Riverside, WA

Day 3 of the Bike Trip

On the third day of our journey, we first rode through a long stretch of flat road, only to find ourselves climbing thousands of feet after midday. Thankfully, we traveled through some great places. We encountered all sorts of farm animals, such as cows, deer, and a bunch of horses. We reached a place called Loup Loup Pass for lunch, the highest point of our day’s trek. At about 4,000 feet above sea level, the climb had pretty much tired us out. At this pass, there was a little camera that took photos of the pass intermittently. It was fun for everyone back home to be able to see us at the pinnacle of our climb. From there on out, the ride was pretty simple. We had a great downhill ride for about 12 miles and then had 20 miles to ride on flat ground. Although it was a little discouraging to have to go that extra bit, we managed to get to the campsite in good time. Once we got to the campsite, we enjoyed a quick dunk into the river which was filled with mud, sticks, and other assorted nasties (and smelled like manure, says sarah). The camp was great! We had some neighbors that were very interested in our trip and the facilities were great. All in all, day 3 was a great day and the last 30 miles were fast.

Posted by Renzo

Mazama, WA

Whew! What a day. Over six hours time, the SPS Cyclists scaled 5,100 feet, making a dent in our ascent through the Cascade Mountains. The top of the Washington Mountain Pass, at 5,477 feet, was the highest elevation that we would reach on the entire trip. This day was predicted to be one of our hardest in the entire journey. The group left at 8:30 AM from camp, and took full advantage of the first flat fifteen miles of the road, prepping ourselves for what was to come. Sure enough, we came upon a steep ascent up into the heart of the Cascades. The trail wound up for miles on end, traipsing us around and across the ice-blue Lake Diablo (cool name right?) as we wound higher and higher. After a snack break on mile twenty-five, we continued our pursuit up to the top of the mountain pass. Then the thunder and lightning started. With a resounding roar, the thunder reverberated through the mountains. The once-perfect day had disappeared; in its place, black clouds covered the sky. And then the rain came. It came in stinging globs and then coalesced into hail, pounding us as we climbed our way to snow level. But we managed to get through it, and continue our journey. It took us two hours until we stopped again for lunch, at the pinnacle of the pass (or so we thought), where we were greeted by Biddle Duke’s lunch of leftover spaghetti and meatballs.
Now, as you might imagine, we were pretty psyched after lunch; the toughest part of the day, and possibly the trip, was completed. We were thrilled; the morning had been tough, to say the least. In the immortal words of Ellie Duke: “I wanted to die.” As we started for the afternoon, expecting an easy 20-mile downhill to our camp, we saw what we were looking for: a massive downhill. Our excitement was short-lived. As soon as we rounded the first corner, we saw a huge hill, which led to another six miles and another 1,000 feet for us to climb. But we made it…barely. After taking some pictures at the top, we found what we were looking for-- the downhill. That was sweet. With Brendon in the lead, and shirt completely unzipped, we zipped down the twenty miles to the finish line.
The MVP of the Day was definitely our new friend Rachel Speakman. The twelve-year old kept up with us for the majority of the day, donning jeans, a sweatshirt, and riding a hard-core Rockhopper Mountain Bike. She passed all of us on the downhills, and kept up with us the entire time. Rachel, you are welcome to ride with us anytime you like!

See you later. -Parker

Some Photos

Day 1: Dipping our tires into the Pacific Ocean. We got about a million of these pictures...












Rest Stop: The gang taking a quick break before finishing up the big hill. Stretching, hydrating, and just plain relaxing.


















Washington Pass: Us atop the BIGGEST climb in the whole world, or at least that what it seemed like. What a day... 5,477 ft. of a true uphill battle.

Marblemount, WA

Although we were on the road at nine, there was a lot to do before that. We got up, ATE, and then got the trailer organized, which was QUITE a task given the craziness that was within it with cookware, tents, our own duffels, food, camp chairs, first aid stuff, and more. Finally we headed down to Padilla Bay to dip our back tires into the Pacific Ocean, 3500 miles from the Atlantic. The Holiday Inn Express staff, PJ and Danielle, took pictures and provided music (Queen’s I want to ride my bicycle), Then we got on the road.

Six miles in we had our first wipe out. We were all on the road practicing our pace lines. There was a road sign that appeared on the side of the road, which the first person saw but failed to inform the following four. Ellen almost missed it, and escaped with just a scraped leg. Then it was Ellie, who just yelped, but Renzo took the cake. He ran into it straight on, flipped over his handlebars, and landed on his back, followed by his bike which landed on top of him. He immediately jumped up and was a champ! No complaints at all, all day.

