After the big rain from last night I was glad to see blue sky when I woke up. I was able to get all of my gear dried out so I was ready to go. As an added bonus, Natalie showed up in the morning. So I had a riding partner for the day and maybe longer.
Today would take us through the Little Pend Oreille Lakes Recreational Area and over the Tiger Summit. The Summit was a climb but very reasonable from the Colville side. The weather was nice to begin the days cycling, but clouds gradually were moving in. We put up with a few bouts of lite rain and drizzle for most of the day but were in pretty good spirits in general since the Tiger Summit paled in comparison to any of the 4 previous passes.
We got to the obvious Summit even though there was not a sign to designate the top. There was a sign showing a 4 mile steep descent. We decided to stop at the top and put some warmer clothes on for the fast descent. Before we could even begin we saw and heard 2 huge thunder and lightning strikes right on top of us and then an unbelievable hail barrage. The ground turned white right before our eyes. We made a quick decision to wait it out on top since riding in the hail would be really painful. Once the hail let up we started the descent…… going very slowly down since we were drenched and the temperature was most likely in the upper 30’s at this point.
I could not feel my hands or feet during the descent. Finally after 4 miles and what seemed an eternity, we got to the bottom. Frozen and borderline hyperthermia but at the bottom. There was a small gift store at this corner so we we went in to try to warm up. Some other people supporting a group ride (more on them later) where also warming up in the store too. They had some tea and the lady working was able to heat some water for us. I could barely hold the cup I was shivering so bad but it was heaven sent non the less. Still very cold but not shivering any longer, we decided camping was a bad idea. We headed toward Ione which was 4 miles away to get a motel room and really warm up. It was a good decision since it continued to rain on and off for the rest of the day and evening. Natalie got the bed and I got the floor but we both slept well that night.
drenching rain and hail at the top of a long climb- sounds exactly like Death Ride to me! Good call on the waiting out the weather and the hotel room. attach more photos please!!
Greg – looks like things are going great…except for the occasional rain/hail storms!!! Keep up the posts, enjoy the day and keep the rubber side down!!!!