Day 1: Snoqualmie Pass

78.26 mi. max 39.0 7:50.29 avg 9.9 mph

I think that I heard somewhere that today is supposed to be one of the most difficult days. I CERTAINLY hope so! As you can tell from my astounding average speed, it was mostly uphill. There were 3000 feet of climbing, spread out over 26 miles. Fortunately, most of it was Denny Creek Rd, a well shaded back road - it didn’t get REAL tough until the last part, which was both steep and out of the shade. The sun beat down upon us unmercifully as we struggled up the pass. Supposedly, temps were in the 90s!

If I can survive this day, I can survive anything!

In camp, Dennis told us some very sad news, that a cyclist from our sister ride (put together by the ACA (Adventure Cycling Association, formerly Bikecentennial) and which is riding our route four days ahead of us) had been struck by a car and killed. For a first night, that was very tough to hear, especially since we knew that we’d be travelling the same roads.

Dinner was great, a barbeque put together by Big Riders from ‘05. There were baked beans and salad, too. After 2 pieces of cake (I’m burning something like 4K calories per day!), the first lunch crew put out all the necessary ingredients for lunch: bananas, PB&J, and cookies.

So far, the people here are all wonderful - great personalities! We are all cyclists travelling across the country, so we all already have something in common :-)