Countiss 2023 USA Tour

  • Day 1: Leavenworth, Washington

    Today started with a pickup in the hotels followed by a long shuttle ride to Coles Corner, Washington, best described as a place on the map. After getting everyone comfortable on his bike we rode north toward Lake Wenatchee Lake before heading east and south over a hill and down into the quaint Bavarian themed…

  • Day -1: Seattle for Fathers’ Day

    We flew to Seattle on Saturday, June 20 to see the Mariners play the Red Sox. The stadium hosting the World Cup games is across the street, so we got this photo without spending >$1000/seat to see the soccer game. Although the stadium is named Lumen Field the “Lumen” is covered with black tarps so…

  • Denouement

    My trip started on September 12 with the drive to Seattle. On the evening of September 9 I played soccer, playing in goal for the first half. Late in the half I used my left hand to (successfully) deflect a nice hard shot over the bar. It hurt enough that I came out of goal,…

  • Day 7: Back in the USA

    Our last day was a quick, relatively flat run to the border followed by snacks in the Kootenai valley (which is spelled differently in the US, apparently). Then we loaded up the bikes, drove to Bonners Ferry for pizza, and returned to Spokane.

  • Day 6: Bikes on a Ferry

    Today started with van ride to the town of Balfour where we boarded a ferry to cross the lake. I’ve been on both larger and smaller ferries, but never on a bicycle. We crossed the narrow part of the lake, but that was still a 35 minute trip. The lake is 64 miles long, after…

  • Day 5: Resting in Kaslo

    Kaslo is another pretty little town on a big lake. Given my continuing wrist pain I chose to hike instead of riding. There are several well maintained trails near town, one of which ends in a series of “Hide & Seek” sculptures. Kaslo was originally a silver mining town. A steamship was used to move…

  • Day 4: Toads

    Today was the prettiest ride of the tour, a short hop over the mountain from Slocan Lake to Kootenay Lake. A gradual 10 mile climb took us to Bear Lake and lunch at Fish Lake. It was a beautiful cool, sunny day. And then the toads. Fish Lake is a breeding site for the Western…

  • Day 3: Valhalla

    Today was a 64.8 mile ride from Nelson to New Denver, BC. Nelson is sited right on the Kootenay River, so the ride starts with a very steep climb up through town followed by another 8 miles of climbing through the woods. Then a long descent with a rail trail before lunch at Slocan Lake…

  • Day 2: Rider Down

    Day 2 started with a long, fairly steep climb out of Rossland, 1700′ over 14 miles. After the summit we were stopped for 15 minutes by road work, but we were rewarded with miles of steady downhill on buttery smooth fresh blacktop with no traffic at all. Believe me, it was great, even if it…

  • Day 1: Oh, Canada

    Today the tour finally started! I was picked up at the hotel by our guides Karen and David, then we picked up the other riders. We are 11, as 2 had to drop out at the last minute. We drove from Spokane to Colville, Washington, where we got assembled, got our bikes (only 3 of…