Bah Humbug

Most of what will matter from here on has already been set in her, by you and your wife. Trust that you did the right thing, and make sure she knows you're there for her.

BillyD

Who are you and what have you done with Hummer's corpse?

MikeyBoyAz

Pretty fun image to visualize:

I turn on the Tour this morning early, get ready for the morning ride and head out. I walk in the door after a good 75 minutes with a friend and see my whole family hanging out on the couch, some playing with toys, but all are watching the Tour; I sat down with them and we chilled till it was time to head out to work.

Today started nicely.

SpeshulEd 

You're shilling HED wheels aren't you!? lol.

Bah Humbug

Because I said to relax? Easier to say than do.

Bunyanderman

Found out what is was like to ride with a cat1 rider who just finished raam.

Doug28450

Is that closer?

Bunyanderman

Easily could have, I was there to hold him in recovery tempo.

Doug28450

I saw your reply regarding age group swimming. It's too bad that there is not a team nearby. I think the off-season work with a coach in that situation would help greatly.

Bunyanderman

It is what it is.

LesterOfPuppets

The John Wayne Trail out to Ellensburg is pretty awesome! (mostly) Partial shade keeps it somewhat cool even in the middle of summer. I still had to take a nap in a shady campsite from 3-5, since I had almost no sleep the night before and it was just too hot! As I was rolling up camp, I met a dude who had ridden it out to where it meets the Columbia River last summer and he said it was a lot of soft sand out in the Army area (US Army Yakima Training Center). I decided to call an audible on my route plan and just go to Ellensburg.



The Snoqualmie Tunnel was much spookier than I'd anticipated. 2.3 miles of darkness and dripping water. Sure glad I got to it before night fall. When I went into it there was a father and two sons with no lights exiting it. Either they just went in a few yards and U-turned or they got nerves of steel! The east end was super foggy when I went through. Kinda hard to tell in the pic but fog is just pouring out of the opening.



Dropped in to Hyak to use the bathroom and I was about ready to move in. OMG, electric lights, hot and cold running water and flush toilets? This place has everything!

I probably shoulda just stayed there because just after Hyak there's I dunno, maybe 4 miles of DEEP fresh gravel. I was about a mile into it when I come across a campground, so I stop, but I don't wanna camp there cuz it's prime riding time, maybe a couple of hours 'til sundown. I was so hot, tired and confused I just kinda stared at the map there and fiddled with one of the campground pay envelopes, even started filling it out, but would then look at the map and then at the crappy deep gravel. Eventually a woman emerges from the woods, says she and her husband are headed the opposite direction as I am. We both cry a bit about the gravel and ask how much more of it we have to endure. She said there's about two miles of it left for me, I tell her only about a mile for them. They'd been touring for about 6 months, South America on up. They were about to move to Seattle and that was the endpoint of their tour. I decide that I have to kill off as much of that deep gravel mileage as I can and push on...



Found a great non-sanctioned campsite. All moss - so plush, slept like a baby. Got up, had some tasty rice and tuna and hit the trail. At one point I stopped at a gate and changed shirts, snacked and whatnot. Apparently left my helmet on the gate, cuz approx 7.5 miles later I went to put my shades back on and thought "Hmm, that was way to easy. Dammit, I don't have a helmet on." I shoulda just forgotten it but naww, how far back could it be???

Oh well onward and upward...

Getting into the dry side of the state now. The Milwaukee Road was electric, so they had power stations here and there to keep the juice flowing.



There was a BBQ joint in the adjacent Cle Elum Station but I didn't eat there - had to keep hammering before the real heat of the day struck. Stopping for pics was enough:



Next set of tunnels required that you sign a liability release, cuz rocks fall from the walls from time to time. Glad I went back for my helmet!!!



Didn't really get any pics in Ellensburg. Spent the night there in a Motel, checked out at 11. Killed some time strolling around CWU, had a burger in the student union and eventually caught a bus down to Yakima. Scored some Mobil-1 out of an auto parts store trashcan and lubed up the chain real nice, watched some dude play guitar at the street fair. One bank sign said 108°. The heat was brutal so I didn't hit the road 'til about a half hour before sunset. Even then I made sure I had a full complement of 5 litres water (shoulda brought capacity for 7 litres), and totally soaked my hair and jersey.

Here's the cut I'd be cruising through about an hour later, onto the reservation.



All highway miles for a while. Not many people on the Res keep their dogs in fenced areas, so I had to deal with 3 packs of dogs when I went on an off-highway shortcut. It was pretty much full moon so riding at night was awesome! I kept going almost all the way to Goldendale. Unfortunately US 97 on the way to Goldendale has a pretty brutal hill on it.

