Biking, Day 2: 7/18/2009

Day 2: Rockport, WA to Twisp, WA
Distance: 98 miles
Route: Rte 20E/(North Cascades Highway until Mazama, WA) the entire way. Through the North Cascades, significant 'hills' – about 6 climbs of 5000 feet. It was hard. And slow.
Lodging: The Sportsman Motel, 1010 Rte20 E, Twisp, WA; $47/night. Run by an adorable older couple. Seems to be a motel primarily for bikers. Like, motorcycles.

Last night some guy told me that my ride today was going to be hard and include a lot of difficult climbs. Apparently, his son rode through on his bike a few years ago. So, I was nervous about making it through. The North Cascades Highway is 70 miles. Well, 70 miles from where I started – Rockport, WA to the end in Mazama, WA. My bike is great, but it doesn't down shift very low – it only has 10 speeds, since it's made for Cyclo Cross. So, I went to bed around 9:30 and got up at 5am, hoping to leave by 6am.

I left on my ride at 6:02am. It was awesome to be out on the road so early. The morning was gorgeous. I was having second thoughts about the route, but the morning was totally worth it.
The first 20 miles or so weren't horrible. The views were amazing. Then I hit Diablo, where there is the Diablo pass. This was the first climb. I think it was around 4500 to 5000 feet.
After Diablo, there were about 5 other climbs. I started stopping every 10 miles to rest, stretch, and have a snack. When going up the hills, which were like 4-5 miles long each one, I was only going at a pace of 8-10KM/hr, which is like 5-6miles/hr. When I'm biking normally, I go about 15-20 MPH. So, it was very strenuous.
Around noon, it started getting really hot. Going up the hills, I was sweating a ton.
Finally, I hit Washington Pass, the highest point in the North Cascades. It was at milepost 164 (I started at milepost 103). From there, it was all downhill. Like, really steep. I literally went downhill for 10 miles. When I reached the end of the North Cascades Highway, I had been biking for almost 8 hours. It had gotten really hot and I was super thirsty. I went into Mazama, WA to get a drink and snack.

In Mazama, I looked up motels in Twisp. Winthrop, WA is about 8 miles before Twisp, but I felt like I could go the extra 8 miles to Twisp. I called a cheap motel, The Sportsman Motel, and they had just had a cancellation. Yay! I booked the room and started riding again.

The last 25 miles or so into Winthrop, then to Twisp were pretty exhausting. It was 99 degrees out. I couldn't drink enough water. My seat area was starting to really get irritated. And I was worried about my sunburn on my right shoulder. I had covered the shoulder with cloth so it wasn't exposed all day, but it was starting to hurt anyway.
I went through Winthrop and it was adorable. It looks like an old western town, like from the 1920s. Super cute. I sort of wisshed I was staying there, but it also looked really touristy (I had been told that it was touristy, too). I continued on to Twisp, WA.

I got to my motel in Twisp around 4PM. I had been biking for the better part of 10 hours. I showered, washed my clothes in the sink, went out and got some dinner at the local grocery store (and snacks for tomorrow) and went back to the motel.

I made nachos! They were tasty. Again, no internet at this motel, but I used my blackberry to map out tomorrow.