I was a little afraid this ride would include Greenhollow as it did on Labor Day . But Wendy had kindly planned a flat ride to Endicott from the Colfax fair grounds. She was starting in Albion and of course so would I. The wind hadn't been part of the plan. Wendy claims the wind is not her department.

Jon is not of the grinning chipmunk school of recumbent cycling. Note the below the beam stearing.

We left on time just missing John MacInturff who claims to have cruised through at 9:02. He said he waited a few minutes before figuring out that Wendy meant 9am when she said 9am. Jon caught us at the fair grounds outside of Colfax.

Loreen and Becky.

It was Wendy's idea to take the "short cut" to the fair grounds by climbing that little hill we ride down into Colfax just past the hospital. On airport road a car took too long to pass us. When Wendy caught up she reported that it had been Loreen, a woman getting back into cycling. She plans to ride a Chelan Century and figured a few rides with Wendy would get her into shape.

We were almost to the fair grounds when my cell phone rang. Somehow Becky had gotten my number. I told her we were almost to the start point. She had ridden out with Richard. That was fitting since the first time we met these two was at the Huckleberry ride last summer. They've let me join them a couple of times since then.

Rich had the nerve to show up on my bike.

Richard announced that he had "Never ridden this bike." He was sporting a brand new Trek Pilot. "That's my bike," I wanted to say. Sean had tried to sell me this same bike only last Sunday. "They've got a silver one left," Rich reports. Though the saddle was too high and my cleats were different, the frame did seem to fit.

The winds were out of the west and significant. Our route on East Endicott road ran directly into it. Wendy and I were pleased that Bruce had decided to join us. We knew just what to do with him. Sadly, the wind was strong enough that the ladies still couldn't keep up. We were happy to see Endicott.

We had lunch (everyone remembered to bring rations) at the single table by the grain elevators. Becky and Loreen apparently flagged down a passing pickup and asked for a rest room. Ask and ye shall receive. The guy's wife was working in city hall and happily made the facilities available to us. Thank you, City of Endicott.

Just in case you thought wind was all we had to contend with on the Palouse.

The winds didn't let up but much of the ride on to highway 26 was downhill. Well, all except that last couple of miles. The tail wind to Dusty was welcome as was the open store. Now we had a tailwind and just a few miles back to Colfax.

Wendy and Richard.

Jon decided to take a break at the fair grounds. Loreen took up Richard's offer of a ride. That left Bruce, Wendy, and me. Bruce had ridden out from Moscow against the head wind and had to ride all the way back. Still he didn't seem in much of a hurry and waited for us at the tops of hills and tooled the PO parking lot until Wendy and I pulled in at 3:30 under increasingly sunny skies.

We had no rain, sunshine, and lots of wind. Two out of three ain't bad!