my friends were going to join me so everything was looking up. We even got to bed at a reasonable hour the night before the ride. :)

The alarm went off at 5:30 am so that I could finish (read: start) packing and get Cam up at 6:30 so that we could be at the start by 7:30 to meet 'team Travasera'. And this time Cameron actually got out of bed when I asked him to! If that's not a fantastic omen I don't know what is.

'Travasera' was the name that Craig chose for our team. It's the first time Cam and I have ridden on a team and it was a blast. Craig made up some special jerseys for us and everyone wore theirs most all the time. So that we could find him in the parking lot at the start, Craig also hung a team t-shirt from a 20-foot pole so it looked like some sort of flag. :) After introductions and some of our team rolling out because they felt like they needed a head start and after shoving a last quarter of Costco poppy seed muffin in my face we hit the road with most of the gang.

Yes! This year they did NOT run us down freakin' I-90 right from the get go and instead they routed us north and east through North Bend which is MUCH nicer. Hello...! Why have we not done this every year that the ride started from Snoqualmie Ridge? This way we don't get on the highway until the truck stop at the east end of town.

I also love the new location for the first rest stop. Instead of it being at the end of an off-ramp, it's on this bypass road and in a nice field far away from the highway. Also very nice. This is the second year they have had this improvement and I approve. :) As we left this first rest stop if was time for my jersey to come off! That's right, I was going all old school with the baggy shorts and no bibs. Casual events and clothing separates do have their advantages you know; 1) you don't look like a nerd when you strip and 2) there is no pressure to go fast!

ASIDE [full of attitude] - You know, not that this is a race or that it's really important for people to have any sort of number etiquette, but mere miles from the start I saw one person with their number barely hanging off of their t-shirt by two safety pins. Now I'll be the first to admit that I'm a number-pinning snob but sheesh, wouldn't that flapping drive you crazy? It sure does me. Smooth is key, soften/wrinkle your number and _then_ pin it on. And when you pin it, attach all four corners AND the middle of all the leading edges. Oh yes, I guess I do have issues... But hey, at least I did not bring up the guy(s) with the number pinned to the top of their CamelBak. Oh, it looks great when you are standing still and gravity is the most powerful force affecting your number but once you get going at any speed like over 10 mph, the wind makes the number stick straight out in back like some sort of stabilizing fin. Okay, time for Martin to settle down.

On the way up to the summit we ride this beautiful stretch of road that takes you past the Denny Creek campground. I always remember this stretch for 1) the spot where Cam jumps off the bike while it's moving and scurries up the rocks to the next switch back so he can beat me and 2) the 70s (or 80s if you are lucky) hits that get blasted from the some rotary vehicle to 'encourage' us (one year it was Eye Of The Tiger for crying out loud) and the poems.

Every year some people compose little rhymes to spur us on our way and to let us know that the next food stop is just up the road. Well this year they obviously down sized the only person with any literary skill as the poems totally sucked. They used to be kind of cute and said stuff like this.

Are you thirsty?
Are you hungry?
Around the corner
You can fill your tummy.
Do it for the kids! [it always says this, it's a fund raiser after all...]

I know, genius. Well this year the signs containing each line which are usually positioned about 10 feet apart some one or two miles form the next food stop read sorta like this.

Aren't you thirsty?
Aren't you hot?
Well don't worry
Because there is food coming up really soon so keep pedaling even though it's really warm and you're tired and you probably just did this ride on a whim when your really fit neighbor told you about it and the cause sucked you in but now you have to pay the piper and man does it hurt...
Do it for the kids!

See what I mean...? It just didn't have the same impact. Even Cam noticed it; in fact, I think it was he that pointed out the dirth of any immediately recognizable poetic format this year. People, let's get it together here.

At lunch on Snoqualmie Summit Craig's mother showed up again which is so cool. Every year that Craig has riden this event she shows up to chat and encourages us - very nice.

Then we had the first of only two bummers on this ride. Some construction around Lake Keechelus forced the organizers to bus us for 11 miles from the summit to Lake Easton. [sigh] So on the truck go our bikes and on the bus go us [see, I could have written that poetry for the signs easy...] and low and behold we get _driven_ from the lunch stop to the dessert stop! Banana splits with all the nuts and sauces and toppings you want here we come. Man, at least the bus ride took 20 minutes or I wouldn't have been able to handle that action. But of course I did. And loved it.

