Fort Ebey SP to Anacortes

Short distance day today (31 miles) but lots of hills and some busy traffic on highway 20 through Deception Pass and in to Anacortes. As with Port Townsend, there is a bike trail that carries you in to town, so for the last few miles you get a nice cruise along the waterfront. In fact Anacortes has taken what I would assume is an old railroad bridge across Fidalgo Bay and turned it into a pathway; very nice.

Once I reached Anacortes I had one specific and all-consuming need. LAUNDRYMAT. You know how they say you generally don't smell yourself? Not true after a week on the road.

Through with personal hygiene chores I made my way up to the middle school where we were gathering for the start of American Lung Association's Trek-Tri Island, a 3 day ride through the San Juan Islands.

Kitsap Memorial Park to Fort Ebey SP, Whidbey Island

Today was the first day of anything other than perfect weather. Wouldn't call it rain, but enough mist to make for sloppy riding. Left turn out of camp, a few warm up miles then a cruise over the Hood Canal bridge. From there mostly back roads and rollers to Port Townsend. There's a great trail into town, keeps you off of Hwy 20 and is quite scenic. From there the Keystone ferry to Whidbey Island.

Stopped for lunch in Coupville and made my way up (and I do mean up) to the campground at Fort Ebey. Tomorrow is another hilly day on Whidbey, across Deception Pass and on to Anacortes to meet up with Trek Tri Island.

Greetings from Kitsap Memorial Park

Tour de Furlough rolls on. I'm behind in posting, but the last few days have been great. After leaving Ilwaco I worked my way up 101 to Raymond on Monday. No big highlights to the day, I've ridden that stretch a few times, but never in that direction.

Tuesday was Raymond to Shelton, using the Adventure Cycling route from Elma on. The route bypasses the primary highways, although doesn't bypass the hills! There were no convenient campgrounds around the mileage I had charted, so spent the night at the 'City Center Best Rates Hotel', a little slice of the 1950's.

Today was on back roads through Bremerton, Silverdale and Poulsbo, ending at Kitsap Memorial SP. Tomorrow off to Whidbey Island.

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Day 2 - Veronia, OR to Ilwaco

Good ride today. Morning was spent on Hwy 202, nice on the weekends, but I understand from the locals a bit loaded with log trucks during the week. Given the general lack of shoulder I can only imagine the fun. Beautiful scenery, one moderatly ugly climb and then a screaming downhill into Olney. From there to Astoria, and over the Astoria bridge and back into WA. I wish there was just a bit more shoulder on the bridge, there's no doubt the views are spectacular, but it's not a stretch of road you can do a lot of sightseeing on. Keep a straight line and watch your mirror for rental RV's. For the most part people are really good with bicycles, they either swing wide or wait, and I always try to give a thank you wave in either case.

Once on the WA side another 10 miles or so to Ilwaco where I met up with this year's Big Ride Pacific Coast group. Had a nice visit with David VanDoorne and Alan Fitton (ride director and wrench, and friends from 2004 Big Ride).
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On the Road

Half way through the day today, time for breakfast in Scappoose, Oregon. So far, so good on the riding. Fully loaded is definately a change. Oh sure, some might think it wise to try a short test ride with 40 pounds of crap strapped on. BAH! I say.

Tour de Furlough

The company I work for recently took a revenue hit, and to make ends meet has instructed employees to take two weeks of ‘vacation’ before the end of the year. So I’ve decided to load up the bike and hit the road next week, heading from Vancouver out to Ilwaco to see the BR Pacific Coast group, then continue up to Anacortes and ride Trek Tri-Island 9/20-9/22.

First, if anyone wants to come out and ride a portion of Tour de Furlough with me, I’d love the company. I’ll post a more complete route, but in general here’s where I’ll be:

9/13 – Big Eddy Park, Veronia, Or.
9/14 – Ilwaco (Cape Disappointment SP)
9/15 – Raymond
9/16 – Shelton
9/17 – Kitsap Memorial SP
9/18 – Fort Ebey SP
9/19 – Anacortes

Item two. If you’re looking for a tax deduction, I’d be happy to assist by taking a donation to the Trek Tri-Island ride. http://donate.brianrides.com/ Of course it’s not too late to sign up for Trek yourself, I understand the road crew this year will be first rate (now can I get a ride back from Anacortes, Scott?).

Thanks, and I hope to see some of you out on the road next week.

July 17th - Anchorage

Woke up early this morning, had some housekeeping to do; laundry and repacking. I had decided prior to the trip that I wanted to ship my bike and camping gear home, so we didn't have to lug it around on the cruise.

Courtney and I grabbed a taxi with all of our gear and headed out to a Mailboxes R US kind of place. Turned out the owners all biked, and were very helpful in getting the gear headed home. Not cheap, but it was nice to have it off my hands.

