Skykomish to Wenatchee

June 20

We had an early start this morning as luggage was loaded at 6:15 rather than 6:30 and breakfast was on time.  So I was pushing of right at 7:00 am. As I turned on my Garmin I realized that it had failed to charge last night so no Garmin today and no Strava. Not the end of the world.  It wasn’t really raining in the sense that droplets of water were falling out of the sky however the mist was so thick a person almost needed gills to breath.  It was also just above freezing. A perfect day for doing the first of three major climbs on the tour.

It was 16.1 miles to the summit of Steven’s pass. The first 4 or 5 miles were only about 4-5 % but then it started to get steep.  Although I didn’t have my Garmin I think it was probably in the neighborhood of about 8%.  It was a total unrelenting 8% for around 12 miles.  I was really pleased with the performance of the Look 765.  The large 34 rear cassette coupled to the 34 tooth small front ring pulled me straight up to the top.  By the time we got to the top the visibility was down to around 75 feet.  ED was there with the van and I jumped in and put on the heavy duty rain coat, rain booties and the heavy duty water resistant leg warmers.  I was ready for the descent. 

The descent was freezing cold but every mile was a degrees warmer.  Then at about 5 miles from the summit I got a flat.  It was still just above freezing and now I have to change a flat.  Perfect!  A rider stopped to help me and I was so glad of his help as the tire was the tightest tire I have ever encountered.  It took the two of us, 1.5 hours to get the tube changed.  I was absolutely frozen.

Off down the hill and about 15 miles from the summit the sun breaks through and now it is really warming up.   However at mile 40 I got a second flat.  And along come the same fellow who then stops to help me the second time.  This time we got the tire off and the tube changed in 45 minutes.  It was still a wrestle. As a side note he would up helping a change a third tire a little later on.  

Picnic came up at mile 46 and as usual it was great. 

I rolled in at around 4:30 and had a nice hot shower. It was great.  Headed out to set my tent up and as I am doing that a reporter from the local newpaper/radio station appears and wants to interview/video me.  Turns out Greg had sent him out to find me. 

What a day.

Terry 

 

Skykomish

June 19 202

What a day!  Two major firsts on this ride.  But let me step back and start last night.

Last night while we were in the school having dinner the police came by and decided that because my tent was an off blue colour that it needed to be trashed.  All the other tents were various shades of orange so my tent must be trashed.  It was only through a very lucky happenstance that Jim T who is one of the Cycle America staff happened to see the police trashing my tent and he ran over and intervened that my tent was not totally destroyed.  They then paid me a visit later in the evening after I had gone to bed to double check that in fact I was not some sort of vagrant.  Thousands of tents along the freeway and homeless on almost every corner and they have to pick out and hassle me because I have a different coloured tent.  Defund the police?  Well maybe but for sure they need to have some sort of redirection.  How about solving crime? 

This morning it was raining so rolling up the tent was a wet affair but managed to get everything in order in 58 minutes.  I would like to get that down to 45 but not bad for a first shot at it.  I am standing under the eves waiting for Greg to come to load luggage when he comes around the corner talking to the caterer on the phone.  From his side of the conversation it is obvious that the caterer is going to be arriving at least 30 minutes late an breakfast will be 45-60 minutes late.  Greg knew I had put two and two together and came and asked me not to spread it around.  However I was ready to roll so I bolted. 

I decided not to shot cut the route, which was very tempting considering the rain.  There was a paved bike lane only 2 miles from the school which would have cut the ride down to 53 miles compared to the itinerary of 74.8 miles. However no wheel dip which I needed to do.   As it turned out I would up getting lost and adding an additional few miles making the total 79.0 miles. 

But what about the first for this ride.  About 15 miles out from Skykomish there was a brief parting of the clouds and I saw my shadow. Never done that before as this is the rainiest part of the world.  I had been riding with Tom, Patrick and Bob and we pulled into Skykomish not first but in the top ten.  Realizing we were quite early I grabbed my shower bag and hit the showers.  Got the very first shower which had hot water.  Never had a hot shower in Skykomish as it is the smallest hot water tank on the tour.  It was so good. 

What a day!

Terry  

 

 

The School – Everett WA

June 18, 2022

This morning I was up quite early as my room faced the street and there was a lot of noise coming into the room.  I knew that there was no rush heading down to the school where the tour is meeting but Fran who was driving Barry and I down had to drive back to Kelowna tonight so she was keen to get going.   The hotel didn’t have a breakfast but gave you a $5 coupon which was good at the Tin Hortons which was right beside the hotel.  You don’t get a full breakfast for $5 at Tim Hortons but it was a better breakfast than most hotel breakfasts.

It was only about 5 miles down to the border from our hotel and there was no line up at the border.  A few quick questions and we were on our way.  From the hotel down to the school it was 135 kms.  So it was a couple of hours drive.  We stopped for gas  and at an ATM to get some US cash. 

We arrived at the school and were the first ones. There was a steady rain coming down which had soaked everything.  I walked around the school which has a really large yard to scout tenting sites.  The yard consisted on several baseball diamonds all of which were quite muddy. The outfield of the baseball diamonds all had about 4 inch deep grass which was soaking wet.  I finally settled on a spot under a couple of large spruce trees on the far side of the parking lot. Once again I am camped by myself.  

