Day One … The Big Ride.

Day one…63.5 miles.  Starting at the Redmond Inn, It was 45 degrees and raining.

The big riders lined up for a photo opportunity.  There are 13 coast-to-coast riders and four crew members.  Charlton and Lynn organized the event and are professionals with a bicycle touring business called  VeloSante.   Lynn completed the Big Ride Across America herself a few years ago, so she knows what a cyclist needs for daily peek performance.  Charlton has been organizing and leading bicycle tours as a professional all his life.  We are lucky to be in good hands.

The Big Ride Across America 2014

Washington state is really far up north so it is a chilly place.  Today’s ride  was from Redmond to Easton through beautiful scenic forests with gigantic trees. As we climb up into the Cascade mountains, it was very cold (given the date is June 16th). The temperature was in the 40’s most of the day.   We started the ride in rain and within the first 10 miles, it was pouring and we were soaked. 

I wore tip toes neoprene toe covers and Coolmax polyester socks but they both got soaking wet from the rain, so my feet were really cold and wet all day. I started out with a fingerless glove but switched to full finger winter cycling glove as it got colder up in the cascade mountains.  We stopped a few minutes at a cafe and thawed out our feet before going back out into the rain.

Lake Easton State Park

The ride ended in a glorious National forest campground with giant trees and a sweet pine forest scent.  The  63.5 miles led us to the Lake Easton State Park where we were served a wonderful hot meal of pasta and an amazing salad prepared by the alumni Big Riders from the Seattle area.  Several of the alumni rode with us through the pouring rain up the 3000 foot climb and into the park.