From here we cruise through Easton [I'm not sure they can spell 'sedan' in Easton, all the vehicles I saw were spelled 'truck'] and then it's back on the highway for a couple of miles and then you take the first Cle Elum exit and enter via the western-most side.

Out of the goodness of the organizer's hearts, they offered us a 10-mile out and back route for those that needed to get their sacred 50 miles but we said forget that and headed right for the finish. M & C aren't down with all that logging the miles and tracking it in your Excel spreadsheet c-rap, we're just here for the sun and food! Word.

Ah, finish, sweet finish. With cold drinks, snacks, shower trucks and all your belongings lovingly delivered by the UPS volunteers.

ASIDE - I bet that this gig is _fought_ over by the UPS drivers. Can you imagine getting paid (or even just getting the days off) and having to do nothing but drive a couple of hours and then just eat, drink and hang in the sun? Oh yeah, I'd be all over that shift. Did I mention that the beer garden on the 2nd day contained a lot of brown? but I'm getting ahead of myself. :)

At the finish they hand you ice cold drinks before you even are off the bike!

Every night you have the option of 1) staying in a hotel [weak!] or 2) 'camping' in the local school gym or 3) camping in the grass next to the school. Rough and tough adventure cyclists that we are, we have alway camped outside. Oh yeah brother!

It's a MASSIVE tent city when all the people get settled. In the truest sense of the word too as everyone has their laundry hung on their bikes and tents and the fencing; it's a riot. We picked out our spot and team Travasera made camp.

Then it was shower truck time! I LOVE that they truck [I am a riot! Did you get that? They 'truck' as in they deliver the showers and it's literally a 'shower truck' too! Oh boy...] showers along on this ride. Nothing worse than sweating all day and then climbing into your sleeping bag all sticky and gross. Except the next day when you have to do it again; that's worse. But not us, we got super ultra clean every day. they even have sinks outside the truck so you can brush your teeth/wash your face in the sun. It's like camping plus.<.p>

Then you get to relax. And by relax I mean pull out the sleeping pad, plop it down in the shade somewhere and read a book as the wind gently rustles the branches of the trees that are shading you. And when you want to take a break from your book, if you listen closely you can hear the crew preparing dinner. Soon you will be able to smell it too. Finally it's time to haul yourself out of your stupor and get in the chow line.

Dinner in Cle Elum is the first of the over-the-top meals you that you get to enjoy (?) on this ride. You can return to the buffet as many times as you want and they never seem to run out of food. Tonight's spread consisted of:

STARCH
Potatoes
Pasta
Rolls
Rice

VEGETABLES
Sauteed veggies
Salad

MEAT
Salmon
Hot dogs
Roast beef? [something big and dead, I did not look too closely]

DESSERT
Four different kinds of cookies
Two different kinds of pie
Two different kinds of cake
Bread pudding

Ohmygod was that bread pudding good... And it wasn't even anything special per se, I must have just been in the perfect mood for this dish because I went to town. Bread pudding town that is; to the extreme of four servings.

And what better way to digest your food than to watch a movie in the grass! That's right, since we were not in town this year and so since they could not serve alcohol on school grounds (there was a 'western' bar made out of hay bales in years past with several kinds of beer and hard lics to boot) they rolled out this inflatable movie screen that was about 30 feet tall and maybe 60 feet wide. [I got some great pictures if it as it was being inflated] And they played Breaking Away for Pete's sake. To top all this off, Cameron liked it and we watched the whole thing while he polished off a big bag of popcorn (Smartfood actually).

ASIDE - as we were watching and digesting, there was this guy lying on the grass on his back sleeping. I had seen him earlier laying on his stomach eating (who eats while actually lying down unless you are in bed?) and now his belly was rising and falling with every breath. What made it so entertaining was that 1) his belly was substantial and 2) he was sort of snoring/snorting so his breathing was kinda sporadic and violent which added emphasis to each intake of breath and 3) his polo shirt was just a _little_ too short to cover his belly and so each time he inhaled everyone got to see a little (read: lot) skin and each time he exhaled it was covered up again. On the third day of the trip at the very end I was helping unload one of the UPS trucks and did a double take; the guy was one of the drivers! I had a hard time not busting out laughing. I got a picture of this guy. :)

Man, was it ever bed time after that.

