A Bike, a Summer Morning and a Tailwind

Saturday night, two friends stayed at our house overnight on their way to Pullman to play golf.  They offered to drop me and my bicycle off somewhere along the way so I could ride home.  I quickly rejected the idea of going all the way to Pullman with them after a 57 mile ride on Saturday that included Mt. Spokane.  I wanted a couple of hours in the saddle –nothing too taxing.  I had them drop me in Rosalia with its rich selection of Palouse rural roads in all directions.

I chose a route that would take me north first up Old Highway 195 to Spring Valley Rd and then took a right towards Waverly.  The minute I started pedaling up the gradual hill out of Rosalia, I knew this was going to be one of the best rides of the summer.  The wind was blowing strong and steady out of the south.  And my destination?  About 40 miles north.  I big-ringed it through the wheat, barley, peas and alfalfa for about ½ an hour when I saw a rider, head-down into the wind, coming towards me.  Well, this being a roadie south of Spokane, I knew him.  So Roger and I stopped, stood in the middle of the road (you can do this on Spring Valley Rd. on a Sunday morning) and shot the breeze for 15 minutes.  I continued on my merry way, dropping through Waverly and heading east til I joined Highway 27.  I turned north again for a few miles, went through Fairfield and took a left onto Jackson Rd.  Jackson connected me to Valley Chapel and me and that tailwind whizzed back to my south Spokane home with embarrassingly little effort.  It was a rolly 40 mile ride that seemed like a flat 20.  I felt guilty.  I felt like I should go do a couple of hill repeats up Tower Mountain or chop a cord of wood.  But then I thought about why we REALLY ride our bikes and it is because it is a LOT OF FUN.  And I was lucky to get a perfect sunny day with the time to enjoy it.  And I sure did.

These two never miss an opportunity to have a good time doing their favorite thing on a summer day.  These are two of my dogs doing what they do best.  

Wella Clairol