Lynden, WA

One more build day and one more ride day until Vancouver! Right now I am 5 and a half miles from the Canadian border.

Today's ride was quite easy; Ian, John P, Dae and I rode pretty quickly but not too hard into town and we had a great time, especially the mini-criterium that John, Dae and I had at the campground in the morning (it was a 15 foot diameter paved circle that we went around for a while). The ride into Rockport was a bit different however. We started the day in the Early Winters Campground near Mazama, WA where I woke up to rain pattering on my tent (which was one of the nice new ones thankfully). Right away it was cold and miserable, with a huge uphill pretty much right out of the start. We then went up Washington Pass (elevation 5477). I was riding with Ian and about halfway up we hear a huge hissing noise sounding similar to an espresso machine (can't you tell what we were thinking of at the moment). And with every wheel rotation I felt a gust of wind on my calf... oh great a sidewall blowout. So in the pouring rain I put in a new tube and just hoped for the best with the sidewall thing. We finally got to the top of the pass, cold, miserable and watching snow come down on the peak only a few hundred feet above us. I looked at my thermometer and it read a blistering 41 degrees, great and I was only wearing shorts. We descended several hundred feet and passed a parking lot with a bathroom and met up with Isaiah, Bobby, and Sean who had been getting warm in said bathroom (a theme on this trip for sure). And we all climbed up to the top of Rainy Pass (how fitting) in the pouring rain and wind. At the top we stopped to warm up and Isaiah looked a bit too cold to be descending the 10 miles into lunch, so we had to figure something else out.

We flagged down a pickup truck with a trailer attached and they were kind enough to put on their heater and heat us up, after a while Bobby and I descended the pass while Ian, Isaiah and Sean got a ride down and left their bikes. Bobby and I got to mile 35 and saw the van so we ditched our biked and rode to the top in the warm van. We reached the bathroom and this time a whole van load of people got out and jumped in the van. Since Bobby and I had thawed, we went out to the road to hitch a ride down and luckily a trailer pulling van with bikes on top pulled over and was kind enough to go out of his way and take us down to our bikes (providing us with mini clif bars on the way). We got to our bikes and rode the grand total of 2 miles to lunch. After that people started coming in - Chris and Pen got a ride down in an RV and Isaiah had met Bobby and I at mile 35 as we were leaving.

We all rode down the valley going by Diablo Lake, soon John P and Ian joined us after descending the pass and catching us as we took pictures. We rode the rest of the way together, taking the descents quickly and getting sweet video. However my rear wheel wasn't doing so hot... I had a slow leak that may or may not have been because of the blowout (it was a new tube). So instead of trying to find the hole and patching it, I just pumped it up. I was able to make it about 20 more miles into Marblemount when I had to pump it again. Apparently my dad and his climbing partner, Chris, had spent quite a while in Marblemount waiting for the weather to clear so they could climb in the North Cascades.

Anyway I was able to make it into Rockport with a half inflated tire. I rode into the campground to see my Grandma, Uncle Bill, Cousin Willie, and our family friend Susan waiting for us with a huge amount of food. Susan was taking a picture of me so I decided to do a skid stop, which on the wet grass turned into me going over my handlebars, but no harm no foul. By this time it was clearing up and we had so much food even 30 starving cyclists couldn't finish all of it. My Grandma also rented a lean-to thing which 5 of us decided to sleep in and it was one of the best nights sleep I've gotten in a while - the exact perfect temperature. I woke up late, but that was okay because everyone was being quite lazy since the next day was going to be easier (and it definately was). Now we are all looking forward to Canada and getting off our bike saddles!

Thank you so much Grandma, Uncle Bill, Willie and Susan for feeding 30 hungry cyclists who eat for 60, especially after that long day!