June 17, 1998 - Wenatchee - Coulee City

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 77.54 Miles

TIME: 7 Hours 50 Minutes

AVERAGE SPEED: 13.3 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Hot and sunny in the morning which was just a little too hot for me but then it became cloudy and the wind picked up making the day perfect for biking.

ROAD CONDITIONS: Beginning was great just like the other days but by midmorning, we came upon a construction zone that contained 25 miles of freshly laid gravel over tar. This was very difficult to ride over and I had to be careful to keep from being hit by flying rocks that were thrown up by cars. After this horrible stretch, we then had fairly smooth roads which were slightly cracked due to old age.

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: The beginning was full of small rolling hills which then turned into a 9 mile uphill. After this, we then had some large rolling hills on top of a huge plateau with a few small descents and climbs in and out of canyons. Coming into Coulee City we had a 3 mile downhill followed by a perfectly flat trip across a reservoir.

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
Today I woke up at 7:00 and packed up my gear. It seemed like everyone had gotten up early and wanted to get an early start to a long day. After packing up my gear, I collected a large amount of dried fruit that was given to us by our host and made two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the day. After throwing everything into the SAG, I left around 8:10 with Matt. We quickly passed a few people who were in front of us and then we continued on to cross over a foot bridge which took us over a large river. We then took a right and followed a bike path for about 2 miles before I thought that we were going the wrong way. We asked some people who were driving by and sure enough we turned right when we should have turned left. We went back and took the trail the correct way and took a very windy and hilly path instead of route 2 which was straight and a gradual climb. Then, because of the bike path, we went past where we were supposed to turn so we had to backtrack for another ½ mile. After this, we finally made it onto route 2 and began to speed along the smooth road. We then looked ahead after a few miles, and found that there was a 9 mile winding uphill ahead of us to take us up to the top of a plateau. About 4 miles up, we encountered a detour that led us to ride a total of 5 miles uphill on tar-covered by gravel. After reaching the top, we had large rolling hills ahead of us for another 20 miles.(Picture5) There was a gas station at the top where I stopped and ate a sandwich, a heath ice cream bar, and a Charleston Chew. I then brought along another candy bar for later in the day. I then continued on knowing that I still had another 40 miles until my destination. We went through numerous wheat fields with a perfectly straight road where you could see for five miles in front of you seeing all of the hills in-between. Half way through these hills we finally found that the bad road stopped and a smoother road began although it had large cracks every 20 feet due to its old age. We went through a few canyons which had very small climbs out of them with really nice downhills. By this time I was beginning to feel my legs and was checking my speedometer every few minutes to find that it had barely changed to my dismay. Finally we had four miles to go and there was a great downhill before a mile long stretch over a dam to finally reach our destination. The temperature was great and I sat outside to stretch before moving on to the next chore. After stretching, I replaced the tube in my back tire since I had broken off the valve earlier. I needed it to be pumped up but it wouldn't work unless I replaced it with a new valve. After struggling for a while due to how tight the tire was on the rim, I finally got it off and changed the tube. I then rode over to a general store and bought a Mountain Dew before heading back to get everything I needed for taking a shower at a nearby park. I took a shower and washed out my shorts at the same time. I sped back and began to make a dinner of burritos which was a real hit among my fellow bikers. After cleaning up from dinner, I then was able to sit back and relax. We then were able to get an early trip to bed around 11:00 instead of 12:00 of the night before.

TRIP ROUTE:
Get onto route 2 and take it east for about 70 miles until you come to Coulee City. Take second exit in Coulee City and turn left into park where you can pay to camp.