7/29/19  

Major ride with a major climb over Sherman Pass 5575’.  It stated with 4 pieces of fried chicken that I bought yesterday afternoon to tide me over until we got to our first rest stop in Colville some 31 miles down the road.

When we started riding this morning it was 43 degrees.  I didn’t wear my rain jacket to stay warm or my full bike gloves to keep my hands warm.  So I took by bike map and unfolded it to put between my jersey and t-shirt.  This blocked the cold wind from my chest.  After about 10 miles of  rolling hills I warmed up and all was good. Our last part of the ride to rest stop 1 was downhill so we made good time.  Once in Colville,  Ed found us a restaurant where we could get a good breakfast.  Also I ordered a breakfast sandwich to go so I would have something good to eat at rest stop 2.

After leaving rest stop 1 I spotted a bunch of turkey.  They are kind of hard to see in the picture but I counted 10 birds.

Our second rest stop was at a convenience store where we could get refreshment and I ate my breakfast sandwich.  We needed all we could get because this as was the start of a major climb that was about a 6 to 8 percent climb over 24 miles to the top of Sherman Pass at an elevation of 5575’.  The elevation is not all that impressive but our total climb for the day was 5,666 feet.

After the climb was over we had to contend with road construction.  At one point we had to load our bikes on the pilot car and get in the bed of the pickup with the bikes.  We had a long line of cars behind us.

Once out of the pilot car most of the remaining ride was downhill into camp.  We stayed in Republic Fairground Campground.  No internet service was available again, but there was a restaurant back up the hill about 3/4 mile.  It was good.