My training log entry for this day.
Here is this day's route.
All the pictures from day two.

At 6:00 am each morning they always turn the music on... Not that this is so bad as you have to get up anyway but it's always funny since the songs they pick are never anything I would select on my clock radio. :) This year Cam was able to rally; he actually got up shortly after I asked him to. In all the previous additions of this ride, I had to practically pour him out of the tent each morning. That was nice. The part about him getting up, not the pouring part.

You pack your bags, drop them off for the UPS drivers to load and head out. Breakfast was in town so you climb on and ride one mile into Cle Elum proper and park it at the Sunshine Cafe for all the Denny's style breakfast food you can force down. Icky... You know the drill, eggs five different ways (most of them with some form of pork-like substance), potatoes three different ways and pancake batter two different ways. Top it off with some pastries, oatmeal and cold cereal and roll out the door.

The first food stop today [I know what you're thinking, did I just eat breakfast or didn't I. Well in all the excitement I sorta lost track myself. Now you have to ask yourself, are you still hungry? Well, are you punk?] is only about 12 miles up the road. Thanks goodness too because this year it was the new and improved Martin who did NOT gorge at every food stop and actually had a light breakfast. I was getting hungry.

After avoiding the main highway as much as possible by hitting the fields just north and east of Cle Elum we rolled into Mineral Springs - the first food stop. I really like this stretch of road because the pavement is super fine, the shoulder is wide and it starts out in the shade. For those of you that have not been keeping track, it was hot every day of this ride and you only needed shorts and short sleeves the entire time, even right at the start.

ASIDE - yesterday I noticed this guy pull in to the finish with arm warmers and knickers! I'm hoping he was just trying to keep the sun off of his skin because it was HOT out. To the tune of upper 80s. I don't get it...

From Mineral Springs the road starts to rise a little more steeply but not too much yet. That's a few miles up the road where you pass the old Blewett Pass highway; THEN it kicks up. The only hard hill on day one is up by Denny Creek and then a shorty near the end. Here you get it a bit sooner and it's longer too. I had prepped Cam for the effort and he did so well. He just kicked it in a little more the whole way to the top. I love being able to pass riders on our 45 lb bike with a 10 lb pannier on and Cam being 12 years old. :) Funny thing is, this year Cam was liking it even more than me! Every time I told him that there were riders coming back towards us he'd give it a little extra and then when we were right behind them he'd pour it on so that we would blow by. It was huge fun but I was always worried that after each burst Cam would blow and we would go backwards faster than we went forwards but he never failed me. Even on the last 2-mile pitch to the top where the road steepens again. This part is genuinely hard and still Cam dug in and we never slowed. Somewhere on one of these pitches the jersey came off again.

Lunch! The top of Blewett is always hot. And in years past they have served up hot soup. [deadpan] Not this year, they had 'deli' (sadly all with meat) sandwiches, fruit and the usual assortment of candy, and drinks. They even had fruit cocktail; you know, the kind in heavy syrup? And they had two stuffed gorillas on chairs to liven things up. Ha ha, oh boy, those gorillas sure livened things up. :|

ASIDE - I sure like these asides, eh? Anyway, you know people that put about a gazilion stuffed animals on the shelf behind the rear window of their car? and then just keep adding to them until their vision is 100 obscured? To them it's probably totally cute and endearing. To me it's ridiculous. Can you imagine being the guy that has a wife that insists on doing this and one day when your car is in the shop you have to drive her rig to work? And what if you were a construction worker? The only saving grace would be that most likely half of the construction workers on your shift also have wives like this and so are too scared to poke fun lest they get swamped by the backlash once they themselves are outed. People... Anyway, stuffed animals in cars or on chairs at rest stops are dumb.

Now comes the fun part... On day one they bussed us past the big descent. Not so on day two! You turn right out of the lunch stop and you immediately DROP down Blewett Pass. The top is the steepest part and so you quickly acclimate to the speed you will be more-or-less maintaining for the next 30 minutes. How fast are you going? Well, I don't use a speedo but I'd guess you might reach 40 mph if you just coast and _maybe_ 45 if you pedal. That's for the fist mile or so, then you're looking at mid 30s for the remainder of the descent.

