69 miles – 2,917 feet climbed – 4000 calories to be replaced!

So finally we got underway. Breakfast was at 6am this morning to allow us all to pack up our stuff and get the van loaded before a group photo.

The route today was quite straight forward – turn left out of the hotel onto route 30 East and after 69 miles turn right into the Best Western Oak Meadows hotel. Although we were on the same road it varied between quiet forested sections and 8 lane highways with some spectacular views of snow covered mountains. The SAG (snack and gear) stops were at 20 and 46 miles – the first in the forest at a fish hatchery (very picturesque) and the second by the car wash at a Shell petrol station (not so picturesque) but we stuffed ourselves silly with bananas, fig biscuits, chocolate chip cookies which was very nice but sadly took me nowhere near replacing the 3900 calories I burned on the ride. I have had a burger and chips with extra creamy milkshake and am having pizza later so will try and keep eating – anyone jealous??

The road surfaces here (so far) are fabulous – so much better than in the UK. The only drawback is that we are riding on the hard shoulder which has a lot of debris on it and is a bit narrow for side by side riding so not so sociable.

The scenery is stunning and hard to capture in pictures but this one captures the Columbia River with snow-covered mountain tops behind.