Where ever we went, we were expected. Wendy had given Steve aid and comfort by rising at the crack of dawn to drive down from Albion (why would one descend from Albion?) to join Steve for a 6 am assault on the Winchester Century. Wendy and Steve had left pointed reminders all the way that we were not the only ones on the Winchester Century this day.

Indeed the club was out in force this morning. Bruce, still recovering from RAO promising not to hammer; Debbie, a bit nervous about starting a century with both Bruce and Chris, and me. Me--I was really nervous about Bruce and Chris. They laid waste to my legs last summer on this same ride. I promised Debbie no such thing would happen today and she agreed to go. Chris hadn't arrived but promised to hammer until he did which turned out to be the top of Web Ridge.

Linda wanted to start with us for the Lapwai Loop and expected new club member, Pat from Boise, to join her for that portion of the two rides which overlap. However, Pat had taken sick over night and begged off regretfully. Linda rode a ways with us then returned to the boat launch to meet Helen and Sheila. She was joined by Ellen Kundrat and some others whose names I've not got. They weren't satisfied with the Lapwai Loop. Instead they continued on to Julietta. Linda reports that she picked up 80 miles and had a good day.

Minor problem. They encountered a slightly peeved Mike Warnock about 10 looking for the century ride. Somehow the web page had said 10. Wouldn't Steve have been wroth at the idea of starting a century at 10? I thought 8 would get more riders out than 6 or even 7 and also expected to be eating ice cream at Baskin Robins by 4. I was off. It was 4:10 before we had our ice cream.

In the Thunderbird store at Cul de Sac the message from Steve and Wendy was that we were pretty slow. They still had a 2 hour lead on us. We sat on the deck in the sun eating, drinking and contemplating our slowness.

Winchester presents a challenge on any day. Today, we rode on legs recovering from I Made the Grade. I was most pleased not to have to keep up with Chris and Bruce who blythely rode off in dialogue. The day was gorgeous and the air growing cooler as we climbed.

Looking back toward Cul de Sac.

The greens of spring; the yellows of summer: to the SouthWest.

Chris arrived at the Highland Inn where Steve had gotten to the help who reported that our predecessors had taken a nap. In fact they had left only about 11. That put them about an hour ahead of Debbie and I. Chris and Bruce could have caught them perhaps had they skipped lunch.

We actually felt chilled near Winchester Lake after lunch. Thunderheads rose in the South but didn't provide a south wind. Turning onto the rollers, we discovered a head wind. It wasn't bad and usually allowed us 19 to 20 mph.

Near Gifford we encountered cyclists moving south and waving at us. We stopped to find that two of the bikers were the Riddles (Al Banta and his wife were two more). They had already been to Huckleberry Heaven. You'd have thought they could have brought us some handl-packed, wouldn't you?

Space Aliens without ice cream for hungry cyclists.

The space aliens denied any knowledge of Wendy and Steve. We had had the last of our messages. I guess they made it without trouble.

After a rest in Spalding Park, we headed home, a bit tired but having fully enjoyed another beautiful day on the bikes, uh cycles.