Steven's Pass

Today was going to be a hard day and we all knew it. We woke up to another rainy day with temperatures in the 50's. I rode with James Loy today who is a fraternity brother and good friend from Purdue. Steven's pass is a 17 mile climb up the cascade mountains which summits at a little over 4000 feet. We started off the climb well until I had two flats in a row and had to change tubes twice. I found that I had a small piece of glass in my tire and had to change my tire because of the puncture. We got to the last 5 miles of the climb in about an hour and a half. The last five miles are steep kickbacks at about a 7% grade. We finished those 5 miles in 45 minutes and reached the summit. We were above some clouds and had an incredible view from the top of the cascades. The rest of the 75 mile ride was downhill. The paceline road at about 30 miles an hour down the mountain right alongside a river full of beautiful rapids. Everyone on the team made it up the mountain which was great. We arrived in Wenatchee, WA about 8 hours after leaving. We heading over to a park by the river to have a friendship visit. There were about double as many clients as team members at the visit which was great. We ate and then played volleyball. It was inspiring to see people gain so much happiness from hitting the ball over the net. The pleasure that they derive from serving the ball over the net really forces one to appreciate the abilities that one has. These sort of situations have really enabled me to focus on the little things in life to find happiness and not over look those situations.