Actually woke to my alarm this morning, something that doesn’t happen a lot. I usually wake up before it goes off.
Before crashing out last night I knew I wanted to eat breakfast at the restaurant next door to the hotel. No point in burning up a REI freeze dried special when I can have legit eggs and sausage. At first I thought I’d eat, pack, and then leave. I changed my mind, set the alarm for a little earlier, and went with pack, eat, and then leave.
I didn’t completely pig out, but got stuff I wouldn’t normally eat. Went with French toast, eggs and sausage. Felt it was a good balance of all the macros I’d need throughout the day. Of course can’t forget the coffee.
Leaving Shelton the skies were overcast and it was very cool. The low temperature and high humidity made the first 15 miles of the day pretty miserable. First time I’d wished I had a pair of thermal arm warmers. Just couldn’t get the chill off. The only thing I could have done was to press harder, do more work, but I with the long day planned I needed to pace myself in order to finish. Thankfully as the day wore on the temperature rose, the humidity dropped, and I started to feel much much better.
After my maintenance last night, and a couple additional barrel turns this morning, Shadow is riding as smooth as silk again. I didn’t bring headphones or a Bluetooth speaker for the trip. It may sound odd, but I really want to “be here” for this ride. Listening to music would just be a distraction and take away from everything else. But, be damned if I want to hear a noisey drivetrain and the clickety clack of a slightly out of tune rear derailleur. Like nails on a chalkboard.
I also checked my tire pressures and dumped a couple extra pounds into both. I’m running 32mm Gatorskins and most of the recommendations I’ve seen say 63-73 front and 68-78 rear. I swung for the fences and went with 75/80. What a difference it made today. I don’t know if it was the tire pressure or the way I rebalanced everything, but Shadow feels SO much more stable than the past couple days. I felt more confident today than any day prior. To be safe I’ve written down what went into which pannier so I can duplicate it when I leave.
I really can’t sing the praises of the routing for this tour enough. Other than a few miles on the busier US and State highways, it’s been nothing but back country roads. There were stretches for miles where I wouldn’t see another soul. It was glorious.
As I came into this little town of Elma I spotted this HUGE tree house. I would have loved to have been given a full tour of the joint. Spiral staircase. Functional windows. I mean you could live in that thing full time if you’re into tiny homes!
Around 11:00 my stomach started turning. I started looking for a place to grab some lunch. About 30 minutes later I came across Junction Sports Bar and Grill. I walk in all kitted up and there are two, obviously, regulars sitting there and I’m thinking, “I’m hungry I don’t give two Fs about y’all”. Honestly got a very dive bar feeling from the place, but it turned out really good!
After lunch was more of the same country roads. However, I did catch up to an old friend and co-worker! Way back I worked for this little Internet provider named America Online. I worked out of their Albuquerque call center providing telephone technical support. It was a decent gig for a kid fresh out of high school. Anyway, John Carlson was originally on the phones and eventually worked himself up the ladder. He even landed himself a gig in Virginia which was the big time with AOL at the time.
Well John has been following me on Instagram and Facebook for forever. When he saw me talking about riding this route he wanted to get together to visit. Last year was obviously a bust, but this year everything aligned and he was able to make the 45 minute drive to give me some cowbell! He couldn’t have picked a better spot, just after a gnarly climb. We chatted and caught up for close to an hour before we wrapped things up and he sent me on my way with more cowbell!
After that the ride wet pretty quickly with a couple great descents and short climbs. Made a stop at a Chevron before camp to grab dinner stuff. I was bummed to roll into the campground to find the sole hiker/biker site occupied. Thankfully, other sites were a available! Got camp all setup and laundry done! Now I get to lay back and relax for a bit before I crash out.
Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day. My plan from the start has been five on one of. Right now that feels like a solid plan. I do have to move to another campsite tomorrow because the one I’m in is reserved after tonight. I already reserved another spot so there is nothing to worry about there. I do have food for breakfast, but nothing for lunch and dinner. You may see one or two short rides, but I don’t plan on any lengthy description or pictures like the rides up to this point. Either way looking forward to a day of recovery and we’ll be back at it on day seven!
84.04 new miles
🏘 Completed 50% of Lewis and Clark State Park
🏘 Completed 50% of Lewis and Clark State Park (Combined)
— From Wandrer.earth
Mostly cloudy-Partly sunny, 54°F-72°F, Feels like 49°F-82°F, Humidity 82%-55%, Wind W 10mph-W 2mph – by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: 1.7%
Headwind: 51% @ 0.8-27.7mph
Longest Headwind: 01h 1m 49s
Air Speed: 13.8mph
Temp: 54.1-70.9°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
— END —
Max elevation: 669 ft
Min elevation: 9 ft
Total climbing: 3267 ft
Total descent: -2870 ft
Total time: 08:17:56
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