Today we aimed to be off by 8am however due to my inner tube puncture reoccurring and some other maintenance issues we were delayed until just after 9. My tyre went flat within half an hour again meaning we had to stop again to fix it. We found a small sliver of metal about 1cm long stuck in the tyre and once removed we had no further dramas for the rest of the day.
We knew today would be a long slog up into the mountains but we didn't appreciate just how long and steep the roads would be. With the panniers dragging us down it was slow going and hard on the legs. The scenery took our minds off it and when the trees closed in we had some music playing to push us through.
We resupplied at a few supermarkets and gas stations en route. Once we began the ascent into the passes proper we were out in the sticks. For water we found a waterfall of snow melt to fill our bottles, which was a test of endurance in itself standing under the full flow of the fall holding our bottles above us trying to catch a stream off the rocks!
We met a few interesting and very nice people today. Travelling as a group on the same route was a group of recent retirees, Roger, Susan, West and Ed Delano. We leap frogged each other for a few miles before stopping at a view point where we took photos and said our goodbyes before setting off ahead. Ed did however overtake us later on his bike with the aid of his electric motor. He was an 84 year old WWII veteran with 35 years of service in the reserves. He had cycles across America 6 times already! We passed him for the final time as he scouted his group a campsite and waved our goodbyes.
The hill carried on unrelentingly all afternoon, perhaps 7 hours of steep ascending in all. My legs feel as if I have just run an ultramarathon. First we topped Rainy Pass, before a quick descent to the start of the climb onto Washington pass. I had a close call with a rut on the side of the
road which caught my wheel and threatened to send me off, but I managed to keep control. Morale sank somewhat on the final ascent onto Washington Pass which was steeper than any yet. With the wide American roads it doesn't seem steep until you look behind. When the road levels out slightly it feels as if we are going downhill when we are actually still climbing quite steeply. This sometimes resulted in a few premature gear changes.
Finally at the top of Washington Pass we did a quick video, donned a warm layer and descended to the campsite. There were no campgrounds on the ascent of the pass meaning we were in it for the long haul, and didn't make camp until 8:30pm. It was full. Luckily a lovely lady called Ester offered us a pitch by her trailer which we hastily accepted, very gratefully.
Rich
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