XWA Day 3 Up and Over the Cascades

Day 3 started off with an even earlier alarm clock. Rick (RM) and I got rolling a little after 4AM. The great thing about the hotel is that your bike is ready to go and you don’t have to pack-up the tent and all the gear. I had all of my maps ready to go for the tricky suburban segment. RM and I rode for a short while in the dark, but we soon parted ways when I took a different turn onto a trail following my maps through a neighborhood dead end. I was treated to a great sunrise on the hill above Kenmore before dropping down to the Burke Gilman trail. RM and I later joined back up right before Norway Hill and he took a pit stop at the bottom and I kept going. Another nice long push up the Norway Hill trail complete with XWA signs! I passed Jason (JM) near the top of the hill. McDonalds was still closed in Kenmore when I rolled past so still no breakfast sandwich for me. I was finally able to get my breakfast sandwich and awesome hot cup of coffee at the Starbucks on Avondale rd. (second hot meal). RM rolled up here when I was heading back out. I continued on the route constantly going through my maps and really enjoyed the trails especially in the watershed. Finally I popped out at Tolt Macdonald park and filled my water and got onto the Snoqualmie Valley Trail (SVT). I tried something different with my bike shorts this day and it was not working out (probably contributed to bigger saddle sores in the long run). I stopped in the park in Snoqualmie to change my shorts and eat a bit. I chatted with a cool dude in the park here that was super excited about hearing about what I was doing. He was an endurance moto guy and had done some cool remote moto trips in WA. I continued on up the SVT past North Bend and I got stopped by the legendary John Stamstad and NW In Motion to do an interview about my race. Not my best interview, but I'll use the lame excuse that I was tired :). I continued up the pass behind two of the XWA lite riders who were making great pace. I dropped down to the Denny creek alternate and had some big trees to go over and a little snow. I made it up to the pass and had some great pizza (3rd hot meal) and filled my water bottles at the brewery (with water, not beer). The XWA lite guys were in there drinking a beer. It was starting to rain and I had rain for the remainder of the day. The long snow push slog after the pass was tough mentally (one of my lowest points). I went through this section totally alone with no other riders in sight. I knew it would eventually end, but it took a long time. The hard thing was that there was a bunch of off/on the bike. I could ride for several yards and then I'd have to push in snow and repeat 100's of times. The snow was soft and slushy due to the rain, but was firm enough that there was no post-holing, thank goodness. Platform pedals would have been nice here. In fact, I'm almost thinking that platform would have been better for me in the long run. Many other XWAers were running spd/platform combo pedals and maybe that is a good solution. I got really tired of clipping in and unclipping and accidentally clipping in only to have to unclip again. My pedals got tight where I had trouble unclipping and put a lot of stress on my ankles (my left ankle is still swollen and hurts to flex my foot). The left ankle got so bad that it was very painful to walk, but thankfully was pain free when I was pedaling. I tried loosening the pedal spring tension, but it did not seem to help much and I fought my pedals for the rest of the trip. I finally made it through the last of the snow and found a nice spot to camp next to the river right before Cle Elum. I saw a bear quickly run across the trail right before lake Easton and a lone elk in this section. It rained on me that night, but I stayed warm and dry in the tent.

DAY 3: 110mi, 6300ft elev. gain, 16hrs, Lynnwood-Cle Elum