Steve couldn't resist. The sky was a milky blue-white with a bright glowing sun still high enough to afford another 90mins of cycling time.

We had just finished the CuldeSac-Hubbard Gulch-Kendrick loop and Steve wanted that century. I needed a bit more than 15 miles, but I didn't want to ride up past my house and then back down. Dave Tibbals had nearly suggested Red Wolf as we passed the Rose Garden but had thought better of it. After his late return to Moscow on Monday, his wife is probably pleased he opted not to go on with Steve and me.

Steve couldn't resist. "How far is it up Evans? Will that give you a century?" he wanted to know.

"Nope. I'll need to add about 4 miles," I said. "But I guess I could do that up there. So we set off to finish the first century of the season at about 4:15 in the afternoon. "It's worth doing, just to irritate Chris," I thought. Chris had suggested we needed to start knocking out those centuries again at the potluck on Thursday.

The day started for me at about 8:00am as I struggled with the combination of clothing to wear. I settled on a jacket, poly shirt, and long sleeved jersey. I finally chose only my thermolite gloves and no fanny pack. That thing is still dusty from Monday's ride. To my delight, my fingers did not get bitter cold riding down Critchfield despite temperatures in the low 30's.

Dave's been joining us the last several weekends and he was already in the parking lot when I arrived. Steve soon followed and we took off without much discussion of who else might join us.

Dave is on his one-day training plan. No, not training to do STP in one day. He bikes one day each week at mileage of 80 or better. This week he cheated. He biked Monday and Saturday. Trouble is, he does just fine on that mileage. Didn't even look tired at the boat launch. He says he'll start commuting between Moscow and Pullman in March. (Hear that Chris?) But right now he is training by running at lunch.

We had a mild head wind up Tammany but anticipated the East wind forecast for all day would be a delightful tailwind on the return from Kendrick. We were a bit disappointed from Kendrick to Arrow Junction as the wind was in our faces. We let Dave pull that road, though. Linda said the Valley may have seen 55 degrees. We never felt that warm since Kendrick is always a bit chillier. We did drop down to one layer at Arrow junction, though, and never felt the need for more warmth. Back in the valley around 4pm, we would never have suspected 55 degrees, though we were still comfortable with a tail wind.

Notes: At Barr road we met Bob Uptagraff's wife and stopped to talk. Then Sean appeared in his pickup dogs ad bike in the back.

At the end of the day, we encountered John Arland coming off the Interstate Bridge.

Lots of folks out today enjoying the valley's warmth. I really have to remember my camera for tomorrow.

Remember the noon start for the Grade and other peaks and the 2 pm start of the first Polar Bear ride of the year lead by Lance.

For the road of it!