Day 2: Tonasket to Chelan - Monday, August 5
Today I discovered what a difference having good tunes makes. For Father's Day this year, Susie and the kids gave me a bicycle headlight with a built in MP3 player and speaker. It mounts to my handlebars and blares my music as loud as I need it freeing me from distracting and dangerous ear buds.
I've been using it for two days now and I'm playing an eclectic mix that probably only I would love--lots of 80s, a few classic rock tunes, some current pop hits, a few worship songs, and then some bluegrass. I like bluegrass. Who knew?
Those tunes are keeping me positively motivated on long climbs--three tough ones today--distracted from the heat--it was probably close to 100 on the pavement along US97 today--and focused on the road ahead even with bust freeway traffic.
Now that I've made it through the playlist twice, it's time for more songs. Good thing Susie is coming to Leavenworth and bringing my laptop so I can download more songs to it.
The downside however is that I'm climbing these hills at a good pace, I'm smiling and feeling chipper. So as I passed one cyclist today long, hot, arduous climb, I whisked past her and hummed out, "On your left! Good morning!"
Her reply: "Ha! Yeah right!" Her lack of enthusiasm did not cause mine to wane. As hot and tough as those climbs were, I really enjoyed today's ride.
When we reached Aswell Dam on the Okanogan River for our afternoon water and food stop, I pulled into the parking lot and remarked to a group of cyclists lying in the grass, "Any of you got any butter? Cuz I'm toast!"
Our final descent into Chelan gave me time to consider my options upon arrival. Go straight to camp which is on a ball field with no shade OR make a beeline to the Chelan Starbucks. If you know me, that's a no brained. Java Chip Frappucino all the way. That's my recovery drink!
Time: 5:26
Avg: 15.4 mph
Max: 35.8 mph
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