Though my day actually started in Omak, the rest of the cyclists started their day in Tonasket, about 25 miles north of me. I went to grab dental floss at 7am from the gas station down the street when I noticed riders starting to pass me while I was walking. Apparently, many of the cyclists wanted to beat the predicted 105°F heat and left camp at 4am!
As the riders passed through Omak, it was really funny reuniting with them. I got big, excited hugs from everyone and even a look of surprise, though they knew I was coming back. It was usually a look of "Who's this person?" and then with the realization that it was me a big smile would come over their face, followed up by a big hug. It was a lot of fun. I think it also helped to take away briefly from their 9 weeks of exhaustion.
I felt a lot of joy and excitement to be in van again, cheering everyone on their hill climb, even though I really wish I could have been riding with them. It was easier and possibly safer for me to ship my bike to Winthrop because of logistics, so I didn't get to ride today. The group summitted Loup Loup Pass and, since I was in the support van, we ended up hanging out at the pass for 4 hours while cyclists came through for water and lunch. I can't complain about hanging out on a mountain top all day.
We ended the day in Winthrop, which feels like an old mining or western town. It's really cute and I think it's a fairly major vacation destination with winter time skiing. Once we got to the KOA Winthrop campground, I claimed my bike from the front office and started to assemble it. I was missing my rear skewer, but luckily Svetlana actually had a spare wheel set that she let me have her rear skewer from. I did as much reassembly of the bike as I could on my own, then set up camp, and headed to the local pizza place (about 3/4 mile walk) for dinner with the rest of the group. The pizza and mud pie were delicious! When I got back to camp, Lucas (the route leader bike mechanic on the trip) had finished setting up my bike and she was riding better than ever!
That evening, we all hung out at camp and I got to hear many of the fun stories I had seen on Facebook while I was away. I'm really bummed I missed all the fun and bonding of the last 8 weeks, but it's nice to feel welcomed back in, even if it's just for the last 5 days. In anticipation for the next day's heat and final major mountain climb, we were all in bed more of less by dark after celebrating Alex's 22nd birthday.
No comments:
Post a Comment