If you were not parched and cracked yet this descent will do it to you pronto. You are descending into a wind which is dry, dry, dry like the Sahara dry. Thankfully the ride organizers are on top of their game and have positioned another rest stop right at the bottom that has snow cones! Yes! What's not to love about this ride? So after some of that action and some Clif sports drink with caffeine (so sue me, I felt like I needed it...) we were off again.

From here you turn off Hwy 2 into Peshastin and ride through the orchards north of the highway all the way to Leavenworth. For a while Keith was accompanying us but then on one of the rollers we couldn't fake it anymore and he rode away. Oh well, we did manage to catch a local that was riding his mountain bike with sandals and platform pedals. :) That's about all I was up for at this point.

ASIDE - Keith had broken a spoke right after the start and he had to wait a looooong time to get it fixed. [Yep, this ride has support vehicles and mechanics too!] To his credit he jammed up the pass and caught us at the snow cone rest stop. Nice.

Leavenworth is the shiznit! Ice cream is sold everywhere, there is a public pool with fountains and a diving board, the grass is soft where we camp and it's all pretty close together. I love it. Our Modus Operandi in this town has become 1) pitch the tent, 2) grab a ginormous waffle cone and 3) hit the pool. The only variation this year was I got a massage before we headed out. I had one in Cle Elum too and it was feeling _really_ good after each day of riding I must say.

Once at the pool, there was no reason to leave. :) Gary and his family joined us, Shelley showed up, Craig's family showed up, yeah! Dinner is all of 50 feet from the pool so we just stayed and stayed until it closed down and then showered and walked over to the picnic tables. While at the pool Cam got to perfect his canon ball, search for weighted rings in the deep end and refine his ability to sneak up on his father under water. That last bit still needs some refinement.

Dinner was the usual carnivorous orgy that Leavenworth always is. [sigh] They have these huge barbecues and are roasting 40 chickens at once. Ditto for the sides of beef. So Martin is all about the baked potatoes, salad (which is swimming in dressing and being dished up by a volunteer with gloves and no utensils), corn, baked beans and some pasta. Desert is sheets of lame-oh carrot cake so I had to pass on that.

Cameron was a bit of a pill during dinner because there was 'nothing for him to eat' [when do kids grow out of this 'if the food isn't white or orange I won't touch it' phase...?] and just plopped his head down on his arms and went to sleep on the table. I guess he really did work hard on Blewett Pass.

That's okay, we just took him back to camp and since he was already showered I let him hang in the shade, play his Nintendo DS (a father has to know his limitations after all) and Shelley and I went back for the beer garden.

Two years ago they had their first official beer garden that I can remember. Prior to that riders just got together and got butt-housed [credit goes to Shelley's co-worker for that expression] unofficially. So last year when there was NO beer garden we were all bummed out to the max. This year one of the ride's SPONSORS was a f'n brewer; how great is that? Way. New Belgium stepped up and not only gave the ride some money but they also gave the ride four kegs of sweet, heavenly refreshment. One keg of Skinny Dip and three of good old Fat Tire. Amen to that is all I have to say. And can you believe it, not all the riders even showed up! Of course that's not a problem for moi, Shelley and I just sat in the soft grass and enjoyed what they had to offer. Thanks New Belgium.

They were also raffling off a New Belgium cruiser bike at the beer garden and the guy whose ticket got drawn first wasn't even in attendance... So some lucky sod got the bike when his name got picked second. Cool ride too; all chrome fenders and upright and huge handlebars and stuff.

That night we all three crammed ourselves into one tent. Cam and Shelley got the sleeping pads and I got this quilted moving blanket folded in half. I _thought_ it would be plenty plush but no. I felt like the proverbial princess and the pea in that I could feel all the lumps on the grassy field that I had thought was so smooth. :(

My training log entry for this day.
Here is this day's route.
All the pictures from day three.

My back is sore. That darn field was not so soft and I'm feeling quite old...

