The first of these days brought us to Sandpoint, Idaho. An early treat about 10 miles in was a waterfall and the last swinging bridge in America just off the road. Jake and I were sweep, the designated last two riders in the group, and Jake got his first flat tire of the trip. The mileage between the hosts was actually just under 100 miles, so many groups chose to do a couple extra laps around the block to finish off the century.
After a break to build in Sandpoint we set off for another century to Metaline Falls, Washington. The ride was on a road along a beautiful river for much of the day and a lake towards the end of the ride offered many riders the chance to swim a little. Once again we were just short of 100 miles so we did a couple laps around town. We ended up needing several laps around the whole town because each lap was only about half a mile.
The final Century into Republic, Washington was by far the hardest. The beginning of the ride Had a small mountain that would have been considered hard on another day but we faced one of the hardest climbs of the trip towards the end. The climb up to Sherman’s Pass started at about mile 60. We had known that we had a mountain pass coming but were unprepared when 20 miles later we were still climbing. Overall the climb to Sherman’s Pass was about 24 miles long and we gained over 5,000 feet of elevation. The total for the ride was over 100 miles with 7,700 feet of elevation gain. This was definitely the longest ride for many riders, taking some almost 15 hours to complete. It and a good thing we were camping in Republic for the night because it let us finish the ride even though it took the last groups until almost 9:00pm.
OMG! I can't believe that final climb you all endured. That downhill at the very end must have been epic, however. ~Tom
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