We rode past an old style water tower in Townsend on the way out of town this morning. If we had known what lay ahead, we might have loaded up even more water from the tower before we tackled the hills. The climbing started right out of town, due east through open farm country. We had climbed 500 feet at our first short break, and the town was still in sight below us.
Then, we entered a 12-mile long valley which turned into a canyon. It climbed the entire way right next a small river. We finally crested 5800 feet at the top and broke out into open rangeland.
Later, we found out that another Lung Association group had summited Mt. Rainier at the same time we were climbing out of that long beautiful valley.We are so fortunate to have the health that enables us to do rides like this. The work the Lung Association does, is critical. Remember, if you can’t breathe, nothing else matters!
After all that hard work, we were still only a quarter of the way to our goal. It had been quite cold in the morning, and everyone started shedding as we crossed open land to the only town on the route today, White Sulfur Springs. We had lunch at a Dori's Cafe, with many, many large game heads hung on the wall.
We were glad we stopped for lunch, because the second big climb of the day lay ahead. This one was out in the open with the day warming up.
It was a challenge to spin up that hill. My legs were feeling better after a slow start, and we had some help from the wind. I climbed past a lonesome bull on one side of the road, with the rest of the herd on the other. I stopped to take a picture and listened to bovine love talk for a while.
The day ended with a long gradual descent and mostly a tailwind. We picked up Kacy, the birthday girl, and cruised on in the last 40 miles to town. We rode a full century today, another hundred-mile day, and had our second highest climb for a day at over 5200 feet.
Most people arrived feeling satisfied with the long hard day and had a great sense of accomplishment. Today was our 10th riding day out of 40. We're already a quarter of the way. How did it go away so fast? Still riding the hill I’m on.