Day 5: June 20, Tonasket, WA -> Republic, WA
Start: 8:00
Finish: 2:45
Saddle time: 4:30
Ascent: 3,456
Descent: 1,824
Miles: 42.3
Total miles: 291.1
Highlight: Hanging out with other cyclists at Republic Brewing Company.
Lowlight: The rest of the day.
Cyclemeter: Follow this link to see the data I’m collecting with the cyclemeter app. You can see gps information, speed, elevation, distance, cadence and heart rate. Better viewed on a computer where it’s easier to play around with the graphs.
I decided to make today an “short” day. I stayed in bed until about 6:00, waiting for the coffee shop to open down the road, forgetting it’s Sunday only to find they don’t open until 7:00 so I had some gas station coffee and breakfast sandwich before getting ready to head out.
Wauconda Pass is back to back with Sherman Pass which is much steeper. Some people do both in one day but that clearly wasn’t happening for me so I planned on staying in Republic, just 40 miles away, right in the valley of the two. I took my time getting going but still thought I would be done by noon or 1:00.
I’m riding down the deserted road when I hear someone yell out “Hey Connecticut!”. I see someone but can’t make them out so I wave, figured it must be my neighbor in the motel.
The climb starts immediately out of Tonasket with some initial steep grade. After a bit I see two cyclists in my mirror slowly gaining on me, hoping they were day riders not touring cyclists putting me to shame. A while later I pulled over, somewhat faking a water break, really letting them pass. It was an older couple (well, older than me) with two bags so packing less. Not wanting to loose their momentum the guy yells out as he passes “where in Connecticut are you from?” So I said “Danbury”. He said they lived in Branford a while back. I didn’t speak with them last night, must have stayed in the same motel as me and talked to the owner or my neighbor.
The initial 6% grade decreased a bit with a few spots where it almost leveled out which sounds good except my friend the headwind was returning. Thankfully not on the climbs but I was getting a good amount on what little “flat” I had. I tried to keep my mind focused on the scenery which is changing again. This is cattle country, open range in some areas. The owner of the hotel I stayed in was telling me to be careful on the open range, there can be cattle in the road. Not like I’m going to hit them all that fast. He used to be a marathon runner decades ago and carried a stick when running in the area, for the mountain lions. He told me how a mountain lion killed a cyclist recently further west. Thanks!
I reached to summit at about 1:00, so five hours after I left. Consider I thought I could be done with the whole ride in 4-5 hours. I had mostly downhill into Republic. It seemed more green and wet on this side of the pass.
I thought a lot about my camping situation, should I send my gear home to save weight of give it a week or two? I was feeling the inevitable was sending it home so why not just do it tomorrow before tackling Sherman.
I made it too Republic a little over an hour later, not too bad for the remaining 15 miles. My first stop was the brewery to “rehydrate” and figure out where I was going to stay tonight. Not much in the way of camping here so one of the few motels was my best option. The beer was good so I decided to stay at the motel next door, the Klondike Motel, $55 ($70 with taxes and such). I could barely peddle up the short hill to the motel, it wasn’t the beer, my legs were done. Tomorrow has to be a rest day.
It’s now 3:00 and I haven’t had any real food since 6:30am, other than beer which is food by the way, and some trail mix on the road. For whatever reason while riding I was thinking about salad and sardines, yes sardines. So I went to the local supermarket and bought some “snacks” before dinner, a bag of salad, a can of sardines, and a cup of yogurt. Back at my motel I tried using my spork to eat the salad which wasn’t working to my satisfaction so I grabbed handfuls and stuffed it in my mouth. I then tore open the sardines and grabbed those little guys with my fingers. So good. Washed it all down with the yogurt. Now I was ready for diner in a couple hours.
I grabbed takeout at a local restaurant and went back to the brewery where I met a few young touring cyclists. Two women were on a northwest loop tour and met up with a guy they are now riding with who is on an overlapping tour segment heading west. We had a great conversation about touring. They told me about meeting a 16 year old kid on a folding bike touring by himself heading east. They said he was a beast in the mountains. They met a retired couple on a circumnavigation tour of the US. I asked lots of questions about my gear and how I’m packed. They told me it’s all cool and I should definitely not send my camping gear home. One reason is Glacier National Park. The guy said it’s the highlight of the norther tier, a must do. Cycling provides challenges since the road in dangerous so you want to start early before the traffic which requires camping. So I will hold on to my camping gear for at least a while longer.
Most of the day was not fun but ended well with good conversation. I don’t want to sound too negative. I did expect this to be hard and knew I would have to figure things out as I go. I certainly haven’t entertained any thoughts of quitting, just trying to figure out how to ride my ride.
