CHELAN CENTURY CHALLENGE

All spur-of-the-moment like, the McQuaide family decided to hightail it out of B'ham and head over to Chelan for tomorrow's crazy-tuff Chelan Century Challenge: 103 miles with 8,600 feet of elevation gain including dread McNeil Canyon.



As I wrote about last year (go here), this beast climbs 2,200 feet in 5 miles, but it's probably the descent that gives me more spots of bother than the ascent. I've a bit of anxiety when my Tarmac insists on going 40-plus m.p.h. whether I want it to or not.
Obviously, with 8,600 feet of climbing, McNeil Canyon isn't the only hill. Looks like the Manson loop on the north side of Lake Chelan has some upward tilters, as does the final loop toward Navarre Coulee. Check out the course here.

Spur-of-the-moment means dealing with the challenge of all rooms in Chelan, Wenatchee and Leavenworth being sold out. But there's always Pateros. So instead of Highway 2 and over, we're approaching from the north--Highway 20 through Winthrop and Twisp,  and then 153 along the Methow River to our room at the Pateros Motor Lodge. Or something like that. Hope it's safe. (Actually, it's only 20 miles from Chelan; lots closer than L'worth or W'chee.)
Lookin' forward to it; I'm the only Titanium Cowboy heading over but several other B'ham folks will be there as well as a bunch of High Performance Cycling folks. I'll let you know how it goes!