Pedaling Pilgrim Blog Home

Today’s blog is being written by the ghost of some poor pitiful soul. We imagined today would be a challenge; we should have imagined worse. I don’t know if it was lack of sleep, residual U-Haul effect, or the new electrolyte tablets that taste less like the apple on the label and more like vomit. I was a beaten man today: the proverbial anchor of our threesome; I was the caboose for our train most of the afternoon and often I came unhitched

I did sleep poorly despite the cool air, comfy beds and the calming sounds of a few lumbering trains; maybe I couldn’t get over the 30 miles of stress to finish our day yesterday, or maybe I was mad at myself for some bickering over pace and planning that put minor tests on our relationships; or maybe it was just the unnatural setting of our private hotel: it wouldn’t have surprised me one bit if Jack Nicholson put an axe through the bedroom door as I tossed and turned. I got about 4 hours of sleep as every strange noise had me stirring.

Yesterday Julie Davis told us to prepare to see a whole lot of nothing on the road to Bickelton. However, we saw quite a variety of things. And a lot of interesting things happened. But in my physical and mental exhaustion, I’m not sure how much I’ll capture tonight (may have to reprise tomorrow).

At the start of the day, before we even left Lyle, Lecy got screwed.

I thought I saw what looked like a sticker on his tire as we were leaving Lyle, but it was a screw and leaking tire gel. Nearly an hour later I noticed that his tire seemed a little flat. On inspection… our first flat tire. We were excited to get out some tools and make repairs, though maybe we should have let Lecy be a little more independent on this task. As we were finishing up, Geeto tried to assist with a tire lever, and quite naturally Lecy said, “I got this, dad.” Geeto can be a little overly nurturing to the point of annoyance; we laughed at Lecy’s mistaking him for his father, Jerry.

Thanks in equal parts to Strava mapping, and our inexperience to check some details, we took a right off the main road following the Klickitat River and started a 3.5 mile climb on a more remote road. 1/2 mile later we met a sign saying: Pavement Ends. Lecy wanted to turn around and backtrack to the main road, but Geeto and I wanted to press on. Sometimes in a democratic society like ours, the stupid ideas prevail. 1/2 mile after that we were off our steeds and hauling them along as we walked up unrideable (for us) steep (>10%) gravel road. We did this for nearly 3 miles. When we did ride, being on gravel on a bike built for roads was unwieldy and exhausting. This was a slog and we still had 20 miles to go before lunch in Goldendale. 90 minutes later we were back on pavement swearing never to ride on gravel again.

The normal onslaught of road riding punishment began as we traveled up and down hills of the western Washington Palouse. Each hill alone was not terrible, but the seemingly never-ending demand after the exhausting and unexpected hike took its toll.

We rolled into Goldendale after 37 miles at a much slower pace than usual. I was in great need of some fuel and a long rest to recover for the demanding 34 more miles to Bickelton. Coming into town we saw 3 different deer walking around in the middle of the day.

The stop helped, but it was far from a complete cure to my woes; I felt I was at 50% capacity and was not looking forward to the afternoon, one which promised a 2,200 foot climb for 13 miles to end the day: the elevation image on Strava was daunting and the Apple Maps route warned of steepness that may not be rideable.

There was a request for stop at a convenience store on the way out of town. Lecy was pointed in a direction away from the Bickelton Highway and we found ourselves a mile on the outskirts and a half mile from a gas station that was in the wrong direction for us. We decided we didn’t to stop after all, and moved ahead on Apple Maps directions. After some more moderate demands over several miles of Palouse, we reached the end of paved roads, again. A passing car stopped as we looked incredibly upon a 1.75 mile long dirt road. The woman said that was the quickest way to the Bickelton Highway, but three times she informed: “That’s a s@&! road!”

Well, the s@&! road turned out to be more sand than dirt, which Apple should have informed us definitely not rideable. And so began another long, exhausting walk of shame. This worked perfectly to sap any positivity I picked up at lunch to leave me again broken heading into the hardest part of the day.

Back on the Bickelton Highway, we finished our remaining climbs before the 1000 foot descent. The descent, especially the last few miles, was very fun. One consistently nice thing about the ride today, there was no traffic. In the 71 mile day were we’re passed maybe 20 times; and the drivers always slowed and gave a wide berth acknowledging our presence. So, we could enjoy the switchbacks into the basin using the whole of the road (even breaking the 25 mph speed caution into some turns).

But, the proverbial “what goes up” faced us in reverse, and in intimidating fashion. So, the enjoyment of descent was tainted by the specter of the 2200’ climb. We stopped in the bottom of the canyon to steel ourselves and enable Lecy to be stung on the ring finger by a wasp. Now it was time for the hard part of the day.

I won’t bore you with the remainder of the riding, as it was relatively uneventful. We did RIDE the whole thing, even the 12.9% grade that Apple warned we might consider walking. Halfway through the climbing we were taking a rest and greeted by Logan who was working on building solar farms in the area. He donated a few bottles of needed water, and told us about his similar epic journey: when he was 7 years old, his dad put him on the tag-along bike and traveled from Bend, OR to Chesapeake Bay with Logan’s mom and brother riding along. The family took three months to make this demanding crossing, and it was easy to see by Logan’s expression that he was grateful for that experience.

We finished the climbing in uninspiring fashion, with Geeto and Lecy having to slow their pace to drag me home. On the steep part we took a break every mile, on the remainder of the climb we stretched it to 2-4 miles between breaks. After finishing the climb, we had a few miles of flat stretch where we could again cruise in respectable speed into our camp destination.

When we arrived at the Bearded Iris RV Park, it appeared abandoned. It was approaching 7:30 pm after an 11-hour day. Several months ago when seeking residence opportunities in Bickelton, I spoke to Lacy to understand that she rented sites to wind and solar farm constructors and she could definitely fit 3 small tents on the property. Now Lacy or any other sign of life were nowhere to be found. We heard voices and say a truck delivering a sea container behind the property., so we went back to explore hoping for some affiliation to the Bearded Iris. There was a woman who looked somewhat surprised to see three bedraggled older men walking up to their home. I assumed this was Lacy and approached her to consult about the camp; she seemed confused and I quickly determined she was not Lacy. Her name was Tess, and we quickly met her husband Chad; they told us Lacy had moved on and that “Mark” now owned and was renovating the property. They didn’t see any problems with having us as neighbors for the night. So, we each sprayed off dried sweat and grime with their garden hose and walked down to establish our camp.

When each took separate gravel RV pads as this was the softest terrain to be found. We pitched tents and enjoyed the pleasant surprise of a warm shower. Then Lecy hosted us at Site 2 for freeze-dried dinners. Lecy enjoyed his Buffalo Mac-n-cheese while Geeto prepared some southwestern chicken and bean bag. I wasn’t at all hungry but I ate a few bites of Geeto’s leftovers. We were all tired and I dig some blogging before hitting the air mattress, but I was saved from trying to finish when the wind started to howl and I lost reception.

Note: I’ve finally gotten reception again at the Bickelton General Store and Cafe. We’re awaiting our breakfast while greeter, waitress, and cook Missy is taking out some aggression smashing a bag of ice to refill the machine that we just drained overcoming residual dehydration. It’s been an exciting morning already… more to come when we finish in Kennewick later today!

Oops… update. I forgot Strava link and music offering!

Strava for today: Day 5: Bickelton to Kennewick . Already knocked out 5 of our 80 miles; we’ll hit our 10 mile long descent soon!

There’s a few fitting music offerings; I’ve narrowed it to these three (three today!): 1) Breakdown 2) Walk Like a Man 3) Better Days