We ended up on the South Skagit River Highway. It was breathtaking. The river was on our left, and the hills were on our right. The trees provided the perfect amount of shade, and we were on the same road for about 25 miles, so we had plenty of time to practice our pace lines to avoid another sign incident.

Right off the highway we had lunch in Concrete. There, we discussed the beauty in Washington and Ellie commented “I like Washington. It’s like New England…on crack”. And Mark, Ellen’s father, replied “I like anything on crack”.

From there we only had eighteen miles until our camp site (Alpine RV Park). It just happened to be the hardest part of the day for Brendon. This is where he had his fourth flat of the day which took about an hour and a half to fix, so it was the first part of the day where the pack was ahead of Brendon and Parker.

At about four fifteen we arrived to the tent site and that is when the thunder started. We had to race to get the tents up, get dinner started, and bikes put away. Now we are all sitting comfortably on the picnic tables under a rain tarp as spaghetti and meat balls are being prepared.

Burlington, WA

Hi all, Brendon here,
Today, we made final preparations for the bike trip. We launch tomorrow and are all very excited to finally start the trip. Everything went smoothly today with one exception. Just as I was finishing up cleaning my bike, I discovered that the front gear didn't work. Fortunately, Mr. Mark (my name for Mr. Richardson) and I went to a local bike shop and got it fixed up. The people there were very nice and didn't even charge us in full. People seem very nice when we mention our trip to them. We have found this to be the case the whole trip. We are all really pumped up for the trip. At seven tomorrow, we will dip our tires in the Pacific and embark on our trip! Stay tuned.

Ellie here,
So much going on today! We arrived at our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express in Burlington, Washington, this afteroon to a very pleasant surprise. The people here at the hotel prepared a whole welcome for us, including pizza, a poster, gift bags, and three HUGE boxes of granola bars. We have been so astonished by the kindness and hospitality that people have shown us when we tell them about our cause. It really is incredible.
On a side note, Parker wears his sunglasses whenever possible. I say this only because I looked up from writing this, and he is sitting in the corner of our hotel room writing in his journal wearing his sunglasses. It's a pretty funny sight. When I asked him why he was wearing them, he said "because they make me look fly". Haha, just kidding about that last part.
Another adventure, today we went on our first grocery store trip! The four girls and Dr. Kiley headed out to the store, prepared to find the best bargains. It was a very fun experience. We spent almost an hour cruising through the aisles of "Haggen's", checking out all of the food, trying to figure out what we're going to eat for the next few days. While dancing in the cereal aisle to The Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA" I was caught red-handed by an old man who embarassed me by yelling "you go girl!". I promptly hid behind our shopping cart, while the man walked by and laughed at our shenannigans.
Now we're back at the hotel, relaxing and enjoying our last night of fresh muscles. We're all planning on going to bed as soon as possible, so we can be totally rested for our first day of biking tomorrow!

Boston, MA

After a year of preparation, a week of exams, packing, re-packing, checking, double-checking, and finalizing every last detail of the trip, we are finally en route to Seattle. As soon as exams were finished on Saturday, we all got to go home for a quick rest and are regrouping today at seven o’clock at the JetBlue terminal in the Boston Logan airport. From there, we fly to Seattle, spend Tuesday preparing the trailer and making final adjustments on our bikes, and on Wednesday we start riding.
It is incredible that after all of our preparation, the trip is finally starting. I know I’m not alone in wondering “am I ready for this? Will I make it?” but I’m sure that with the help of my friends, the Cascades will be no match for me! A few of us have jointly decided that “slow and steady” will be our motto on this trip, we won’t be rushing it in to the finish every day. I’m looking forward to some loooong days on the saddle, and to seeing some beautiful parts of the country.
Ellen and I are currently sitting on the Dartmouth Coach, en route to Logan airport. I don’t think it’s quite hit either of us yet that in two days we start our seven-week-long journey across the country, but for right now we are both very excited. We both agree that the best way to see a place is by bike, it’s the perfect mode of transportation. Hopefully we will still think that in two months!

Team Photo

Here is a picture of our team, plus expert bike fitter and our biggest supporter, Dick Drummond. The cyclists are, (from left to right) Sarah, Ellen, Ellie, Gwen, Brendon, Parker, Renzo.
This is the day we got our bikes! Dick fitted each of us separately for our bikes, adjusting all kinds of things that we didn't even know were important. Thanks to him, our rides will be much more comfortable!