Gardner Cemetery

QUICK STATS	This Ride	2010 Cumulative
Distance	67.14 miles	579 miles
Elevation Gain	4,807 feet	6.73 miles
Average Moving Speed	14.0 mph	14.2 mph

We decided to take Grandma Frye up on her 'mission' idea to investigate whether the new curb over her cemetery plot in Woodland had be relocated or not yet. We arrived at the Gardner Cemetery without any trouble and took some photos to show that the curb is still in the wrong place.

After leaving the cemetery the road both improved and degraded. We left the horribly rough chip seal road surface behind, but we lost the nice wide shoulders, and the traffic was fairly heavy. The climb at approximately mile 30 wasn't too steep or long, but the lack of shoulder and blind corner for heavy traffic wasn't very pleasant. We talked about bailing on 21st Ave toward Jenny Creek if the situation didn't improve, but it did improve, mostly by turning off of Cedar Creek Road onto Etna Road, which had far less traffic.

From this point on the ride became much more enjoyable due to both reduced traffic and incredibly beautiful scenery. We went along Lewis River for a stretch, and the forested areas were, well, beautiful. Etna consisted of rolling hills with one pretty good climb. But the real climbing started after passing the old water mill through a covered bridge on Grist Mill road. It was a 0.4-mile climb at an average of about 10% with a max slope of 17% at a couple spots.

Two miles later Goodnight Road had a couple nice climbs, the first with an average slope of about 10% for a half mile, with a very short quarter-mile break followed by another 10% climb for a quarter mile. At this point I suggested this must be about the last of the big climbs for the day. Looking at the graph there was actually 6 more climbs of 10% slope, but thankfully they were all relatively short. Needless to say, I will refrain from making such pronouncements in the future.

Other than having to stop a couple times to adjust Amy's seat, she was finally very happy with her new Ruby Comp bike. It now seems to be set up correctly for her. To me it appears that she just floats up hills. Of course she has never had problems with hills, but a lighter bike just makes it even better.