Felt's Field and the Sky Way Cafe

Ride #4

October 26th, 2014

Gonzaga Campus to Felt's Field, Spokane, WA then up to the South Hill

14.2 miles

315 ft ascent/ 144 ft descent

Today's ride needed to be a shorter one, since we wanted to go check out some local bike shops in the afternoon. We were both wanting a big Sunday breakfast and had come across the Sky Way Cafe at Felt's Field a few weeks before, so we decided to go there! We met at "our" corner on the Gonzaga campus and got on our way.

The ride was pretty straight-forward... We took the Centennial Trail for most of the way and thanks to the cooler weather, had it mostly to ourselves. It was a quick but enjoyable ride out to Felt's Field.

The Sky Way Cafe was amazing! It is definitely one of my new favorite breakfast places in Spokane. Chris and I were both impressed with the decor and hospitality. The restaurant was packed too! We each ordered the chicken fried steak special and it was enough food to feed a small village! After allowing ourselves to digest for awhile, we headed back. On the way back, we had a substantial headwind, giving us a good workout after that enormous meal.

Yes, be jealous.

Totals since first ride:

Distance: 98.7 miles

Vertical climb: 1694 ft.

Post Falls to Spokane

Ride #3
October 19th, 2014
Spokane St., Post Falls, ID to South Hill, Spokane, WA
28.6 miles
404 ft ascent, 446 ft descent

In the morning, I biked to Peter's house where we met up with his parents who were heading to Coeur d'Alene to look at an elliptical from Craigslist. We offered to help inspect and lift the machine if need be in exchange for a ride to the Post Falls trailhead of the Idaho Centennial Trail. The plan was to meet the seller on the North Idaho College campus. While we waited for him to show up, we went and looked at the lake and checked out a bit of the campus. We grabbed some breakfast at the SUB, then met with the seller. The sale didn't go through, so we jumped back in the truck and headed for Post Falls.

We arrived at the trailhead and took off toward Washington! We were both surprised at how pretty the Post Falls/Liberty Lake section of the Centennial Trail actually was. And how friendly all the Idahoan cyclists were! Smiles and downward head nods punctuated each encounter. Along the way, we noticed some paddle-boarders doing their thing UP some rapids. Is this a new extreme sport?!? We stopped and watched the spectacle for a few minutes and spoke briefly with a nice old man who had traversed about 10 miles of the Centennial Trail on his electric mobility scooter while blasting easy listening music through some small, tinny speakers. We then realized with the number of stops we had made to admire the scenery, we were keeping pace with a Sunday jogger. We'd better get going! But not before we stop to meet Peter's new nephew!

Back on the road, the rest of the ride was pretty, but uneventful. We had burgers on the mind, so we biked to the Perry District to try the famous Wisconsinburger. The food was incredible but they were out of their famous fried-cheese curds! We'll have to go back again sometime, and possibly several more times after that...

We saved this snake from certain death. He was chillin in the middle of the trail!

Gorgeous scenery around the Idaho/Washington border

We had to stop and admire the scenery!

Baby Michael!


Totals since first ride:
Distance: 84.5 miles
Vertical climb: 1379 ft.

Fish Lake Trail

Ride #2

October 12th, 2014

EWU Campus, Cheney, WA to Perry District, Spokane, WA

23.5 miles

591 ft ascent, 919 ft descent

For our second ride, we opted to take the city bus out to Cheney--a route with which I was very familiar after having used it at least twice a day for the year I attended EWU. All of Spokane's busses have bike racks mounted on the front, so when Peter and I met at the STA Plaza, we loaded up our bikes and took a seat on the almost empty bus for the 35 minute ride out to Cheney.

It was a beautiful day, though it was the first weekend that the weather had turned cold. I brought my jacket, gloves and some long johns, but Peter was severely underdressed in just shorts and a t-shirt! So when we arrived in Cheney, we biked around the town a bit to try to find somewhere that Peter could buy a jacket. Alas, the only thing that seemed to be open on this Sunday morning was a lone Jimmy John's. And unfortunately, they were fresh out of Jimmy Long Johns (hehe...). We continued on our way.

The Fish Lake Trail is part of the awesome "Rails to Trails" movement--a wave of abandoned rail lines being reclaimed as recreational trails. It is a gorgeous and fairly easy ride from Cheney to Downtown Spokane. We couldn't help stopping along the way at Fish Lake to admire the scenery. There's a nice park just off the trail with some picnic tables and a dock.

Upon arriving in Spokane, we toured through Browne's Addition and linked up with the Centennial Trail, taking it to Trent and Erie Street, where we headed South to the Perry District. We've decided "Erie Street" could use another "e" since it is quite the eerie street, its decrepit solitude running underneath train tracks and the infamous East Sprague Avenue before chewing us up on a Sisyphean incline and spitting us out on Second.

We wound up at one of our favorite places in the Perry District, the Lantern. We had some delicious Nachos, Fish and Chips, some chicken thing and of course, a couple much needed pints.

The trail runs through a cool valley right outside of Cheney.

The new rail line runs right beside the trail.

I couldn't hear any trains...

Hardcore bro!

I've reached the summit

There were some cool cliffs

We stopped to climb them.

Beautiful views of Fish Lake

Totals since first ride:

Distance: 55.9 miles

Vertical climb: 975 ft.

Our First Ride

Ride #1

October 5th, 2014

Gonzaga Campus to Spokane Valley Mall and back

32.4 miles

384 ft ascent/descent

For our first ride together we chose the trail we've talked about for years, Spokane's own Centennial Trail. We met on the Gonzaga campus, right where the trail crosses over Hamilton St. Chris was riding his Gary Fisher Simple City 3, and I was riding my dad's Schwinn hybrid. After some minor gear adjustments, we departed toward the Valley Mall.

The weather was perfect and the trail was fairly empty. We rode at a leisurely pace, as I was getting used to cycling again. Several miles in we came across something neither of us had seen before: the Mirabeau Springs waterfall. It's in the quaint Mirabeau Point Park, not far from the trailhead. From there we rode to our destination, the mall. We did a little bike accessory shopping, had some lunch, and started the trip back.

For the ride back, we decided to take a slight detour by heading over to Felt's Field. Here we watched some airplanes land and takeoff, looked at some beautiful prop planes, and scoped out the Sky Way Cafe. This was definitely a restaurant we would be trying on a future ride.

Chris, taking a breather at Felt's Field.

Awesome biplane refueling.

Peter, accidentally using the wrong camera on his phone.