June 19, 1998 - Davenport - Spokane

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 35.36 Miles

TIME: 2:15 Hours

AVERAGE SPEED: 17.7 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Warm and sunny in the beginning turning into a small amount of rain which then turned back to a cloudless day.

ROAD CONDITIONS: The beginning was great with smooth roads. After we turned off of route 2, we had a downhill for about a mile which was full of potholes and places where the road had cracked. It then smoothed out once again, as we came into downtown Spokane.

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Very flat with rolling hills. One small steep uphill and one downhill.

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
We woke up today at 8:00 AM and found out that we had to get out of the church by 9:30. I packed up all my gear after putting on my biking clothes for the day. I then went with Matt to a local bakery for breakfast where I had an "elephant's ear" and a "French cruller." We then went back to the church and threw our gear into the SAG after making lunch and eating a banana. I left around 10:00 with Matt, Tom, and Brad. Our goal was to make it to Spokane in 2 hours. We started off at around 20 miles an hour but it gradually slowed down as we got farther and farther from where we had left. Eventually, Tom and I left Matt and Brad and we took turns in the lead since there was a fairly strong head wind. Along the road, there was a marker at every mile. At these points we would switch off and the leader would break the wind for the person following. The follower would then be able to draft and use only about half of the normal energy required. This enabled us to go much faster than if we were riding side by side or by ourselves. As we came into the outskirts of Spokane, it was my turn to lead. I was going for what seemed to be a very long time. Finally I noticed that the next mile marker said that I had lead for 2 miles instead of the normal one mile. They had stopped the markers while we were in the city.(Picture8) By this time I was very tired and we decided to take a break and eat a quick lunch before continuing on. Matt and Brad caught up with us in about 5 minutes and we then all left at the same time. We kept up a good speed of about 20 miles per hour with the larger group. As we came into the city, we then found the church and found that David had gotten in about five minutes before us since he had left earlier in the morning. David, Brad, Jade, and I then went in search of a pizza place which we found very quickly. We ordered two large pizzas and quickly ate them. Jade and I then went down to the local bike shop to look around which was followed by us going back to the church to take a rest since we were all so tired. We came back and I finished my leftover pizza before biking down to the local YMCA for a shower. Unlike everyone else who went in to swim and relax, I jumped in the shower, changed, and left. When I got back, we decided to take all of our gear downstairs in the church for the night. We then had a dinner of millet, split peas, and onions which was not a dinner that I would recommend eating at home any time soon. After dinner we had a group meeting for about an hour and a half where we talked about what has happened in the last week. We made a few changes to the previously set policies since we now had an idea of how Bike-Aid works. After this, most of the people went out to a local brewery or bar to play pool for a while. I suddenly became very hungry since the dinner wasn't very filling and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, 3 oranges, and 2 bananas. I then got everything ready to go to bed which turned into another late night where I got to bed around 12:00.

TRIP ROUTE:
Take a left on Rte 2 and follow for about 25 miles until you come to a sign that says Rte 90 Business. Then there will be a sign that says that bikes have to exit the freeway in ¼ mile. Take the exit merging off to the left. Go down a big hill that is extremely rough which will turn into Sunset. Follow until you reach train tracks in front of you. turn right at next place where road veers off to the right and follow until 4th street. Go left on 4th and follow until you reach Washington. Church is on 4th and Washington.