We roll again. John, Tom and I left Revolutions coffee this morning at 6:30 to catch the Bremerton ferry. The morning was clear and we rolled off the ferry into a beautiful day. The winds were in our favor most of the day though the chip seal from Mccleary to Montesano was not. First lunch was teriyaki chicken in Shelton and second lunch was chicken burritos 35 miles later in Montesano. The next 35 miles we expected to be the most difficult but we rode it faster than plan. On one of the climbs we passed two heavily loaded riders on the way to South America.

At our dinner stop we learned that our planned campground was not yet open for the season. So here we are for the evening in A South Bend motel and the shower was really sweet.

A great day

119 miles/8hrs 44mins

Time for another ride

Three more days and we roll again. This time the ride takes Tom Harrylock and I south to Santa Barbara. John West will ride with us for the first 4 days and then work takes him back to Seattle on the train. Our plan is a 17 day ride down the coast. I enjoyed the Oregon and Northern California coast so much in 2008 that I thought it would be nice to ride it again and add the central Big Sur and south section this time. It maps out to just under 1300 miles though when I plotted the course my memory of the hills had faded and I was surprised to see the amount of climbing involved. (click on the images to see larger version)

                               

                           

 

Yikes, that adds up to 117,138 feet of climbing.

Our return flight tickets have already been purchased so ride we must

Day 17 Whitefish and done

We were able to use some back roads today so the riding again was nice. Mountains, valleys and farms made for great views and easy riding.

Our train for that afternoon was sold out so we found a campsite on a lake and spent a relaxing day in town.

The next morning we headed for the train station and packed our bikes in boxes and headed for home.

Day 16 feeling like targets for drivers

We opted for the smaller highway 83 on the east of Flathead lake.

 
This turned out to be a mistake as the road was narrow with no shoulder and the drivers seemed unfamiliar with bicycles as they didn't give us any room when passing. We should have taken the larger busier road as the shoulder would have been wider. This tension filled day ended at a motel where sandwiches and beer relaxed us.

Day 15 up and over Lolo

Breakfast was at Locsha lodge near the campsite. We chatted with a fellow at a neighboring table and it turns out his grandfather had originally built the lodge in 1929 and he had spent most of his summers there as a child.

It was a short ride up to Lolo pass and we stopped to do the tourist thing.

It was a long downhill roll into Missoula where we stopped for the night at a motel. Dinner was at a brew pub where we got rehydrated from the warm day.

Day 14 up the Clearwater

OK, I'm finally finishing up posting the ride report. Got to get it done since it's been a year and this years ride begins next week. More on this years ride later. The Clearwater river is just as beautiful in the morning and up we follow it towards Lolo Pass.

A few miles up the road we come to a historical ranger station. It predates the roads in the area. As we were leaving we met and stopped to chat with Audrey who grew up on the station. She happened to be volunteering for a week as a docent.  I went back and review the photos in the station and got this photo of Audrey in her dads backpack

The day took us to a campsite just this side of the pass.

Day 13 Whitebird Hill

Our plan was to have breakfast at hoots and ride the old road up whitebird hill. Well we took the old road and passed 200 _ 300 feet below hoots and the new highway so no breakfast. Hill is misnomer for whitebird since it was about 12 miles at 6 plus percent. 

15 switchbacks and 3000 ft higher we reached the top and rolled down to grangeville were we finally had had Sunday breakfast. A long downhill took us to Kooskia and up the middlefork of the Clearwater river. Clearwater it is and as beautiful a river as I've ever followed. 23 miles later we arrived at Lowell were we had great huckleberry milkshakes and stopped for dinner supplies before rolling in to our closeby campsite on the river. A nice 82 mile day.

The view of the river from on my sleeping bag was extra nice.