100 miles in a single day is longest loop I've ever done from my house. So 566 miles in nine days is a whole other dimension - makes me think about other trips to take as a loop from my house. Here's one: up over White Pass, through Yakima, north through central WA to Grand Coulee Dam, pat Twisp and Winthrop, over North Cascades Highway, to Arlington by way of Darrington, then back home. But not this summer.
On this last day, I spent the morning dawdling along Hood Canal towards Potlatch. Somewhere along the way ( I guess it was at the road construction delay), I hooked up with Mars, LeeLee, and Alf, and sneaked into their pace line. We picked up Jim and Pat Harrington (I think it was somewhere between Biohazard and Ill Eagles fireworks stands!), and got a group photo with the Olympics in the background at the elbow of the Hood Canal. We stuck together nicely until the hills of home, where pace lines don't help all that much.
An hour from my house, just above Purdy, Jim was stopped with a flat. Checking his tube, it looked like he'd shredded his rim tape and had pinched the tube on the edge of the spoke hole. Great! I've been carrying rim tape with me for the last 9 months, and finally get a chance to use it. Absolutely made my day.
Then, a half mile from home, who do I see but Ken, looking puzzled at his seat tube. That's about all he had left when his saddle broke. Dave had gone on to his house for an extra seat post/saddle so Ken could finish the ride in gentlemanly style, not standing all the way (although given that he was only 1.5 miles from Alf's house, did it really matter?)
I'll close this journal with a gallery - I don't know if I got a picture of everyone riding or not - 'scuse me if you're missing. Here you are, with no captions:
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Miles: 77; Total: 566