Day 2 Sultan to Leavenworth

We woke up to clouds and cooler weather. I was up at 5:45 along with most people, but didn't start cycling until 8, at the back end. Tomorrow better. I have a new plan.
I started catching up to people about 15 k up the road and also passed a temp sign, it showed 59 degrees. I biked up to the peak with Gresham V. We had lunch with Matt Z as well at the 60 k mark. We had been climbing pretty good for a while already and it was now about 94 degrees. We hit the peak at 71 k (42 Mi) which was about 9 k sooner than what I was expecting. so that was nice. Walter V was at the SAG there. (Hi Shirley). So the climb started at about the 50 k mark (30 mi) and went for 21 k. It took us almost 5 hrs including stops and lunch to get there.

Going down was pretty quick at first. I was doing about 55 k when Louis B whizzed by me at 70 k (42 mph) (he told me later). He wanted to hit 75, but started wobbling a bit so slowed down.

Going downhill later wasn't as fast or easy as the wind was coming up the mountain, so I had to work sometimes to hit 30 k (18 mph. With out the wind it would be an easy cruise at 40 or so.

Near the end I caught up to Barb M and Gerald K who were just going again after a short break. Barb was in the lead and she can haul! It made for a faster, easier last 10 k (6 mi) for me. So tomorrow I will have to try an peleton some more.

We stopped in Leavenworth for some ice cream for about 45 min and made it into camp at 4 PM. The last people came in just as supper was starting at 6 PM to a rousing cheer. Pretty neat. Ralph F spoke at the peleton meeting about his 41st wedding anniversary today and we also sang O Canada after supper. Supper was good. I may be gaining weight.

I have pictures, but they will come in a couple of days as it's now after 10:30 so it's time to get to my tent. Tomorrow is a big climb day as well.

Today there were 6 wipe outs today, nothing serious though. There were 12 flats, one poor guy had 6 of them. Fred M had one too. Fred M was on sweep team today so he came in around 5. Tomorrow we will cycle together for the first time.

The ride today was 131 k, my longest ever (79 mi). 5 hr 41 min in the saddle, average speed 23.0.