Day Twelve - Longest Day Ever

Day Twelve- Longest Day Ever

Daily Brief

After the fight we had with the weather on day nine, we still had to make up some ground, which we did today. It was the longest day yet in terms of miles and travel time, and riskiest because of darkness.

The Ride

Coming out of Prosser, both Kregg and I (Parry) got flats. We knew this was going to be a long day, so we weren’t too enthusiastic about the flats, but then again who ever is? Either way, we learned that glass likes to chill on the shoulder of roads in Washington. When Kregg got his flat we realized we were out of tubes, so Bonnie had to go buy some and come back with the support van while we took refuge under an overpass. Meanwhile we tried to patch the flats with the patch kit included with the tools that came with the bikes, but then realized they didn’t come with glue. Ok, who’s idea was that? When Bonnie arrived we put in the new tube and I patched an old tube with a patch kit that came with glue.

The ride went smoothly until lunch, which we took at Wal-Mart. After Wal-Mart we got on a road headed straight towards the mountains. At first I thought it would turn to the right, but we kept getting closer and closer until I realized the trail we were taking went through the mountains. We were off the highway and onto a thin two lane mountain road. There were some great views, but the shoulder was almost non-existent, so we found ourselves hugging the shoulder as RVs and trucks kept whizzing by. The wind behaved most of the time, but a few times it hit us pretty hard. At one point it stopped us all dead in our tracks. We literally went from 12 MPH to 0 MPH in just a few seconds. The gust of wind came out of nowhere, but thankfully we were on a flat and not going downhill. There were some pleasant downhill runs, and a lot of winery’s and a small river always to our left. After about 20 miles I was ready to be out of the canyon pass as it just kept going forever. Another 5 miles and we were finally out. It didn’t help that I got another flat due to glass which slowed us down, yet again. (Plus my seat came loose.)

After that we started into canyons that were more spread out valleys. They had bigger farms with pine tree forests towards the top edges of the mountains. We enjoyed the views but sun was setting fast and it was getting darker and darker. Eventually we made it out of the valley run but it was dark. We were still a few miles from Ensign Ranch where we were staying the night. Our solution was to use the support van as a source of light.

We hopped back onto I-90 with the support van in close pursuit with hazard lights on and headlights to show us the way. After what seamed like forever (time travels slower with adrenalin) we took an exit that would take us to Ensign Ranch. It was another 2.5 miles in the dark (the sun was long gone by now), and we followed Shaun, who was following the white line on the road. Thankfully no one was one the random side road but us.

Riding into Ensign Ranch, we were all relieved to unpack our stuff into the bunk house, scarf down tons of soup, and crash for the night. The day started at around 9:00 AM and ended at around 10:15 PM and we traveled an incredible 122.3 miles, the longest distance any of us had ever traveled on a bicycle in one day. Today was definitely the longest day ever.

Daily Stats

Distance: 122.3
Time: 9:38
Avg. Speed: 12.6
Max Speed: 32.9

Total Distance: 889.17

P & C Pushups: 150