I just want to get this ride over.

That was Doug.

Somewhere there's a grain truck driver who'd be pleased when we were off the road.

Doug ought new deep rims and is experiencing flats. To make it worse he's still running tubes with short stems. Very difficult to get a pump to latch onto the valve.

His first flat was at the top of Web Ridge.

Doug, Tom, Dave and I were about to make a clean break with the rest of the group who had started with us at 7 at the boat launch.

Roy Stephesn complained of his back and planned only to do Lapwai, but told us at Barre Road he'd probably turn back at Web Ridge. Jim McCracken, the missing McCracken, discovered that you really need to ride your bike now and then to be able to do a century. Linda decided the pace was too much and was joining Jim for the Lapwai Loop. Jim and Linda spoke of doing Lapwai Loop but showed up The Thuderbird.

And Chris made a guest appearance riding through the way golfers do but he never gave warning. Suddenly there he was having started late and he'd just as suddenly disappear after the Casino adding the necessary miles for his century.

Back on Web Ridge Doug struggle with changing his tire when a woman hopped out of her pickup asking if we were just changing the tire. She warned us that "My husband hates bikers." She warned us that he was driving a grain truck and would likely be along right away. She thought we should be moving right along. this provoked some speculation as to what he might do. Was he armed? Was he going to drive us off the road?

This is why we do advocacy. I understand a driver's frustration at slow moving traffic. I share it when I drive. I know that grain trucks are working vehicles. Yet we share the same public roads. So long as we do so legally and courteously, the grain truck driver has no more right to complain than I do when I get behind a farm vehicle moving from field to field along the public highways. We need to speak up for our right to use the roads and raise that awareness among the grain truck driver's of the world. In the meantime, keep an eye for grain trucks.

Doug needed air up his front tire again at Winchester. And again at highway 12. Before we reached Arrow Bridge, we had to stop and change the tire again. It was enough to make a guy want to get the ride over with.

Linda called as we were leaving Winchester and we were puzzled that they were still just in :apwai. Linda and Jim did climb part way up Winchester before Jim began to cramp and they decided to turn around. They had lunch and continued around Arrow. Linda added Red Wolf and turned in 75 mph herself.

The temps were fine on the prairie especially with a bit of a head wind to cool you off. We made pretty good time despite the head winds. But by the Casino the heat and wind and distance were beginning to show. Chris would jet off in search of a sub 6 hour century. Doug skipped the frontage roads but we caught him back on the bike path so we finished together.

Finished? Chris was off already adding miles. Dave was doing the same. Tom doesn't have a computer on his new Lemond--don't ask me how he gets his wheels to turn without a computer--and when I reported 94-95 miles, he headed out after Dave. Seems like he wasn't willing to call it a century-another mileage junk?

I was feeling pretty good but I soon discovered that I had little left when I climbed onto Southway. It was hot though the winds in my face kept it from being blistering. But then the wind in my face ate into my enery. Getting home was a challenge.

Last Saturday Tom and I did 110 mmiles at 18mph and I felt better then than I did today. 100 miles with a tailwind on the rolling hills of the Palouse are not the same as 100 miles with Winchester Grade and a headwind--Doug, your Karma seriously sucks.