XWA 2021: Ride Leaders at ~36 Hours

Sunday morning, 45 riders began the ~697-mile two-wheeled adventure from Rialto Beach to Tekoa near the Idaho border.

Andy Leveto and Fabien Le Gallo were first to make the Kingston-Edmonds ferry at 9:35 Monday morning. Fabien was having trouble getting his rear tubeless tire to seal. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to get a shop to help with a fix, so he put a tube in the tire and carried on. Since then it looks as though he pretty much made up all the ground he lost with that mechanical.

I did a quick noontime Facetime with Andy while he was refueling at a sandwich shop on Avon Rd. in Redmond. He said his belly was feeling good, but he was ready for “real food.” At that point he was planning to try to make it to Cle Elum tonight, but wet weather will be a factor getting to Snoqualmie Pass. Once riders clear the Cascade Crest conditions should be drier.

Andy sounded disappointed when he told me that he had to walk the Blyth Park/Tolt Pipeline trail. I hiked it yesterday and it left me breathless.

The second group to make it to that same shopping area on Avondale Rd. was the 2-person group of Spencer Tickman and Patrick McAuliffe. As of 1PM they planned to spend the night in Ellensburg.

As of 5PM Monday, three riders have abandoned, and it looks as though about 1/3 of the field has completed the ferry crossing. That first bunch of four riders are currently in the North Bend area and about the begin the ascent to Snoqualmie Pass.