Gig Harbor Washington to Bar Harbor Maine 2001

I turned over and went back to sleep for a long time this morning before I finally got the nerve and energy to find my glasses and squint at the tiny time display in the corner of this computer. 5:30. I turned over again. Not long after I heard a tent zipper and slowly managed to get moving. Imagine my surprise when I saw that Garcia was the first up, munching the last of his frosted flakes! After I had my cereal and tea we heard some grumbling from Gridley's tent. We eventually understood that he wanted to know what time it was. When we told him it was still before 7, he said, "I told you I'm leaving at 9." The rain had started back up by then and crawling back into the tent made a lot of sense. I read a few more chapters of my book.

We really did leave about 9. The rain came and went and it stayed about 50 degrees. Except for our feet, we were acceptably outfitted. I'm using rain socks inside wet shoes, they're using different types of booties outside their shoes, but we all have cold feet.

Rain Gear

The first goal of the day was Marblemount, the last services for 76 miles, except for an occasionally open store in Newhalem. Halfway there I was disappointed that the subject of my favorite picture from last time was gone, a "Rough Road" orange diamond to which someone had added "(life)". The road surface was very rough and making cold, stiff, knees keep turning pedals was rough too. It took most of the 20 miles to Marblemount to get the legs working right, but it was too wet and cold to ever say that we got warmed up.

We were again disappointed to learn that the laundry was too far off route to take care of our wet, stinky clothes and gear. We weren't disappointed that our waitress at the cafe catering to bikes was new and incredibly slow. Sitting in a warm place with hot coffee was delightful. They featured buffalo and I had a good hot bowl of buffalo chili, even though I knew I'd regret the beans. Not to be too graphic, but flatulence is a problem on a bike. I'd already learned that from bean soup in Anacortes. Anyway we spent nearly 2 hours eating, then ravaged the store next door for enough food to get us over the pass and into Mazama tomorrow.

This is the fifth time I've ridden the section from Marblemount to Washington Pass. I think I'm beginning to understand why we become so familiar and even proprietary about roads we cycle. The way we smell the flowers and piss on them every few miles is very much like a dog marking his territory. This land is my land.

Gridley makes a political statement

Since I've already gotten into pissing and farting, I've got to say that I'm really enjoying hanging out with the guys. Our humor and intelligence has deteriorated to junior high locker room status and it's a lot of fun. I came out of a tupperware toilet a couple of days ago as Gridley was riding up. Since his bike doesn't have a kickstand I offered to hold it for him. It didn't even sound to me like I was talking about his bike. We'd recently heard about the Australian rugby player who went one step further than the players who grab other's genitals to distract them. He was suspended for sticking his finger up their asses. (He was suing an Australian cancer group for using his picture to remind men to get their prostates examined.) We've been threatening all sorts of circumstances that would provoke us to use his method.

I also came up with this song that I think sums up the trip so far today, to the tune of Let It Snow (obviously):

Oh the weather outside sucks donkeys,
And were just biking honkies.
But as long as were in such pain,
Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain.

Anyway, this land is my land and I was proud to see the Mike's enjoy it like I do. To mark the territory and make it theirs. We do have to share it with a lot of other biking dogs. There were almost as many bikes as cars coming down the pass today. We left most of the rain in Marblemount, so I guess it was nice on the pass. I think most folks were just taking a Sunday pleasure descent, but we also met several on their way to Maine. As we were going into the store a couple on a Rans (like mine) recumbent tandem pulled up. They were going home to Maine and looked like they really had it together. They had half as much gear as any one of us. They also found what they wanted from the store and were on their way while we still wandered aimlessly. Another lightly loaded guy rode past our campsite and came back to visit with us later. He'd flown into Seattle yesterday and ridden all the way from Anacortes today. Alexander's a teacher from New York and has never toured before. He's off to a great start. I doubt we'll see him or the tandem again.

Diablo Lake overlook

The climb out of Newhalem is really steep, but the beautiful green river along the road, the snowy peaks that were beginning to emerge from the clouds and the dramatic geology of the rock cliffs (that I wish I understood) were very effective in distracting us from the burn. The rivers we'd been riding along were very high, well into the vegetation on the banks. As we neared Newhalem the river was suddenly nearly dry. Due to the lack of snow this winter, Seattle City Light's dams at Newhalem and above were saving every drop of water for power generation.

I also tried using my MP3 player to rock out while I rolled on. It started playing random chunks of random songs which was very distracting. I'd like to hear more of the songs, but it certainly kept my mind off my legs.

After the second extreme climb and descent, we got to our campground.

Beware of bikers

It's a National Forest park, which means that it's clean and well maintained and has few amenities, like hot water or showers. We sponged off with cold water, but we've gotten pretty used to cold water today. The Mikes got some firewood and built a fire while I played chef. We'd gotten a couple of boxes of Rice-a-Roni and I had a bag of an Indian lentil dish I'd been carrying from home. They were delicious together, especially in front of the fire.

Generating heat, and making a fire

I think we enjoyed ourselves too much because we needed to get to sleep early to be ready for the long climb tomorrow. I hope the rain that just started falling on my tent will run off whatever critters are scavenging around outside and keep the geese from honking all night.

Not enough exercise.

Stats: elevation gain 2500 ft, riding time 4:36, average 10.0 mph, mileage 46.2

Cumulative: elevation gain 12,900 ft, riding time 21:21, mileage 228.1