Cycling Advocates Ride to Pro Walk Pro Bike 2006
     
Daily Trip Log
John
  
     

from Vancouver B.C. to Madison, Wisconsin
Picture of Vancouver, BCGrouse Mountain Vancouver B.C.
Spokane, WA and then on to Post Falls, ID
   
 
Date: 2006-08-02 and 2006-08-03
Distance: 142 Kilometres to Spokane

  
     
 
    We were on the road by 8AM in order to make it to Spokane ( 120km). We stopped in Herrington ( Pop 400) for a drink and soft ice cream. Hey… I deserved it.

 
   

We found a little paved road beside the railway. There was no traffic and lots of abandoned farms….interesting. We zigzagged our way east on paved country roads, then head north on 902 to Medical Lake. We got directions on how to get in to Spakne and set off to find our motel. Another snafu… the hotel we had booked was 8 kms north of downtown. It was not much fun riding in Spokane during rush hour, but we finally made it.

 

  
   

We decided to rest for a day in Spokane…….so we went for a bike ride the next day.. big mistake!! We had the map out of the phone book; no we didn’t tear it out… the clerk copied it for us. The plan was to ride north and west and connect in to the Spokane Centennial Trail, then ride to our new hotel in downtown Spokane. We didn’t realize that we had to ride over a ridge to the river valley. The road was quiet, but had lots of steeps hills….nice day of rest eh! When we found the trail, we had to ride 24 kms south to Spokane and the trail was not flat….lots of steep hills. We left the trail before we reached downtown and followed Riverside Drive to our hotel.

Aaahhh, at last, some rest!

 
    A day of rest in Spokane! We decided to ride north and connect to the north end of the Centennial Trail, then ride back to Spokane. After 2 hours of riding over a road of steep hills and curves, going through a major road construction site, we found the trail. The ride back on the trail was filled with steep drops and climbs! So much for a day of rest! We finally abandoned the trail and made straight for our downtown motel via city streets. Downtown Spokane is not very cyclist friendly, but we did find some room for cycling.
The next day, we connected back in to the Centennial Trail along the river, right downtown Spokane. It was great. Beautiful river scenes and flat riding. We followed this all the way to Post Falls, with occasional stretches of bike lanes on quiet roads. The trail even had a n exit to the Spokane Valley Shopping Mall, where we stopped for lunch. The main entrances to the mall also had bike lanes. The bike path took us straight to our motel, next to a Factory Outlet Mall that appeared to be failing. I think the charm of outlet malls has faded.