I grabbed a nice spot to camp by the highway, unfortunately HWY 97 never sleeps, so I didn't sleep all that well and was up with the sun. Leisurely coast into Goldendale, had to skip some of the logging roads I wanted to hit, since they were closed due to fire danger. But eventually hit some of South Central Washington's finest gravel.

BillyD

Great pics and report, Les.

Mumonkan

i am loving these tour reports @LesterOfPuppets and props for doing such a tour with just risers!

LesterOfPuppets

Thx, glad you enjoy the report.

Risers? those are Flat bars!!

I'd intended to go get some rando bars or woodchippers or something but just didn't get a chance to. I checked my really local bike shop, two blocks away but no dice there, so I stuck with the flats. I didn't think they were so bad, but now my ring finger on my left hand is numb. Not sure if that's a result of hours on flat bars, though.

thx. just one more segment to go...

rpenmanparker 

A friend asked me today for my seafood gumbo recipe. In case any of you are interested, see below:

Gumbo
1 cup flour
1 cup canola or other lightly flavored vegetable oil. Not olive oil.
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1/2 large green pepper
1 large rib celery
1 medium bunch green onions
2 quarts water
1 lb sliced, frozen okra
1 cup Italian parsley leaves, chopped
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried oregano
3 large bay leaves (preferably Mediterranean, not Californian)
1/4 cup lobster or clam soup base (Better than Bouillon for example)*
1/2 tbsp ground black pepper
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 303 can chopped or diced tomatoes
Pinch mace
Pinch allspice
Pinch ground cloves
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt to taste (Depending upon the saltiness of your stock, it could take a lot.)
1 pound medium raw shrimp
1 can fresh blue crab “fingers” or 1/2 lb fresh blue crab meat
2 dozen shucked oysters

Make a roux from the flour and oil in a 6 qt, heavy bottomed Dutch oven or soup pot by blending them together and placing uncovered in a 400 deg F oven. It will take about 45 minutes to get to the desired medium Mahogany color. Check the color and stir briefly every 10 minutes or so. If you want, you can remove the roux from the oven a little early and finish it over a medium-low heat on the stove top.

While the roux is cooking, chop the onion, pepper, green onion, and parsley and crush the garlic. When the roux is the desired color, immediately add the above and sweat the vegetables over a medium fire. Be sure to have everything ready to go so that you can stop the roux from becoming too dark.

When the vegetables are translucent, add all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the salt shrimp, crab and oysters. Simmer slowly for about two hours or until the okra slime is gone and the okra has nearly disappeared. You don’t want large okra pieces remaining. As the soup cooks, let water boil off so that at the end of the cooking the soup should be rather thicker than you would like to eat it. The seafood will throw off a lot of water later on and bring the final soup viscosity to where it should be. While the soup is cooking, taste it for salt and add more as needed to your taste. Dark roux-based dishes require a lot of salt to moderate the taste of the browned flour.

About 5 minutes before serving the gumbo, heat the soup to the boil and add the peeled shrimp, crab claws or crab meat and oysters. Bring the gumbo back to the simmer, and cook it until the seafood is just done, about five minutes or less. Make a final salt adjustment to account for the added seafood. If it is still too thick, add a little water to obtain the desired consistency.

* You can substitute clam juice or homemade or purchased fish or shellfish stock for the water and seafood base.

Bah Humbug

So what's the over/ under on the number of pages the "steel is real" thread gets to before locking?

LesterOfPuppets

That same guy re-animated a "When was the last time steel was in the TdF?" thread in C&V.

I wonder if he's looking to sell his Lemond...

Oh dang, I see it's under "Past Bikes".

BillyD

:sigh:

Time to get to work.

LesterOfPuppets

Whatever you wanna make of it.

What does the trail mean to you?

Dannihilator

*pokes head in*

datlas 

You are wise beyond your years. Thanks.

datlas 

+1. The bar has been raised for ride report pics.

datlas 

So it's possible I may have to take the Saturn out back and shoot it.

It's been incredibly reliable for 17 years. But now a hole in the muffler and need for new front brakes (pads + rotors) means a $500-600 repair bill. I am willing to consider this, but my wife is saying it's time to put the old gal on hospice. Luckily it drives ok (other than the muffler noise which is a nuisance but tolerable for now) so we don't have to make a rushed decision.

LesterOfPuppets

Hi Dan!

No mileage?

LesterOfPuppets

You could do the brakes yourself for $120-ish.