After wishing Shelley a safe drive back home, getting Cam out of bed, breaking camp and riding to breakfast (the same place we had dinner) it was time for pancakes and team pictures. Unfortunately, just like the first day, some of our team decided they needed a head start and so the shots only depict a partial roster. [sigh] But it was alright, the weather was already mighty fine and today I decided to ride without my jersey from the get go.

As I was holding the bike up waiting for Cam to return from the porta pottys, this woman walks up to me as she is getting ready herself to roll out and pipes up with, "Did you know that you're not allowed to ride without a shirt?"

Uh, no, I did not know that. I was totally taken aback by this comment and as I stood there racking my brains to see if I recalled any such nonsense in the brochure or on the web site all I could think was that 1) this woman had a HUGE chip on her shoulder and just wanted to ruin my day or 2) that she had been told some erroneous bit of information and was just one of those spineless/sheep-like people that parrot whatever they hear to anyone that they see. Either way I could not figure out any way to spin this piece of advice she had just given me into a helpful or productive comment. I mean, even if it _was_ against the rules to ride without a shirt or jersey, why tell me? Was my bare torso going to ruin her day? Was it going to endanger any other riders? No way.

Although at the time of this writing I can think of loads of more satisfying comebacks, all I could manage at the time was something like, "C'mon... No, I didn't know and I'm just going to ride like this anyway." "Well at least now you know the rules!" she quipped in her best I'm-a-school-teacher-who-just-busted-you-for-smoking-in-the-boy's-room-and-I'm-on-my-to-the-principles-office-to-get-you-expelled-because-you-were-already-on-double-secret-probation voice. Sheesh, people...!

Now, even though we hit some shade just after leaving town I was _determined_ not to put a shirt on; just 'cuz.

Boy, this route really sucks ass. The traditional route for the third day is north up through Plain on a beautiful road with very little traffic. You don't rejoin Hwy 2 until the turn off to Lake Wenatchee. Today we ran the gauntlet and just drilled Hwy 2 all the damn way to the summit. Here's why the bottom of Hwy 2 blows so hard. The shoulder is narrow; that is when it's not made even narrower from damage by falling rock. The center line has a rumble strip which is great for preventing head-on collisions between cars but shite for cyclists as they try to pass each other when any vehicle is present. Basically, you are stuck behind (or in front of depending on your situation) other bikes and you have to wait as cars and trucks whiz past right off your left shoulder until there is a gap in traffic large enough to pass or be passed. Then you get to do this all over again. I heard that some riders actually _requested_ this route...! I bet they felt that the ride up to Plain was too hard or something. Man, it is a few extra miles but you gain the same net elevation and it's just so darn much prettier and safer. [queue sounds of a protest email being banged out...]

the one redeeming quality feature of this route is you get to pedal past this custom knife shop. It's been located on Hwy 2 for as long as I can recall and I have always wanted to go in there and see just what allows this place to stay in business for so long... Can you just imagine the conversations held over the sales counter in there?

Customer: "Hey Bill, picture this: a custom Rambo knife with a bottle opener on the handle and a waterproof storage compartment in the grip for some matches and fishing line. Hell, just build a magnifying glass right into the blade, add a threaded fitting for a CO2 cartridge and we could refrigerate the handle compartment! Then I could carry some bait instead of the matches, would that just kill or what?"
Sales Person: "You know Clem, I think we got you covered..."

So without the ride up to Plain we didn't have the first food stop which by the way featured the nicest donkey you will ever see on this ride whose name is Patches. At least they did not delete the root beer float stop.

As we pulled in I saw Keith, Craig and Garry pull out. Rats. Oh well, on a section of road that climbs like this there was no way we were going to be able to hang with them so I just relaxed and Cameron and I bellied up to the ice cream, root beer, cookies, nuts, dried fruit and genuine rest-stop bathrooms that make this particular break so enjoyable.

My legs were feeling pretty good but by now my back was giving out some and I had to stand really frequently to give it a chance to relax. Fortunately for me, Cameron was continuing his fantastic efforts from the first two days! That 150 lb single bike I mentioned at the beginning luckily never materialized. Way to go Cam! So in spite of me having to stand lots and stretch my back, we fairly cruised up the hill and passed quite a lot of other riders. :) There are some stretches here where you can see for a long way (maybe too long, especially if you're bushed) up the road but we just switched on the cruise control and motored along.

