Grand Finale Pass

Washington Pass, WA. 79 mile ride. The last mountain pass in Washington--and the tallest, over 5,500 ft--to end something like 5 days of mountains. Woke up cold in the tent, excited. Everyone was anxious--the past two years it has been rainy and snowy at the top of the pass so we packed all the clothes we had. The ride started like many others, Wade, Jeremy, and I rollin into an 18 mile descent. We got talking about all kinds of things--family, religion, marriage, carreers--lost in conversation going in every direction. Halfway up the pass there's a group of people 'fixing a flat.' As we approach they turn around and we're pelted with snow balls! There was a huge melting snow patch stuck down mountain--although it was probably high 60's. We continued the climb and in under 2 hours we hit the summit, confused. Confused because we felt awesome! Legs weren't sore, no sweat, not even hard breathing. I kept expecting an intense end climb, then we were at the top, and the views couldn't have been better. Wow! 40 miles of descent! Wow Wow! The best part came after lunch. We came curving around and lake Diablo came into view--the craziest teal blue you'd ever see, something about the glacier minerals. Compounding the beauty, the road broke into the best steep curves of the trip, zooming round and round in the 40's mph. It was straight unreal. Quite the grand finale. Picked up an ostrich burger before the ride was over. Only 130 miles left. All flat. Crazy.