Team Photos The Journey has begun!! The kickoff from Seattle was pretty cool; we staged up at Olympic park where the parents of Ben Pascal, a past Pi Alpha (who was also leading our crew out of Seattle) had made us some wicked awesome quiche for breakfast. Over the next hour and a half we did some live feeds for the news (I had my pretty face in the background) before finally pacelining behind a firetruck through town. Ben lead us through a couple trails before we were finally clear of town and on I-90…yes, we were riding on the interstate for much of the ride today…wooooo!
Don’t let anyone tell you that riding a bike up a mountain in 40 degree weather with wind and rain isn’t a rippin good time. The Cascades came quick and hard as we tooled through Snoquahlme pass…a several mile switchback-after-switchback climb. On the bright side the scenery was breathtaking. Chad Snyder and I were sweeping which meant we always stayed at the back of the pack to help keep track of all the cyclists (but also means you have to he
lp out the guys havin trouble on the bike that day, which makes for a much longer day on the bike). All that spinning over the past semester finally paid off on this climb; we were taking it at a pretty steady pace as I was riding with Brent, my past GUF buddy from London. He’s a bigger guy which lets him fly on the flats with his powerful legs but going uphill is a different story. Finally we crested the climb and came out upon an incredible mountain lake, which I-90 snaked around…awesome ride. Unfortunately a couple more bike troubles forced us to rack up the last 6 miles in for time (it was already 4:30 pm, we had been riding since 8:30 am).
Lodging was at the Double K Christian Retreat, a pretty sweet summer camp style place. Without time for me and the last couple guys in to shower (rough after a long day) we packed into the vans for dinner at the Cle Elum Eagles Auxillary, a moose lodge type of place. We plowed through some burgers and salad and an amazing apple cobbler dessert (the secret ingredient: mountain dew).
Back at lodging I finally found the time to shave up the ole’ legs. Actually used “Nair for Men” which worked like a champ haha…silky smooth.
Don’t let anyone tell you that riding a bike up a mountain in 40 degree weather with wind and rain isn’t a rippin good time. The Cascades came quick and hard as we tooled through Snoquahlme pass…a several mile switchback-after-switchback climb. On the bright side the scenery was breathtaking. Chad Snyder and I were sweeping which meant we always stayed at the back of the pack to help keep track of all the cyclists (but also means you have to he
lp out the guys havin trouble on the bike that day, which makes for a much longer day on the bike). All that spinning over the past semester finally paid off on this climb; we were taking it at a pretty steady pace as I was riding with Brent, my past GUF buddy from London. He’s a bigger guy which lets him fly on the flats with his powerful legs but going uphill is a different story. Finally we crested the climb and came out upon an incredible mountain lake, which I-90 snaked around…awesome ride. Unfortunately a couple more bike troubles forced us to rack up the last 6 miles in for time (it was already 4:30 pm, we had been riding since 8:30 am).Lodging was at the Double K Christian Retreat, a pretty sweet summer camp style place. Without time for me and the last couple guys in to shower (rough after a long day) we packed into the vans for dinner at the Cle Elum Eagles Auxillary, a moose lodge type of place. We plowed through some burgers and salad and an amazing apple cobbler dessert (the secret ingredient: mountain dew).
Back at lodging I finally found the time to shave up the ole’ legs. Actually used “Nair for Men” which worked like a champ haha…silky smooth.
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