I shipped my camping gear and (unwashed) cycling clothes home parcel post, curious to see what kind of shape that bag will be in after a 4 week USPS trip.

July 16th – Valdez to Anchorage

We woke up to rain this morning, fortunately it stopped in time so we didn't have to take down our tents in it. Overall we've been very fortunate this trip, the only rain has come overnight.

Today's agenda is to take the ferry across from Valdez to Whittier, then a bus up to Anchorage. One last dinner as a group tonight then people start heading for the airport Thursday morning.

July 15th – Teikel River to Valdez – 61 Miles

A top ten day on the bike. After we rolled out of the Methland RV Park, it was 20 pleasant warm-up miles, then a start up the climb over Thompson Pass. While a relatively long climb (~6 miles) it wasn't all a grind; up a while, then flatten out, the up a while, and flatten out again. Once reaching the top of the pass (2678') we had an opportunity to walk up to a view point, which gave us some really amazing vistas. After lunch it was time to zip up the jacket and get ready for a decent starting us towards Valdez, 2500 feet in the first 8 miles. Our friend the headwinds joined us for the last 15 miles of the day, so even while going flat or somewhat downhill you still had to earn the miles.

Stayed at a large commercial RV park in Valdez, nice facilities with all the requisite cyclist amenities; showers and a place to buy salty snacks and beer. Valdez is the end of the line as far as the bike ride is concerned, so we spent the afternoon boxing up our bikes to be loaded on the gear truck. The RV Park sat just across from a marina in Valdez, and it appears many of the people were in town for the fishing. As such just outside the main shower and restroom area of the RV Park was a big fish cleaning station. The sight of gutting and filleting probably caused some of the PETA leaning cyclists in our group great consternation.

July 14th – Tolsana to Teikel River – 77 Miles

Pretty day of riding, a nice day all around. Weather is still chilly, but great for riding. The campground was unique; billed as an 'old roadhouse now run by young cycling enthusiasts', we soon found out that it was going to be shut down a couple of days after our stay. The cycling enthusiasts apparently lived in Minnesota, and we're pretty sure the staff running the place was cooking meth in the back room. All part of the adventure.

July 13th – Matanuska to Tolsana – 63 miles

Enough hills to keep us honest, but we finally got a tailwind and covered ground quickly today. Campground is nice, with a mercantile and enough showers so the queue wasn't too long. Scenery has changed quite a bit, more tundra-like as we came out of the mountains this morning. Two more riding days where we'll finish in Valdez. Wednesday we take a ferry across Prince William Sound to Whittier, then shuttled up to Anchorage.

July 12 - Palmer to Matanuska - 63 miles

We were on our own for breakfast this morning in Palmer, so I wandered down to the local bakery for a cup of coffee and a maple bar. Bills XL in Hoquiam still wins, but this place was a close second.

Nice day on the bike, rather hilly, but the clouds finally backed off and gave us some of the views we've been looking for. A big section of the ride was on narrow shouldered roads; for the most part motorists were good. Had one 'see the baby Jesus' moment with an RV, other than that, all was well.

Really great scenery, no doubt a challenging ride in parts.

The campground we're staying in tonight is near the Matanuska Glacier. There's good internet access, so I'll try to post some pictures soon.

It's just not the same

I brought three pictures with me this trip that I keep in my map holder so I can see them when I look down at the daily map. One is of Maureen, one is of my parents, and this trip I have one of Gerry Rawlings. Many of you reading this didn't know Gerry, but he had been on all of the Big Rides I've ridden, and was really a very special person. Gerry died late last year, and this is the first ride I've done without him.

Anyway, without getting all maudlin, Gerry was famous for finding ice cream shops along any route we rode. Today during my crankiest of moments, I was riding along and off in the distance I saw this.

After a smile and a couple of tears I pushed on and enjoyed the rest of my day.

July 11 - Talkeetna to Palmer - 84 miles

Good day today on the bike, 3 totally different rides in one. I decided to bug out of camp before breakfast, since I knew there would be a place to pick something up to eat 14 miles down the road (We back-tracked the first 14 miles of the day to get to the main Parks road).

The second part of the day was a bit of a struggle, the headwinds came to play again, and my right knee started to hurt a bit, so I was a bit whiny. I had a bit of a 'moment' (which I'll explain in a subsequent post) and from that point forward I pressed on with a better attitude.

We're staying in a hotel tonight, so I get a change to do some laundry and update the blog. BTW, thanks to the NAPA Auto Parts store next door to the laundromat for not securing their wireless.

July 10 – Denali SP to Talkeetna – 63 Miles

Away from the mosquitoes and continuing south for the first part of the day. A little chilly, but a good day for riding. The headwinds from the last few days has decided to take a break and pedaling is a little easier.