This year there was a bit of construction on the west-bound lanes and they were torn up for a stretch so we had to make use of one of those u-turn opportunities (it's a short stretch of pavement that connects the west and east-bound lanes through the wooded divider), hit the east-bound lanes for about one mile and then cross back over at another u-turn opportunity. That was kind of fun actually, and something different. From one spot we could see the road and it was TOTALLY torn up - man, they were pretty much starting from scratch and I bet it's going to be a while before the old west-bound lanes are open again...

The last food stop is just a few miles from the summit. It works out well because time-wise, all the stops are pretty evenly spaced. The steepness of the road here makes sure of that. :) We fueled up, I stretched my back one more time and then it was off to ascend the last 'pitch'.

A couple on a tandem had said hi to us on day one and informed us that Cameron had boasted of his superior cycling prowess while we passed them on the last pitch to Steven's Pass in 2005. As the road kicked up for the last two miles I was hoping that 1) we would not meet them or anyone faster than us this year to avoid any embarrassment and/or some faux pas on the part of my son and 2) that he would continue his so far stellar efforts. Thank goodness the only person we met we passed (and Cameron was very polite) and he did manage to assist me all the way!

Whew, that last bit is hard. And the 'motivational' signage on the roadside was still doing nothing for me. But once you make it to the top, it's all gravy. Not only is this the best lunch stop, it's basically all downhill from here and it's the fastest one to boot!

At Steven's Pass it's all about baked potatoes, chili, nachos, pita, humus, four different kinds of lemonade, veggies and all the toppings and condiments you could want for your spuds and chips. What was left of team Travasera grabbed a table outside of the lodge in the sun and chowed down. I guess technically everyone else who had already been there for at least 30-60 min just relaxed some more while Cameron and I chowed down. :)

After three or four cups of lemonade and one BIG potato we were ready to go. As we rolled out of the parking lot I remembered too late that what we _should_ do is descend the old Stevens Pass highway. I know, I know, this would be highly illegal and against the rules of the ride but man, it would sure be fun. Shelley, Cameron and I rode up this road once and then came back down and it was a blast! The road is no longer maintained but it's mostly fine and the pavement is only gone in a couple of places. Nothing any road bike can't handle. Plus, the road is closed to cars which is a huge bonus. I love closed roads! Oh well, something to remember next year.

So this year we just dropped down good old Hwy 2. And on a nice day with not too much traffic even this is very fun. I'm not sure how fast you end up going but it's fast. Over 40 mph for sure. And no brakes required, not even around the 'tight' right hand corner near the bottom. Then you turn the cranks over for a bit and bang a right onto my favorite section of the whole ride.

This little detour off of the main highway is so delicious every year. It's about five miles of new pavement and it descends gently enough that you still need to pedal most of the time. It twists and turns through the trees and there is a creek just to your left the whole time. The sunlight is dappled and it's about the most fun you can have on a bike! We ripped this good and proper.

ASIDE - It's not just me by the way, Cam loves this section too! For the first time I heard him making motor noises behind me as we zoomed along and passed a few other cyclists. :)

Then you have to pedal again...! Argh, nothing like a long descent to totally cool down your legs and nothing like four other fit guys on singles to make you feel really slow once the road levels out. But everyone was very kind and let Cam and I pull the rest of the way to the finish. And it was SO fun to finish in a group instead of alone. THANKS EVERYONE!

We finished at the air field about one mile wast of Skykomish (the same place where the ride used to finish years ago) as the town itself is in the midst of burning colossal amounts of federal dollars in an effort to clean up the damage done by years of pouring fuel in the local ground water. That's right Skykomish is now a Superfund site. I guess when you pour fuel into trains, some of it spills on the ground...

In spite of getting a later start than most other riders and lingering at Stevens Pass we still beat the UPS trucks to the finish. I'm beginning to think that the UPS drivers this year were not quite as well coached as in years past... :) So we had to hang out in our cycling clothes for a bit before all the clean stuff showed up and we could make use of the shower trucks. Not too bad considering it was gorgeous out and there was all kinds of food and drink (on ice too!) to be had.

When you give your bike to the bike truck folks they give you a ticket for a bus. Depending on when you give up your bike, this determines the time you arrive at the start where you parked your car.