Tour de PAC 12 - Stop 3 - Washington State University

Tuesday, June 23, 2014

Today I Can at Martin Stadium

I would have to categorize this ride as my favorite ride to date. All time. I have heard before how difficult it is to recruit at Washington State, it's too remote and too whatever else, so maybe I was in a mindset to be underwhelmed and that led me to the best ride ever conclusion or maybe it was just how amazing it really was. I'd like to think the latter. 

Me and a Cougar

I started out around 9:00 in Pullman and rode over to the campus, took a couple of pictures and fell in love with that campus, I think to some extent, I always do fall in love with the campuses, I picture them on game day as fall comes in all decked out in their school colors and school pride, tailgating with parents and alums and all the buzz that is a Saturday afternoon on campus because this is the year we might just win it all.

Martin Stadium

What I really liked about Washington State was how open it was, the gates were open and you could step into the stands and really get a feel for what the games are like. It is a compact stadium, right on campus, beautiful architecture and just very well done. It is definitely on the list of places I want to see a game at now, it just felt fun.

On the ridge heading to Snake River

Anyway, Pullman is rather small and it didn’t take long to climb out of town and up over a ridge that led to the Snake River, I had heard there were some nice rides from a friend that was a Vandal from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho about 30 minutes away. As I got on top of the ridge, everything turned green, the grass was so thick, so lush, I felt like I was in Oz. It rolled along and the only thing that really got in the way was the wind, if you get that high up the wind is whipping along without much to slow it down. It was a Tuesday, mid-morning and I rode that ridge for 10 miles and saw 2 cars. It was so isolated, it was one of the things that made the ride fun, you felt like you were on your own personal track.

Me screwing u p the view
of Snake 'River

After 10 miles I connected with the Wawawai Highway which plunged off of that ridge and down to the river, it dropped 2,500 feet in 5 or 6 miles and I literally did not pedal more than 5 or 6 times on the way down. The wind was still blowing but because the road was winding you never could tell where it was coming from next. It was a country highway so it wasn’t in pristine condition so I was more or less terrified of a 40 mile per hour, out of control, crash over the rail so I gripped that brake pretty hard and did my best to relax. I gained a whole new respect for the guys that ride down the mountains in the Tour de France at just crazy speeds. I don't know if I would ever have the confidence to just fly down a track with a pack of riders like that.

 

The Wawawai Highway eventually just ran alongside the Snake River, it opened up as you rode down from the top and was unreal, huge hills and mountains on both sides of the river and once again no traffic. It was perfectly flat and in some spots there was no wind either even though it was blowing pretty hard out of the East, when you found those spots of winds they were really amplified but for the most part you could fly. The only down part of the ride was the chip seal. Chip seal is the bane of any cyclist’s existence. It is a rough surface that’s easy to put down and somewhat durable but it will shake your teeth out. We have a lot of it in Texas and the Trek Domane I ride was built to absorb rough rides, it made the ride much better than the Madone I almost took out instead. After 25 miles of riding along that river I met Linda in Lewiston Idaho and we set out for Canada.

It's SUPERHAM!!!

We are taking a few days off to vacation in Vancouver. If I ever do something like this again I won't ride and travel on the same day, it made for some long days and 3 or 4 hours on the bike plus 8 or 9 hours in the car wore us out. We won't have that again on the ride as I will put my bike down where I picked it up the day before, the drives for Linda will only be an hour or two and I won't really get in the car again until August other than to grab dinner or see a local site or two. Next up for the college campus visits will be the University of Washington on Sunday. I cross the border early Saturday morning and head to Oak Harbor Washington, a small town Northwest of Seattle on Whidbey Island. On Sunday I will ride down the rest of Whidbey Island and catch a ferry over just north of Seattle and from there I will cut southeast through downtown over to the University of Washington and then back west to where I will catch the ferry out of Seattle on Monday morning for the third day. Lots of riding in Vancouver, I will post a picture or two I am sure, until then, enjoy the sites from Southeast Washington and Pullman, home of the Washington State Cougars. #gocougs #gohuskies