Ride The Willapa

I met up with my friend, Kim, at the Ride the Willapa event. The route we chose was half along the Willapa Hills Trail and half on country roads.

The first half of the ride was on the trail. It was a gravel ride, which wouldn’t have been so bad, but in some areas the state had dumped thick gravel causing me to slide all over the place. A few times I thought I was going to end up in a ditch!

Within a mile of the ride, Kim’s ebike lost power. At first I thought it was a fuse in her battery, but when I swapped her battery for mine, it still didn’t work. Then I remember she said she was using a basket on the handlebars for the first time. I remember when I used one on my bike and lost power while riding in Wenatchee a few months before. My basket was putting too much tension on the cables, causing the power cable to disconnect. Sure enough, that was Kim’s problem, too! Whew! At least it was something we could fix and be on our way!

I loved riding on the country roads. There was very little traffic plus we were more in the sun than when we were on the trail. We had a couple of climbs and the downhills were exhilarating.

After the ride, we decided to get lunch at the Owl & Olive Cafe, which was on the grounds on the event start. The chicken, pesto and arugula sandwich was one of the best I’ve eaten! Either that or I was especially hungry!

I’m looking forward to riding with Kim again, which will be the Tour de Lavender on August 6th. I plan to stay in her RV that weekend.