Day 5 (80 miles)
Trip Start
Jun 13, 2008
1
7
36
Trip End
Aug 09, 2008
Loading Map
Republic,
Washington,
United States
Thursday, June 19, 2008
for some reason, the waconda pass wasn't as bad as the others, even though the overall stats look pretty nasty and the legs were still worn out. unlike the previous ones, the ascent was short steep pitches followed by flats where i was able to pick up speed in preparation for the next uphill stretch. many of the in-between areas were quite pretty with fields full of wildflowers and the occasional herd of cattle. it's quite fun to ride by the cows and start mooing...they get the most confused looks on their face. the last bit was definitely the hardest, though, as we had been told to expect a 26 mile climb, and the road was constantly turning towards what looked like a pass but would really be another quarter mile stretch to conquer. plus, a headwind started kicking up near the top.
descending into okanagon
oof!the last 15 miles into republic was somewhat challenging. even though it was mostly downhill with some nice steep sections where we could get a lot of speed, there was a headwind and the occasional climb of 100 - 200 feet. after the last days' rides, my legs were not happy about being pushed any harder. i did the cycling equivalent of limping the rest of the way and finally made it into republic and a rest day...and showers!
most of the rest day was spent sleeping, catching up on internet-y things (blogs, emails, news), bike maintenance, making phone calls, and eating. we went a bit crazy with the latter... for breakfast, we had a large spread with sausage and french toast made by the people on cooking rotation. a few hours later, julie and i went for burritos at a local mexican restaurant and followed them up with milkshakes from the local cafe. two hours later, it was dinner time, and we were gorging on pork chops and finishing up the ice cream we had bought the night before. all of our tummies ached, but we were good and calorie loaded for the next day.
we had heard from some folks along the way that there was a fossil digging site in republic. julie and i were quite excited by the idea, so we set off to find it in the afternoon. there was a small little house/museum across from the small city green where they had found fossil on display. most of the impressive ones were actually found from nearby sites, but there were a few pretty spiffy ones from their dig site. unfortunately, the site was out of town, cost a whole bunch of money (admission plus tool rental), closing soon, and furthermore, i suspect that they keep anything good that you find. so... we skipped it.
in the evening, a group of bikers (of the motorcycle variety) came by and the youth center hosted an evening for the kids in town. i was a bad boy and hid upstairs with my internet access for most of the time! i did take a quick look at the motorcycles, which were quite impressive. my favorite was a glitter purply one with a fully-enclosed sidecar, which the biker explained was for his wife--she even had a cigarette lighter so she could plug in her laptop and work while he drove her around.
