Day 7 Portland to Portland - Walla Walla to Lewiston, ID

 

On to the land of Lewis and Clark.  Todays ride was 98 miles with 5000 feet of climbing.  One of the climbs was 20 miles, but more on that later.  Here is what the day had in store.

We ae still in the land of wheat this morning.  There is a lot of Wonder bread being made from all this wheat.  The ride profile today is a series of long slow climbs.  We headed out early to tackle the day before it got to hot.  As we have definitely learned on this ride, what goes up, must come down.  So when we got to the mile 35 rest stop, and the guides say " the next 8 miles is down hill and there is a tailwind", you know it is going to be fun!  40 + mph on smooth roads with wide slow turns. WHEEEEEEE!

Here I am, representing Washington College in Washington State.

However, what goes down, apparently has to go up.  But first, lunch.  Awesome food:

While we were sitting at lunch, a cyclist comes rolling by, in a westerly direction.  He stopped in to talk with us at lunch.  A German cyclist with 600 miles to go on his XC trip that started in New York.  We all wondered where his van support was. He was lugging all of his gear.  No support vehicles.  Quite impressive.

As the guides send us out from lunch(mile 55), they let us know that because of the heat, they will have an extra water stop at mile 65 in addition to the rest stop at the top of the climb, at mile 75!  

Of course, once we got to the top of the hill, there was a pleasant surprise waiting for us.

Nope, the sign wasn't the surprise.  The surprise was a 22 mile descent into the town of Lewiston.  Of course we had to pass through Clarkson before we got there.  The last 10 miles were met with a strong headwind, which made for a bit harder ride into town, but we made it, and we made it to Idaho.

First time ever in the state.  Potatoes for dinner!  But first, today's beer.  Timing and hotel location made a brewery visit out of the question.  So today we had our "gift beer" from yesterday's Uber driver.  Seattle based Georgetown Brewing.  Pretty good IPA.  Not words I usually say.  This one is named after the Patrick Swayze character in Point Break - Bhodi.

 More Lewis and Clark territory tomorrow.