Bicycling the Lewis & Clark Trail
Dayton, WA to Lewiston, ID

Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Distance Cycled: 71 miles
Vertically Climbed: 2,650 feet
Average Speed: 13.9 mph

This was a hard day. It started at breakfast at the Weinhard Hotel which was an abbreviated continental breakfast. It consisted on one muffin and coffee. On this energy food we headed for Lewiston, ID. We left the hotel, traveled 1 block and went up a short 7% grade. The temperature was 60 and we had not been able to warm up our leg muscles by the time we started up that short grade. We continued down a small hill and then started up a hill that climbed 640 feet over about 4 miles. Going down the other side we hit a speed of 46 mph and ended up at almost the same elevation that we started at. The good news was that the wind was at our back as long as we were going east, the next hill was not very steep but we continued uphill for the next 20 miles. We reached the town of Pomeroy where we stopped and ate a second breakfast, this time a full breakfast.

We left Pomeroy and continued to continuously go up hill. Finally we reached the top of the hill where we stopped and rested. Both of us were exhausted and we still had another 20 miles to go. The good news was that 10 miles would be downhill. We started down and were going 40 mph when something happened and the bike began to shake. Mary Kay asked for a panic stop, why we were going 40 mph down a 6 or 7% grade. I put all the pressure I could on the disk brake and asked Mary Kay to put on the brakes on the rim brakes. We were almost stopped when the disk brake just stopped working. We stopped and Mary Kay got off the bicycle and immediately checked both tires looking for a flat tire. Nothing was wrong except that I had to adjust the disk brake to get it working again. This took a few minutes. Today we continued to follow the return route of Lewis and Clark several places we stopped and read signs about where Lewis and Clark had stayed.

When we reached Clarkston WA, we took a route that avoided the main street traffic, we managed to get onto the bridge to Lewiston and crossed the Snake River and entered Idaho. We again took a route that avoided major traffic and got on a bicycle path along the Clearwater River. We continued until we saw our motel for the night and then managed to maneuver through Lewiston ID streets until we reached the motel, of course up the hill.

After getting into our room, we put on swim suits and went into the pool. It really felt good. We then took our showers and Mary Kay is presently washing our dirty clothes. When the clothes are done we are going to walk to a restaurant and should be in bed before 8:30.