July 30th:
We knew it would be a very hot day today, with the heat wave bringing in temperatures soaring up to 104 degrees. We decided to start the morning off with a quick coffee stop, as this has become the norm, and then proceeded with a group of Gino, Matt, Kyle, and Lizzy.
The morning continued to show the desert side of Washington. We climbed for a little bit and were able to look back over the suburbia that is Richland.
In the morning, I talked to Lizzy and Kyle about our dogs. Unfortunately, that morning Lizzy learned from her mom that her dog, Java, had received a cancer diagnosis and things weren’t looking good. Of course, Lizzy was upset, but when you ride with the “team puppy,” Kyle, your spirits are always lifted. Lizzy herself is one of the funniest people on our team, if not the funniest. Her humor is subtle, clever, and unique. We biked through a neighborhood where many animal noises were heard, and these were not just your average dog barking noises. There were strange sounding birds and some growls from unknown animals, which caused Lizzy to ask “are we in the Dominican Republic or something??”
I believe we officially dubbed this day a “flat catastrophe.” In this Washington desert, there were many thorns on the roads that would puncture our tires and tubes. Before the first water stop at 30 miles, Martha’s team got 4 flats. All the other teams, except for mine, had at least one flat each. We had to wait for them at the first water stop for about an hour, which in my opinion, seems to defeat the purpose of waking up early to get as many morning miles in as possible as a means of beating the heat. Instead, we roasted in the sun waiting for the teams to arrive. Only after the first water stop were the rest of the stops that day considered “rolling stops,” meaning that teams could stop in for water and leave whenever they wanted to without having to wait for everyone to get in. This always seems unfair to the first group (which happened to be my group, this day) who has to wait forever at the first non-rolling water stop only to fall far behind the rest of the day after getting flats of our own.
Later on, we biked into a town called Grand View, where we got our first glimpse of what I believe was Mt. Adams. There are just a few of these gigantic mountains in Washington and Oregon, and when you see them it is truly stunning. Even from such a far distance, it was an incredible sight. It’s always hard to take photos of them, though. I could see the stand-alone mountain in the distance and tried to capture it in this photo, but I was unsuccessful.
Shortly after rolling into town, Kyle got a flat.
The amount of glass on the side of the road in Washington is unreal. I’ve never had to avoid so much glass so consistently throughout several days. I don’t think any of the flats we had were due to glass, but it’s shocking that the glass was not the culprit. Kyle did get another flat, but it was a slow leak and we were so close to the lunch stop that we employed the pump-and-run method so we could ride for just 4 more miles. The host van had picked out a great spot for lunch in the shade. There was a local woman who pulled over to ask us what our ride was all about, and then proceeded to tell us we’d picked a terrible time to ride there with the heat wave. “We know” is about the only response we could give. I think we looked rather miserable as we all laid in the shade, incredibly tired and probably dehydrated.
Shenanigans ensued, as they always do, as Sean and Kyle began wrestling. I’m not sure when it started, but it’s not unusual to catch these two acting like children in this way. It’s hilarious, though, and we all love to watch it.
Our final water stop was on a river with a small boat access ramp. Some of us decided to jump in to cool off from the insanely hot temperatures. While I would say most of us were clothed, there were others that were not. When we got out of the river, a police officer pulled into the lot and said “I’ve gotten some calls about people swimming naked in this river. Was that you guys?” We said “we were wearing bike shorts without our jerseys, so if that’s what you mean by naked…” We got away with it this time, but this is probably the closest we’ve come to getting a public indecency charge (let it be known that I was not skinny dipping… on this particular occasion). Sam’s face says it all in this photo.
It was also at this water stop that I received horrible news from two of my Bike & Build friends. Two Maine to Santa Barbara (“ME2SB”) riders were hit by a car in Oklahoma, one of whom (Patrick Wanninkhof) was pronounced dead at the scene and the other (Bridget Anderson) who was airlifted to a hospital. I give this information not to scare anyone about my safety on this journey, but to remind everyone about the importance of safe driving. The two riders were hit by a woman who admitted to checking her phone when the accident occurred. We’re likely all guilty of doing this, but it’s heartbreaking instances like this that remind us to hold ourselves accountable for our actions behind the wheel. The news affected me more than I expected, and I spent much of the remainder of this ride in tears, maintaining my position in the front of the pack so as to not let my group see me crying. Bike & Build will forever hold a huge place in my heart, and the idea of my community being shattered left me speechless and broken. I was reminded of how lucky I am to partake in two epic cross-country journeys, and also how uncertain life can be. I’m thankful that I successfully made it to San Diego in 2013 with my entire NC2SD Bike & Build team. Knowing that a B&B rider’s life was cut short so suddenly and that he wouldn’t be able to celebrate his accomplishment at the Pacific Ocean with his team made me feel guilty that I’ve done this twice with just a few small scars to show from it. I’m proud of the Bike & Build community and how they proceeded to show their support in the days that followed. Here’s a photo of my B&B family on our last day in San Diego, as a wonderful memory of great times with inspirational people:
Baltimore to Portland with 4K for Cancer 