Good Karma - after Day 3

Tom here.....it shouldn't be this easy, 86 miles in 4.5 hours, just over 19mph average, after starting out (chuckars calling to each other behind the motel, which is a Mike insertion) with an hour of climbing. Nor do I/we expect it to be in the coming weeks....nevertheless, we'll gladly take the past 3 days as some of our best riding conditions ever. In particular we'll take the consistent tailwinds.  Maybe it has to do with all of our supporters wishing us good tailwinds for our trip...your good thoughts have certainly contributed.

Today was another great day to ride....sunshine til the end while temperatures were very pleasant, in the 60's...tailwinds of 10 to 20 mph....and good roads, surprisingly even Hwy 2 which we took straight for most of the day to Spokane.  The road seems to have been recently resurfaced with new asphalt and a wide, clean, shoulder.  Sorry (or maybe happy) to report no road kill sightings today.

The body (and tush) are feeling pretty good after 3 days, realizing that we've only done 315 miles and there is a long ways to go.  Still, we were told that the first week or so comes fairly easily and that it gets harder as fatigue starts to set in.  Both Mike & I are getting better about drinking lots while riding as well as at the rest stops....and eating everything we can get our hands on while "resting".  And we have been good boys about getting to bed by 10:00 and to sleep by about 10:03!  Unfortunately we're also beating the 6:00am alarm by about 20 minutes each morning...probably a bit of nervously about the day's ride ahead.

A quick comment about the start of each day so far.  One is to bring the bikes down from the motel room to the silver trailer, where bike racks have been set up.  We are to bring our computer attache cases to store in the silver trailer at the same time.  So here we are, usually on the 2nd floor of a motel with our bikes, helmets, and computer cases struggling down some stairs to the parking lot.  Oh yes, and we can't do this until 10 minutes before the scheduled breakfast (according to the Atomic Clock).  And at the appointed time, it's a rush for coffee, pastries, bagels, hot oatmeal, cold cereal, fruit, juice, etc.  All consumed (or inhaled) in about 15 minutes sitting on slats supported on 5 gallon plastic buckets....anybody for a see-saw?  Then it's back to the room to finish packing, brushing teeth and dealing with the effects of coffee. Get the water bottles filled (using the tub faucet...it's quicker) and shlepp our luggage bag to the silver trailer.  It's not that hard but I am amazed how quickly most people do all of the above and then start riding.  We are scheduled to have 70 minutes to do all this and most people get it done in about 40....and are off on the bike.  Mike and I are a whole lot more leisurely about it and have consequently taken about an hour and have been the last riders out each day.....causing some consternation/anxiety, but so far we've done OK.

Can't say enough about our tour company and their support.  Extremely well organized....after all they've done this for some 20 years with 10 to 15 tours of varying lengths per year.  All we have to do as riders is just "fit into their system", aka "The Rules of Lon".

That's it for me today...great trip so far...looking forward to more good karma days!