Monday, May 25, 2009

Day 1 - Seattle (Fremont) to 6 miles east of Chinook Pass, WA 106.9 miles







Rookie mistakes and wonderful weather 5/23/09

With a strong wind at my back I couldn't complain about a lot. Since this is my first overnighter I knew there would be some surprises along the way, I just wasn't prepared for the amount. Call them rookie mistakes. I know that I should try something new, be it gear, food, etc, without testing it before heading out on a 3,600 mile journey, that I was prepared for.

Seattle to Chinook Pass (5,243 ft) seemed for the most part to be uphill. Seattle had some amazing knee busters... and then came the rookie mistakes. I had attached the tire pump to the inside of the seatpost and it seemed there was enough clearance from the tire. After 9 miles in the pump had dropped onto the tire and made pedaling extremely difficult. Fortunately the plastic on the pump was softer than the tire causing the pump to receive most of the damage (inconsequential compared to a tire)

Rook mistake 2 came about 40 miles into the ride. I checked in April to make sure highway 410 would be open by the time I passed, which the website said it would. Later I would find out they had opened it the day before I came through. Unfortunately a large section of Hwy 169 was closed which caused me an extra 20 miles in detour. Thanks to Google maps for helping me around it while other cyclists were backtracking!

Rookie mistake 3 was a culmination of pounding out the Seattle hills and then trying to do the same on Mt Ranier. Grinding out 70 miles uphill murdered my knees, I should have gone a little easier and slowed down, 50 lbs of gear was something I wasn't used to carrying.

Rookie mistake 4 occurred in making camp at the American River just east of Chinook Pass. I awoke at 3 am to scratching around my head, I turned on my light and saw some holes in my trail mix. I noted my tent zipper was not completely closed, so I closed it and turned out the light. A minute later more scratching and to my surprise there were mice jumping on the mesh tent window and sliding down into where the hole used to be. I later learned from another cyclist that the mice were particularly aggressive on Mt Ranier.

It took me 3 hours to break camp the next morning, disappointing!

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