day 6
June 7th, 2007

Another amazing day! This is just too good to be true. 5:30 am, awaken by some wonderful classic rock. Once out and on the bikes it was some great riding. We had a slight tail wind that carried my pack along at a fairly fast speed. In the flat areas we were able to average close to 30 miles per hour. Today we only had to ride on the interstate for a short 3 miles until we were able to wind our way along some back road to Cle Elem. From there to Ellensburg it was a straight shot. Just outside of Ellensburg we took Canyon road which follow the Yakima river to Yakima. At one point we saw a group of big horn sheep along the river. The road wound with the river and had a few small climbs in it. After climbing out of the valley the whole team stopped for lunch. With only 15 miles to go all was going well. Until about 1 mile from town I crashed. I was in a fairly tight pace line right behind the rider in front when a corner crept up on us and he needed to break harder then I expected. I overlapped his back tire with my front one on the left side going into a right turn. This caused our tires to rub forcing me off balance causing me to fall over. Everything turned out alright. I was able to walk away from it and finish the ride into town with the lead group. I received a sweet badge of honor on my left shoulder ripping my jersey, a gouge in my angle and a sprained wrist. However, my bike seemed to fair much better with only a slight skew in the handlebars. The wreck seemed to suck a lot of energy from me as it was difficult for me to finish the last of the nearly 85 mile day. Once into Yakima we rode to Eisenhower High School were we will sleep tonight. My uncle Jim came out to see us upon arrival. It was really great to see him. Also upon arrival two television crews interviewed me. We are really getting a lot of press thanks to my friend Charlie Meier who, with the help of our crew media man Rodney, sets up all of our press. I was also interviewed by a local radio show and the Tri-City Herald. I am really looking forward to riding into the Tri-Cities tomorrow and seeing some familiar faces. Dinner for us tonight was provided by a local University of Washington Pi Kappa Phi alumni.