The ever present beauty of the Cascade Mountain Range is sometimes overpowering ... from the towering mountains to a view as simple as a beautiful meadow. After a while one seems to become numb to the beauty ... kind of a, "Oh yeah, just another scenic view worthy of capturing, but I just don't feel like taking the trouble to stop and snap the photo." The beauty of traveling via a bicycle is that biking allows one to take in most of the beauty at a slow speed (as opposed to the 60 - 70 MPH of the passing vehicles).
Although I must admit, toward the end of most days I am quite envious of those traveling down the road at 70 MPH.
We have covered around 420 miles in these eight days, which if traversed on reasonably flat roads would bring much joy into one's remembrance of those eight days. However, the majority of those eight days consisted of substantial climbing through the Cascade Mountain Range ... consistent climbing, I might emphatically add. There are four or five major mountain-top passes between Anacortes and Newport, WA ... passes that typically require four to five hours of grinding the granny gear, upward at a wobbling 3 to 4 MPH ... consistently 3 to 4 MPH ... consistently painfull.
But that having been said, the down hills are filled with 30 MPH+ pure glee.
I rode this same route back in 2010 and I have discovered that unlike fine wine, the ageing process does not necessarily improve all things. This 70 year-old body (particularly these 70 year-old legs) yearn for that that existed nine years ago. Consistently ... late in the day ... yearns.
Oddly enough, one other physical change that has apparently occurred over these past years has been a reduction in body mass that used to exist between my "sit bones" and my bike's saddle ... much less cushion these days!
But the major climbs are behind us and Glacier National Park is about a week on down the road. Today we will have a short 30 mile ride into Sandpoint, ID. We will be taking a rest day in Sandpoint tomorrow that will allow our bodies to relax and partially recover from those grinding climbs. Sandpoint is the first sizable town we have visited on this ride, so looking forward to browsing a few book stores and just enjoying a sense of urbanization.
After riding up the fabled Glacier N.P. "Going to the Sun" road (video of ride down the road), we will be heading south to Missoula, MT. From there I will be heading west across central Washington with the goal of riding on the north and west sides of Olympic Peninsula, and then down to Astoria, OR. After that ... don't know. At this point Kim is undecided as to where her adventure will take her after Missoula, but she is considering several exciting options.
Speaking of Kim, she has been quite diligent in providing information about our daily experiences, so for a more detailed look at our ride, please visit her Biking With the Tailwind - 2019.
Sometimes I find myself wondering how I have become to be such a lucky individual so as to be able to experience the joys of long-distance bicycle touring at my age. I would like to suggest that this is all due to living a sin-free life, eating a healthy diet and generally treating my body as a temple ... but unfortunately there are too many friends still alive who would laugh at such a suggestion.
Never-the-less ... life is good.
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