To prepare for Karen's and my four-day bike-tour in Europe this fall, I preferred to ride the 50-mile Entiat Loop in the 2010 Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary Century Bike Ride. I was definitely avoiding on the 100-mile ride, but 50 miles is respectable for a pair of 68-year-olds. 

    Friday afternoon before the race my wife decided our consensus decision was to ride the 11-mile Loop Trail option for families, except we'd ride around four times. I explained it broke the rules. No matter. Confused and disappointed, I concluded she was more of a mysterious wimp than I realized. By the time we finished, I learned once again why I instinctively married this wise planner who reigns in my enthusiasm.

    I worked off my disappointment by riding to the bike store for new gloves while repeating my arguments to myself. We’d ridden the 25-mile loop along the eastern side of the Columbia River in Mike Utley’s Thumbs Up. Entiat would mean a mere 400-foot elevation uphill ride and a downhill return. We’d ride safely with fellow riders. We could park a car along the way to bail us out.

    Secretly I looked forward to modestly talking about the ride with friends whom I knew would be impressed. But I couldn’t tell anybody now, not after the Wenatchee World had reprinted my article advocating for more street riders despite the dangers of street riding. 

    Muttering to myself displaced alert street riding on a Friday afternoon. Busloads and carloads of students swarmed the streets. The bike lane heading west on ninth street disappeared a block before the intersection at Valley Mall Parkway. I admitted the loop would be safer.

    The loop is also pleasant. Our first circuit quickly reached shade trees. We dinged our bells as we passed strollers and skaters. Karen made it all the way from Walla Walla Park to the Orondo street boat ramp before our first bathroom stop, a rest stop.far more accessible than searching for one inside an open fruit warehouse on Highway 97.

    After the first loop Karen was upbeat. She was beginning to understand the gears on her new bicycle. She explained that each handlebar has two buttons that go opposite directions for combinations of 21 gears. She’d bought the bike late last year and hadn’t ridden it much. Of course she'd fear fiddling with gear buttons on the highway.

    Off we went on the second loop, stopping at checkpoints to get re-energized from energy bars, cookies and conversations with volunteers. We also got energized by biker Rod Daut of East Wenatchee. He loves the trail too, but described rides around East Wenatchee and Badger Mountain. Karen seemed interested. Unless I miss my guess I'll be riding up there in the future. 
    The more we rode the more I learned to minimize pain in my thighs by moderating pace and keep momentum going uphill by timing a downshift of two gears. On the third trip over the pipeline bridge I felt a thrill at rolling high above the rippling Columbia River and the distant roar of speedboats. I remember thinking we should design communities so we could ride like this all the way to Entiat and back without enduring carbon monoxide and roaring semi-trailers. I could bike forever like this.

    A cramp gripped my thigh on our fourth trip over the pipeline bridge when I tried to keep up with Daut. I stretched my leg, pounded my muscles and called for my wise wife who was steadily out distancing me. Cramps started in the calf of my other leg and for the first time I doubted I’d make it. She gave me an energy bar she’d tucked away. I made it by pedaling smoothly to avoid the cramps lurking in my muscles.

    The next morning Karen was euphoric, partly because by that time she could go the bathroom without pain.
    “I know we can make Entiat next year, don’t you?”

    “Of course.”  Who am I to doubt her?