Scenery is still a little bit 'behind the clouds'. Too bad, because from what I've seen the full picture would have been amazing.

So far all joints are working well; the new bike is problem free, just the normal aches and pains. Tomorrow we're off for Palmer.

July 9th – Riley Campground Denali NP to Denali SP – 91 Miles

Long day today, 91 miles with roughly the first half of the ride into another stiff headwind. The terrain and scenery were a little more interesting. Psychologically it's easier to climb a hill and go 5 MPH, then to be on a flat road and do 10 MPH into a headwind. The last 25 miles had some nice downhill runs, and I got to camp about 6:00. Just over 8 hours of wheels rolling.

I forget the name of the campground we stayed at, because, well, it was forgettable. What won't soon be forgotten is the mosquito swarm that greeted us. I've started to just drink DEET at this point in the hopes it will ooze from my pores. More efficient that way. Also, this was our 'no shower' night. 91 miles, no shower, time for a new tent after this trip.

The retail and the unwashed continue to play well together

July 8th – Day 3 – Denali – Rest Day

When first reading the schedule for the ride I though it odd to have a rest day after only two days of riding. After yesterday's headwind fest it couldn't come at a better time.

Got a pretty good rain storm last night, which when your tent is working well is kind of fun to be in the middle of. Spent the balance of today doing laundry and walked up to town, where I've been sucking down coffee at the local shop.

Several people signed up for an all day bus excursion deeper into the park, but for me the idea of sitting on a bus for 11 hours just didn't sound enticing.

The next several days should be pretty scenic, so I should have some more pictures to upload soon.

Thanks again to everybody who helped to make this trip possible by donating the American Lung Association of Washington; I literally couldn't do this without you.

July 7th – Day 2 – Nenana to Denali

On the road by about 8:45, first 10 miles we reasonably flat with a little bit of a tailwind. Too good to be true. Just after mile 10 the winds turned around and blew straight at us for the balance of the day. Made for a very long 68 miles. Nobody knows for certain, but I'm guessing they were in the neighborhood of 15-20 MPH, with gusts above 30. Coupled with a road that looked flat, but actually climbed most of the day, and you were just never off the pedals. Even on the downhills.

Day 2 Route Profile

The scenery got better as we got closer to Denali, which always helps to make the miles go a little faster. Pulled into camp @ 5:00.

July 6th – Day 1 – Fairbanks to Nenana

Today was the start of the ride; we met at 8:00 for a full rider orientation. There are 28 total riders, 18 retail and 10 Lung riders. I've ridden with several of the people before, so it's a comfortable environment. In fact, I walked into breakfast and saw one of the couples that rode last year's Glacier ride, but had signed up for this ride through the commercial tour group. Small world indeed.

One of the different things about this ride is that everything starts later. In camp, coffee is on at 7:30, breakfast starts at 8:00, and riding starts 'sometime' after that. With all the other organized rides I've done we've been on the road sometime between 6:00-7:00AM. While the more relaxed schedule is kind of nice, it does take a little getting used to.

Today's ride was fairly hilly and a little warm, but all in all a good day on the bike. We made it to Nenana in the early afternoon and spent some time exploring the town. Big thunder and lightning storm rolled through camp right around dinner time, good test of the tent and rain-fly.

Big Ride Alaska – July 4th – 5th

A little catch-up is in order.

This has certainly been a different Big Ride experience from the very beginning. In the past the rides have always left out of Seattle, so the preparation of the bike and packing has been easy. Throw the bike on the car carrier, stuff the gear bags and drive up to Seattle. This time the ride left out of Fairbanks, so the logistics were just a touch more complicated. Flew up to Seattle on the 4^th of July and stayed with Courtney and Chuck. Courtney is riding this year's Big Ride, and has ridden all the other Big Rides with me as well.

Saturday morning we were off to the airport to catch our flight to Fairbanks. After a missed connection in Fairbanks (wasn't there a time when the airlines would hold a flight for a couple of minutes?) we made it to the hotel in Fairbanks. The rest of the afternoon was spent reassembling bikes and making a few laps around the parking lot to make sure nothing fell off.

Later that afternoon we ended up meeting some other Big Riders in the hotel bar (what a surprise) and later that evening had an orientation meeting for those of us doing the ride on behalf of the American Lung Association of Washington.

One of the other unique features of this ride is that we're a mix of people that paid to come on the ride (the 'retail' customers as I call them), and those of us who groveled for the charity (the 'unwashed'). So far the retail and the unwashed are mixing well; once you're stuffed into spandex we're all the same.

Big Ride Alaska

Wow, so I guess I've been a little behind in keeping the ol' riding blog up to date. Looks like I completely skipped over last summer's ride though Glacier. I really need to find a grade school child to help me with these things…