2009 Tour de Scab

The Tour de Scab

The tour is a 3 day bike ride of the channeled scabland of Eastern Washington and occurs every Labor Day weekend.

This Labor day weekend 2009 the tour begins in Pullman travels via St John to West Spokane (88 miles). Day two starts in Spokane and ends at the Ritzville city park (65 miles). Day three takes the back roads to Pullman (83 miles).

You’ll see a wide variety of environments from rolling hills of the Palouse, to lakes, timber covered areas, and of course mostly the channeled scablands. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channeled_scablands

See the actual route I think the route is set may be some minor changes still working out the details.

The tour is sponsored by Pullman Foursquare Church. Food, water, rest stops will be provided by church members every 20 to 30 miles (locations to be announced). Also we'll have a sag wagon and you'll be able to take one item of luggage to a hotel or campground in West Spokane, Ritzville and back to Pullman. You'll need to pick hotel / campground near the end point in Spokane.

We are considering providing time for each rider, but I'll have to work out the logistics for that.

100% of the entry fee goes to Orphans in Thailand and Myanmar. (More about the orphans and orphanages at: http://pullmanfoursquaremissions.blogspot.com/search/label/Orphanages)

The entry fee is FREE! Fill free to donate what you can. (Recommended $80 donation) Since 100% goes to orphans it is all tax deductible. (Check with a qualified tax guy of course) Feel free to do the ride as a relay, but if you each want a t-shirt, you'll need to indicate that on the registration and pay for them. Checks should be written to Pullman Foursquare Church.
I'll have t-shirt information soon.

Please contact me for more information:
heimbig@turbonet.com
Bruce Heimbigner
324 NW True Street
Pullman, WA 99163
509 432 4113

Why the crazy name?
The name came from by brother Rod. I did this tour by myself the first time in 2005. I spent Saturday night at his home in W. Spokane and while talking about the trip he declared it 'The Tour de Scab'.

Route update Pullman to Cheney to Ritzville

Last Saturday I biked the route from Pullman to St John to Cheney and beyond. I missed the 'turn' at Marshall, and suddenly realized I was coming up on Hy 195 - bummer. That meant I had to crank up the hill West of Spokane. I went on to Medical Lake and the back roads on the route as far as Tyler. At 130 Miles for the day and the temperature nearly 90 and me out of water, I concluded that was far enough. Looks like we'll have to take the freeway the few miles from Tyler to Fishtrap Lake exit, the side 'road' became gravel after a mile. My wife picked me up and we drove on the route to Ritzville, actually a pretty nice route. Of course it was GREEN on Saturday, once we're out of the trees there won't be green stuff next September.

Route update Pullman to Cheney

Last Friday I biked Pullman to Cheney and back via St John to Rock Lake road to Cheney and back via Wells / Pine City road. The Rock Lake road is definitely the route we'll take, it actually gets you into the channelled scabland and shows some of the diversity of the area.

From Steptoe to the Rock Lake turn off the road is mostly downhill, from there the road to Cheney is mostly uphill but no monster hills. From Pullman to the Rock Lake turn off the roads slowly get worse. Rock Lake road has almost no shoulder but also has no traffic. Starting about 10 miles south of Cheney (at Williams Lake Road) we get a nice shoulder, better road, and traffic. The Pine City road / route is more like the palouse and Hy 195: boring and big hills.

I've lived in E. Washington all my life and never been on these 2 roads! They don't go anywhere!

This weekend I'll be doing the Pullman to Cheney to Ritzville part of the route. This includes a bunch of roads I haven't been on in years, I'll have an update here next week.