“A mountain beyond imagining.  A mountain unbelievable. Like fairy tale magic, an aura of myth, fable, and gods pervades.  The splendor of altitude, the serenity of tall timber, the haunting presence of an explosive time gone by and yet to come are the vivid abiding impressions given by Mount Rainier” –Anonymous quote at Whittaker’s Bunkhouse-

Yesterday was an epic ride.  We road from the lake shores of Seattle south east to Ashford; a small sleepy mountaineering town that calls the base of Mount Rainier its home.  The ride, was both brutal and beautiful.  90 at 90.  We road over 90 miles in over 90 degree heat up towards the footprint of a massive glaciated volcano.  As I cycled just above and to the side of a gorgeous glacial lake a bald eagle set flight to soar towards a nearly full day time moon. The eagle was so significant in size that as it pushed free from the branch it seemed the entire top half of the tree swayed away from it.  The best part about the ride though was the last 20 miles as my legs freed away from the incessant burn and I felt as if I was floating past mountain meadows and towards our home for the night (the backyard of an awesome character name Rick.  Rick, thanks again for the hospitality).  Truth be told, my previous sentence wasn’t quite true.  The best part of yesterday was bitter sweet.  Jesse, (the infamous freelancer / starving journalist) has joined our clan of roughigans as we cycle south.  Jumping on his bike in Seattle, Jesse road his first ever bike trip with us yesterday and road with fiery for the entire 90 mile trip.  It was damn impressive.  Furthermore, it is nothing short of awesome to have Jesse on board.  Jesse was going to write a story on us in Bellingham (our second day of the trip) and was so inspired by our meetings that he decided to “do something different.”  He quit his job at the Bellingham Business Journal to join us on this epic adventure from Seattle all the way to Mexico.  His purpose is to disseminate our story of a new type of company and to document the adventure as it develops and unwinds itself.  The man also has a glorious smile.

But there is a bitter with the sweet.  Two nights ago we shared our final pints with Elliott before he set off on his way back to Colorado to explore the Rocky Mountains and continue our mission (find the very best local outfitters) back home the Centennial State.  Elliott had to go back east not just in an effort to develop partnerships across Colorado but also because he is coaching a rock climbing team at the Nationals and needs to be out there with the guys for support and further coaching. In short, his rationale is decently legit… although we are going to miss the guy he will be joining us again in San Francisco in just 3 weeks.  In other words, we have a hell of a lot of cycling in front of us in the next 3 weeks but I’m looking forward to every peddle.