A few more pics and a vid
Unexpected clouds greeted us Sunday morning at John and Carla's in Spokane. And just as we were setting up for our second ride of the weekend, rain sputtered at us.
"It's just that little cloud there," John explained.
"It has friends," I observed.
But we saw no rain on Sunday in our ride from the Skinners' out to Rockford and back on Valley Chapel Road. The pavement, however, told a different story splashing road grime on legs and chain stays alike.
Somehow Linda and I had gotten an invitation to join a min-tandem rally in Spokane. Perhaps they were taking pitty on me--the board had not only called for no fourth of July rides, they'd pretty much to a man indicated they had other plans for the weekend.
And then came the invitation to join Mike and Nicki, John and Carla and our latest Tandem couple, Bill and Helen for a ride on the 4th. A little reluctant, I'd prefer a nice century ride, I held out for another offer.
Jim McCracken came through, almost, with a proposal to ride to Spokane on 27 view Oaksdale and Tekoa. I thought that might work out if we rode up on Friday. Then I could ride with tandem bunch on the weekend and not feel bad about shorter weekend miles. I even called John about routes north of Teko. He seemed as excited as I did about the possibility of my riding up and was glad to give me directions and a promise to send a map. I pretty much had my recommended route mapped in Google maps before John called back offering Linda and I a place to stay.
Then family plans in Spokane required Jim's presence and the long ride was out at least for this weekend. He suggested he'd ride to Mt. Spokane and back on Saturday. Hope he started early. It got hot.
The plan was for a tandem-friendly route--one without long steep climbs and no sharp corners. What that meant was the tandems ate up the rollers leaving Linda struggling up one side while the tandems were long gone down the other. You just don't catch a tandem even if you're peddling hard and the tandem is coasting. Linda let too much distance separate her from the tandems at the top of the hills and though they weren't hammering, she got dropped. I rode into Cheney with her but neither of our moods was very good at this point.
Fortunately the return on Fishlake Trail, mostly downhill, with a blue heron enterntaining us and a disappearing stream to amaze restored our good humors.
The day had turned hot but I couldn't resist the challenge John had proposed. He'd prepared a map for me to follow back to his place on the Southhill via Hangman Valley--another 20 miles on a nice toasty afternoon. How could I resist?
When I came in John's back door everyone was showered, sitting about drinking beer and eating chips.
"A beer or a shower first," Carla asked.
What a question!
Aside: the Skinner accommodations rate Five Stars. Good food, guest shower, great back yard with gazebo and recirculating pool. A bit hot in the afternoon but delightful in the evening.
Mike couldn't talk anyone into going out to watch the fireworks. We were all tired. He had to settle for watching New York's display on TV. He missed the "concusive" experience of the booms, but gave New York high marks.
No way did we expect clouds and wind in the morning. The storm was scheduled for the afternoon. Despite the plan to depart at 9, we pulled out earlier for a wonderful route on mostly low traffic roads. The Palouse highway had quite a bit of traffic but wide shoulders made it safe enough.
In Rockford, though I discovered I could not shift my rear derailleur. The cable had frayed and come detached from the shifter. I was stuck in high gear. Fortunately I still had use of the front chain rings. What I couldn't do was slow down and grind up the hills. Even by cross-chaining I'd be struggling. Instead I now had an excuse to use my momentum to get up a high spin which worked on almost all the hills. Glad that cable broke today rather than on Ramrod in a couple of weeks.
Cyclists everywhere. Even in Lewiston on Friday, I saw lots of bikes--mostly mountain bikes or hybrids. In Spokane the bikes more often were road bikes. But it seemed everyone was on a bike. John says usually there'd have been more bikes but the Fourth tempered the effect a bit.
With Mike, Linda, and me, we had three board members, so I guess you could call this a club ride.
Thanks to John and Carla for the invitation, the food, and the rides. It was wonderful to explore new routes. It reminds me of why I like to bike in the fist place: I feel like I've done something, gone somewhere when I've done a new bike route. The best part--I had a great cycling weekend.
Corrie
