Started in the rain for the climb up to Washington and Shower passes. Incredibly slow, being sleepy with sore legs and saddle sore issues, and too warm with the rain and cold weather gear on. Really, incomprehensible how slow I was, taking maybe 4.5 hours total time to cover the first 30 miles, I believe. Beautiful mountain scenery, accompanied by birds singing everywhere. Alone on the road. There were actually two or three riders behind me that caught me later on, and two riders that I caught at Washington Pass. One of the riders, Thai (sp?), was a SIR member, and caught me at Washington Pass. I took a long break at the checkpoint with about 100 miles to go. We were out of the rain, and I joined 2 riders, including Thai, at a restaurant I could not recommend in general, but I had clam chowder which fit the bill nicely. While lounging there, I used the Seat Saver again to good effect, and before leaving I bought four Advil and took them with a second vial of 5 Hour Energy I had bought on Sunday. Gary and the rider he was accompanying caught us at the meal stop, but did not order, buying food and beverage at the store across the street instead. I headed over there to also get some snacks for the road, and urged them to get started. I believe I was DFL at that point, and stopped again to strip off the underlayer and leg warmers that I was still wearing. By the time I got started again, I felt like a new man, refreshed with the coolness, calories, and stimulant (caffeine for sure, plus whatever else they put in there). I hammered away the next 40 or so miles, passing riders like they were standing still, all the way to the last checkpoint, a bar and grill where I was only looking to get my brevet card signed and get some snacks and electrolyte beverage of some type. They had nothing of the sort there, and I saw Deborah and her riding companion eating lunch and enjoying a bear. I debated moving on, but gave in to temptation (recalling my bonk on day 3; I only had a bowl of soup, after all) and joined them; I ordered a very good mac and cheese, some fries, and a good porter, wondering how I would react to the beer since it did me in on a climbing ride up the back side of GMR in the heat a couple of years ago. Deborah and her friend finished and rode on, and I thought I would try to catch them later if I still felt strong, but it was not to be. Gary and others that I had passed rolled in, and I pretty much fiddles around until almost all of us left at about the same time. I felt strong, and returned to hammering, so the beer is 50/50 so far in my experience. I missed a turn into a park to take a long bike trail, but caught the mistake quickly and lost little time, until the trail ended it a town about 35 miles from the finish. The Garmin sounded that I was off course, and I backtracked two miles and then rode forward again, but could not find where I had missed a turn. I broke out the map app on the iPhone and the cue sheet, and found a reference to a 7-Eleven just off the bike path we were supposed to be on, and found the bike path that way. I then started to prepare to follow the cue sheet the rest of the way when some of the riders that I had left at the last checkpoint caught up to me. I was liberal with my griping, but they were tolerant of my rant and I followed them through town on the bike path, which was a great trial of my patience, and I would highly recommend to the organizers that they keep to the streets going through town as the bike path was a slow, tedious process to be avoided by riders that presumably smell the barn and want to finish. Eventually, we reached the other side of town, and the bike path began a long, slight grade of maybe 20 miles or so, and, again, my patience was worn by the slow pace, and I took off. I felt strong, and was capable of 20 mph or better except for the regular crossing of streets by the bike path, which called for us to stop to check for traffic, and they regain the momentum. This continual process, and kids goofing off out of the sight of adult supervision, cycling, milling about, skate-boarding, etc., were also a slight concern which interrupted a steady pace, but may have been preferable to an alternative on the streets. Anyway, I made it to the end, and was back on the streets with 10-15 miles to go when I was off course and lost again, and was puzzling the Garmin and the iPhone's map app again when three of the riders I had left come upon me again as I was starting to follow the map guidance from the iPhone to get to the host hotel where the ride ended. So, again, I threw in with them and rode in at their pace, and tried to keep my disenchantment to myself. After a while of riding along with them, I was getting quite chilled at the slower pace, and when they made yet another comfort stop, I had to put on leg warmers and arm warmers, and told them to go on without me. By the time I hammered after them and caught up, I was warm and toasty again, and they had finally smelled the barn and had picked up the pace and we happily made it to the finish. I had some concern for the final group of riders, which had fallen behind the three that found me, and which included Thai, but they made it in before the deadline and all were well. Physically, the most curious thing to me was the strength imbalances in my legs after so much peddling; following hours of peddling late in the last two days of the event, and for two days following the event, it was difficult to stand up with legs straight and then begin walking. Trying to straighten the knees would contract the quads and they would start to shake and I garnered unwanted attention from people in parking lots as I crawled out of the car during stops on the two days driving back to LA from the Seattle area. Thankfully, Craig was a beast and did all the driving, and I slept more than half of the road trip back.