Date 2^nd Aug

Snoqualmie Valley to Ellensbarg

Distance 130km

Well the day started well, we were up at 6.30 in the morning and out on the road for 7.30. Due to the spray from the waterfall and the fog it looked very cool out and like it was raining. Myself and Leonard still went out in the bare minimum expecting it to heat up later on in the day. Eoin wrapped up like he was going skiing in Vermont!

Eoin got the 1^st puncture of the cycle at around 9 o’clock, after changing this we were back on the road. Myself and Lenny went ahead of Eoin and I got a puncture, due to our sheer stupidity neither myself or Lenny had packed any spare tubes so we had to wait for Eoin to catch up. Turns out Eoin didn’t have any spare tubes either and I was stranded!

We were approx 5 km from the next town Easton and around 80km from Ellensberg. Our support team had gone back to Seattle to pick up a few more supplies so they were 2 hours away. After much debating it was agreed the 2 lads would go on ahead to Ellensberg and I would put the bike on my back and run the rest of the way…. Nah not really! I would walk to Easton ( next town). Approx ½ mile from Easton I was stopped by the local Sheriff who happened to be from Ellensberg. He kindly offered me a lift to Ellensberg but I declined his offer and he told me where the nearest service station was. I managed to get a puncture repair kit off a generous stranger!

After helping me repair the puncture I was back on the road! I was having a lot of trouble with my left knee and having great trouble bending it so cycling was very difficult. Eoin and Lenny stopped off for food in the town Cle Ulum. I managed to pass them and they didn’t catch up with me until I had my 2^nd puncture! I again repaired this with the puncture kit and we made our way to Ellensberg. We arrived at approx 6 so it was a very long day and my knee was very sore! I jumped into an ice bath for 5 mins and headed on down to the pool! The rest of the team went out to the pub for a few beers to ease the pain of the legs and bum! I rested in the hotel with ice on my knee!