A long, hot climb to Cheney
Pat Ryan:
Totals to Date
Miles: 321.6
Elevation Gain: 14,002
Flat Tires: 3
Big day today. We rode 89.7 miles and climbed 4,127 feet from Grand Coulee to Cheney, Washington. We are in Eastern Washington now, and that's big agriculture country. We climbed a very long, steep grade out of Grand Coulee and into seemingly endless fields of different grains. The roads stretch to the horizon in a perfectly straight line, and these distances can intimidate you. Today we broke it down into four bite-sized chunks, with four SAG (Support and Gear) stops where our unrivaled team of volunteers provided us with food and drinks. The winds on this route predominantly come out of the west. The problem with that is the "predominantly" part. Today we had a strong headwind from the east and that added a degree of difficulty. In the end we prevailed, ready to face another day.
Tomorrow we travel from Cheney to Kellogg, Idaho. We will ride 101 miles, climb 3,304 feet and cross our first state line.”
