But when you're out on a 200k with a guy whats 6'17" tall on his gigantic Green Hornet bike and he's got 15,000k in already for the year and then ya gots two (count 'em TWO) tandems to suck wheel offn, it's awful hard not to just let 'r rip, so ta speak. So for the first 50 miles, it was purty much pacelinein', with all'n us takin' our turns at the lead.
An' of course there was all them lovely farmlands with the occasional red barn
Then we turned the corner at Darrington. With 50 miles under our padded knickers, we hadta stop to calorie up, and Team CreightonGoss got the award fer havin' the fullest bagga goodies along, includin' sausage sammiches! Seems everbody hadta take to riflin' thru their trunk ta see what kinda snacks they might pilfer iffn things got real serious in the mountains.
After a bit of resst we all set off agin, and after about 8 miles or so, hit that 14-mile dirt road....
...climb upta the toppa Barlow Pass (~2,400')...
ol' Boothby felt he had somethin' ta prove - at least ta his own durned foolself. The last couple times he done rode this course, it took 2 full hours to make that climb. Yesterday, though, he dun'r in 1:22 and won the championship points for climbing, even tho nobody else knowed we was in a race. Geoff weren't too far back...
Next up was Team CreightonGoss who was mighty glad ta be done climbin', fer sure!
That young whippersnapper Creighton had ta take herself a RElax brake on the warm pavement fer just a short spell while we'uns hung out waitin' fer team Jameson. 
But that's where the real fun begun. Boy, HOWDY! When ya gets them tandems on smooth pavement and the tilt is about 3% down, for 20 miles, lemme tell ya, it ain't gonna take much time ta get ta the bottom.
Then there was alla them rollin' things from there back ta the finish, and ol' Boothby done got hissef all pooped out tryin' ta keep up with them cutiepies on the tandems, so by the time we left Granite Falls, his legs was purty much cooked. He could really just watch the resta the gang drift off forward from there on.
'Course, he was thinkin' there fer a while he might catch up to 'em on "To Puque" Road, and almost did but just about the time he caught up, there was another one a them steep downhilly things, and he just couldn't catch up close enuf to get inta the draft. Not to worry, though, he thinks. We'uns gotta head up 131st, and if he works a little, maybe, just MAYBE he can pass 'em up while that thing tilts up to 14%. Welp, that there thinkin' thing was purty good, but not quite good enuf. By the time he got ta the bottom, since there had been a sweet little downgrade not long before, them there tandems was all over that stuff, an' Raleighdon sees they're 3/4 the way up that sucker. Try as he might, there's just no way he gonna close up that gap. Shucks! Guess he's gonna be finishin' all by his lonesome. Thats not really a bad thing, though, since he likes ta have some peace and solitude durin' the day, expecially toward the end of a long ride. All in all, we'uns finished up in 9:45 minutes, with that rascal Boothby comin' ta the finish line just about a minute behind all the resta them folk.
The good news though? He got all the pie at the finish.
Seems like everbody else was in too much hurry ta set a spell and relax over homebaked pie and strong black coffee. Durn fools! What be wrong with 'em?
