Nothing like waking up in the morning knowing that you have a 32 mile climb over a major mountain range ahead of you! That was what waited for me today.
I left the Colonial Creek camp ground at 8:40. Danny and Natalie had left right at 8:00 and I wondered if I would see them on the climb. The road pitched up within a 100 yards of the CG entrance and I was sweating right away. Luckily, the initial steep grade did not last all day. Most of the climb would prove to be fairly reasonable (as far as mountains go anyway). I caught up with Natalie and Danny after a couple of hours so it was nice to commiserate with someone while climbing the pass. After about 23 miles, we all decided to take a lunch break. It felt good to get off the bike for a while. Finely about 2:00 we went over the top of Rainy Pass! Unfortunately we still had to descend for a mile or so and then climb 3 more miles to the top of Washington Pass. It was not as difficult as I had thought it would be, but took longer. Natalie looked pretty strong on the climb while Danny had “bonked” pretty hard on the last few miles. He just needs to ride more days to get into cycling fitness. He only had ridden a few days and really not much before he started his tour. I am not worried about him at all. 
Of course the reward for all of that climbing was the 18 mile descent to Mazama. Very fun. We all went to the Mazama Country Store for some bakery goods even though it was 4:30.
I then rode 14 more miles into Winthrop since I was staying at my friend Carol’s house. But we all met up again at the Old Schoolhouse Brewery for a beer and some food. The party was even better since Carol and our other friend Linda joined us. A fitting ending to another great day on the bike.
The bigger the hump….the more you pump…..thanks for keeping it real Greg!
Whooohoooo you made it!!!! Glad you met some bike buddies to boot. Great picture for that moment in time. It’s all down hill now 🙂