In Lewiston now after two more days of excellent cycling and some urban exploration. The ride from Umatilla was relatively short and painless, and two days on now it's already hard to recall the details and events of the day. The tailwind stayed with us as we passed along the Columbia river, which due to dammage is now Umatilla lake.
In the morning we had pictures with our new sponsors banner. As we rode off i realised that I'd left my helet in Tillicum, well always do it seems, ahem. Had to turn back to collect it and then was chasing down the pack along the highway, pretty much until we came to a stop for roadworks at around 20 miles. We regrouped alongside the trucks and other traffic before receiving an escort along the next mile or so.
The group kind of spread out along the rest of the route into Walla Walla. I am still surprised by how rapidly the landscape keeps changing, for lakes and canyons to vineyards and rolling hills in the distance. We are in wine country by this time, and there are plenty of opportunities for indulgences along the way.
It was only a short day so we got into the Holiday Inn in Walla Walla by just after midday. I took the opportunity to give my bike a bit of T.L.C. clean the chainset and check the fittings. After washing me and my bike I headed into town to catch up with the gang. They'd eaten so we had a chat and I went for a little wander. Then caught up with Tom and we sat outside the restaurant people watching while I sampled some local wine. I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Walla Walla. It seems a very well turned out town, quite 'forward thinking' or a bit to the left, or hippyish, depending on your terminology. I saw a sign which designated Walla Walla as 'the cycling capital of Washigton' though have no idea who designated it as such!
There are 3 colleges in the city so probably contributing to the feel of it.
I had a lovely chilled arvo mooching around going up and down the blocks, reading plaques and so on. I got to Public House 124 a good hour before the arranged meeting time had a nice cocktail and chat with Will, a local mountainbiker and positive ball of energy who gave me a bit of a lowdown on the town.
After dinner there was an in depth briefing for the next day, which was a bit late for some. It was a long day to Lewiston so an early start was required. The plan was to ride pelotons as much as possible as practice for it it got hard. Heading out of town there was a little confusion about direction, but pretty soon we got into lush cartoon rolling hills. There were a few photo opportunities and more gasping at scenery.
....
So now with 6 minutes battery remaining and having to head off soon we're back to list form.
- Leading the pack
- pictures
- coffee
- Camel?
- Trucks (no, really)
- scraggly peloton
- Riding together
- Packed lunch on teh roadside
- grain silos
- Pomeroy
- One final Hill
- Race into town
- Clarkston full of signs
- Lewiston old town
- Inn America
- Quesedia for dinner
- We're now in our 3rd state!
Pics and vid to follow if there's ever enough bandwidth to handle it!
Try this:
Try this:
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