Winthrop has old wooden buildings and a real Wild West feel to it. Tim tells me The Virginian was filmed here. Last nights meal on the wooden veranda was enormous – salmon and rice, rhubarb pie and local IPA. 

   
 An easier day today, and just as well. After breakfast in the hotel we cycled down the Methow valley for about 30 mins to Twisp for a second breakfast, and food for the climb. Not making that mistake again. Tim was told off for trying to order a posh cappuccino – ‘we just have caaaffee round here’! The most photogenic thing in Twisp were the school buses.

  
The scenery has changed a lot. Everything is hotter and drier than west of the Cascades, and the trees more sparse. 

  
Today there is high cloud and a heat haze. As we climbed the Loup Loup pass we passed through an area of last years big forest fire. On the summit at 10am, we flew down to Okanagan, past netted apple orchards. By now the heat was intense. 

  
Lunch in Omak was the biggest Cesar salad you ever did see. Every small town needs its entertainment. Here it is the ‘World Famous Omak Suicide Race’. This consists of a horse race straight down the 200 foot tall, 60 degree bank of the Okanagan River, crashing into the water, swimming across and then racing the remaining few hundred feet to the Rodeo ground. The first into the stadium is the winner.

I am just sad that we had to make do with watching previous years on the internet because it doesn’t take place until August. It is one hell of a big, steep bank! Of course, had we had mountain bikes we’d have given it a try – but these thoroughbred Bianchis can’t swim.

So here are some Youtube links. Just not for animal rights’ activists. The best one is from 2013:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvlJkI1kqO8 

But there is also a headcam version from 2012: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY5fbHnXSFs 

The last 20 miles into a moderate head wind were some of the hottest I have ever cycled. After 30 mins our iced water in the bottles was hot enough to make tea. The wind was like an open furnace door. On flat, straight, boring roads we have been using an egg timer to take 3 minute turns on the front (sheltering the other from the wind). We change over when the timer goes off. Perfect! This time I found myself wondering whether I would actually be baked solid right through after 3 minutes on the front, in the heat blast, or whether there would still be runny bits in the middle. Good job we weren’t doing 4 minute turns.

  
We knocked off at 2pm and plan to do nothing at all this afternoon! Tomorrow is the biggest day of climbing in the entire trip – 2 big passes one after the other.