Friday, July 5, 2013

Day 3

Newhalem,WA - Mazana,WA (70 miles)

The Cascades are huge!

Yesterday evening we met up with three other riders and decided to do today's ride with one of them. Her name is Sara. Turns out she is also going to Maine, and here's why: when she was younger she asked her dad what the furthest state from Washington was. He told her Maine, and she replied that they should bike there.

So this morning we headed out to conquer the Cascades! We had two mountain passes to cross, Rainy and Washington, both above 4,000 ft. I know I keep saying this, but it is true, today's ride was the most beautiful yet!  The size of the mountains alone was breathtaking - yet also frightening.

As we plodded along like three snails up the mountains I was surprised by the care that most drivers took to give our space and the amount of help and encouragement we received along the way. Three separate cars gave us more water when we needed it!

Once we reached the top of each pass the sense of achivement was overwhelming. We made it! And we didn't walk once! Next we had to go down...this was terrifying! I have never squeezed my breaks as hard as I did today, but again we made it, safe and sound.

Tomorrow we'll do it all again!

2 comments:

Jake said...

Great to see your miles climbing through the mountains! Keeping a nice pace. Love y'all.

deb gibbs said...

wonderful achievement...nice to have someone else to ride with too.