Team 1 Day 3 (Kayla)

 Washington Pass - 

 

63 miles / 5,800 feet of elevation gain 

We knew it was going to be hard. We had looked at this climb on the map for months before the trip, but now it was here, looming before us from right out of our tents. We could practically see the ascent begin from our campsite. It was going to be long and hard and we knew that, we had our energy goos and our chews and our electrolyte drinks and protein bars packed and ready. With a long day ahead of us I forced down 3 packets of oatmeal with peanut butter and honey and packed my bags. We had originally planned to have a support vehicle over the pass to lighten the load but when that fell through due to a crazy chain of unfortunate events we were left to get our stuff over the pass ourselves. 10 minutes before we were set to start out a light drizzle of rain started. We didn't let that get us down though, on went the rain coat and I was off. Liz and Keelin would follow 45 minutes later. The climb was steep but we felt good, we were confident and determined, and the views were incredible, it was going to be a good day. I chugged along in my low gear for 2 miles up hill before stopping for a refuel and some rest for my legs. Continuing uphill for the next 3 miles my spirits remained high. The constant consumption of calories and the tunes on my speaker seemed to be doing the trick. I began to feel like maybe this climb wouldn't be as bad as I'd thought. After finishing the first 5 miles of climbing the road curved downhill and I coasted though the mountains for a stretch in awe of the incredible scenery. By mile 11 it was back to climbing and from there on it was relentless. At mile 15 I finally saw Liz and keelin coming up behind me, they were chugging along, keeping good pace with each other, but that was the last I would see of them until our agreed upon meeting point at the top of the pass, 16 miles of climbing later. Slow and steady, that was my plan, but the more we climbed the more the rain picked up and the colder it got. My legs were cramping, my feet were numb, and food seemed to be doing nothing to remedy the situation. Every mile I stopped to choke down a goo or gummies, (I was nauseous with no appetite), and shake out my legs. Usually I just stood straddling my bike on the side of the road and watching the cars go by, mustering up the strength to push on, bargaining with myself about when I could stop next and how much better it would feel once I made it to that point, thinking about a shower and laundry, and how proud I would be of myself when I made it. One time I just laid flat on my back on a pull off on the side of the road, staring at the sky until I felt like I could get back on my bike. At this point I had been climbing for nearly 6 hours, with the steepest section still ahead. We had no signal and I only had 10 songs downloaded, so you can imagine those songs will never be the same for me again. Again and again the short playlist of mellow happy folk songs would start over and I would focus intently on each lyric just to keep my mind on something other than the climb. When that stopped working I started singing, when that stopped I switched to focusing on my breathing. When that failed to I counted my pedaling, 100 at a time. Eventually I would just tell myself how much time I had left and that I could do anything for that long, and over and over I repeated that in my head.  It took me 7.5 hours to get to the top, and more than once I thought I wouldn't make it. But what other choice did we have, we had to make it. And we did. By the time I got to the top Liz and keelin had set up a tent and were changing into dry clothes. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see 2 people in my life. Since we were all soaked to the bone and shivering we huddled together in the tent to warm up and cooked up a hot meal. We were exhausted but so proud of each other and so glad to be on this this journey together. After an hour we were ready for our 15 mile descent into mazama. It was a hard descent with the rain pouring down into our faces and our hands clenched around the brakes but we were soon at the general store. There we warmed up and ate some food before pushing on 15 more miles to our camp site in Winthrop. We rolled into camp around 8pm, nearly delusional, and were greeted by the most gracious of camp hosts. They helped us to do our laundry and take hot showers. They even set us up in a teepee with 3 twin beds (free of charge)! It was a perfect ending to a very hard day. 

Stay tuned for day 4!