 It has been really interesting watching all the riders arrive.  There are lots of familiar faces and lots of new faces as well.  Surprisingly there are only 14 sectional riders this week. 

Tomorrow is the first ride day. 

Terry

On The Way

June 17, 2022

This morning it was cloudy and rainy when I got up, which meant that it would be very rainy and foggy on the drive over to Abbotsford, and possibly even snowy.  It is kind of late in the year for snow but the mountain pass is quite high. 

Barry’s wife Fran had agreed to drive Barry and I down to Everett WA to meet up with the Cycle America tour.  They were dropping their dog off with Agnes to look after while she drove us.  Barry and I had loaded bags and bikes yesterday so it was a simple matter of dropping the dog and me jumping in the car.  I choose the back seat as I had planned to sleep.

It wasn’t snowing in the pass but there were still big piles of snow in the forest.  There seemed like a lot of traffic but I was napping so I can’t say for sure.

We stopped for lunch at a little coffee shop in Hope where Barry ran into two fellows who worked for him before he retired.  What a small world.

We arrived at our hotel and I went for a little walk and took a few pictures.  The flowers are in full bloom and everything is so green from all of the rain. 

Tomorrow we will cross the border and meet up with the Cycle America tour.   It is going to be interesting to see how many of the riders I know. 

Terry 

 

Getting Ready to Go

June 16, 2022

After four years the departure date has finally arrived.  It is hard to believe that four years ago today I was sitting here getting ready to head out on my fifth coast to coast bicycle trip.  Now four years later here I am ready to depart on my sixth coast to coast bicycle ride.  I don’t think they are getting any easier. 

I don’t think I feel any more confident today than I did on my first trip.  I have a bunch more pre-trip training; in fact I have a lot more miles on my bike than I have had for any of the previous trips.  I have ridden three century rides which is three more than any of the other coast to coast rides.  I have a new bike which has lower gearing than the old Giant which served on four previous coast to coast rides.  I have packed and repacked my bags at least ten times.  Taken some stuff out and then repacked and added almost exactly the same stuff back in.   I am going to be seeing and meeting up with a lot of folks with whom I have ridden before.   Of course I am now four years older and age plays a huge part in how the trip goes.  I have always thought that weather was the major factor but now I think it is really age. 

Tomorrow I am headed down to Abbotsford with my neighbor Barry who is coming along with me on this trip.  It will be Barry’s first big bike trip and his first coast to coast bike trip.   His wife is driving us down and we will overnight in Abbotsford and on Saturday morning she will drive us to Everett where we will meet the rest of the tour.  Then on Sunday will be our first ride day. 

While I seem to have a good deal of trepidation I am sure that it is going to be a great trip as I am well prepared, and the northern tier is the best. 

Terry 

 

Kimberly Training Tour

Rest Day

May 18, 2022

After having a number of riding days everyone was happy enough to have a rest day today.  This worked well as the forecast was for rain most of the day, with highs of 10C. 

We were up at the usual time and still had a late breakfast but instead of heading off on the bikes we sat and watched the rain on the windows. 

Barry and I got our cameras out and went for a walk down to the river.  We got down to the far end of the trail and what had been a light drizzle turned into a steady rain.  This resulted in a mile walk back to camp in the rain which being in the mountains was downright cold.  It wasn’t helped by the fact that the wind had picked up considerably and was quite bitter. 

Back at camp we had roast beef sandwiches for lunch and made plans to head off to the Marysville pub for supper.  While having lunch I got to review Barry’s photos and even though we were on the same walk I was amazed at how different the pictures taken were.  Mine tended to be close up photos of plants and textures seen along the path.  Barry’s pictures were broad landscapes. 

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks pretty dismal as well so we may pack up and head home. The forecast high is only for 10 C with light rain starting at around noon.  The plan is to get one last ride in so I am hoping for the best. 

Terry  

 

Kimberly Training Tour

Airport to Wycliffe Loop

May 17, 2022

In the past we have always done the Wycliffe to Airport loop in a counter clock wise direction. This gave you a short steep climb to the top of the Wycliffe Road with a long decent into Cranbrook. On the return leg to Kimberly a long steep decent into St Eugene and a long climb back to Kimberly.  On Barry’s suggestion, today we did the loop in a clockwise direction.  The long steep climb out of St Eugene to Cranbrook was into a vicious cold head wind.  Even though I was sweating by time we rolled in to Cranbrook I was shivering.  The turkey, bacon club in Timmies helped a lot. 

On the return trip the long climb up Wycliffe road was helped by the wind.  When we got to the top of Wycliffe Road, Ken and I elected to take a detour down a secondary back road which added about 7 kms to the route.  Barry headed down the steep downhill to the bike trail and home.  The secondary was quiet and a very nice road with no traffic.  We got on the bike trail much further down and headed home.  We could see ominous rain clouds hanging all around us and we were afraid that we were going to get it.  Luckily we made it back to the campground without a single drop.  Being caught in a cold rain with that wind would not have been any fun.  As it was I was shivering from the cold wind. 

We were scheduled to head home on Friday but the weather forecast looks rather threatening for the next few days so we may be cutting the tour short.  Including today’s 70.3 kms and 600 meters of climb we have managed to log 436 kms.   This is certainly a good addition to the training for this summer’s coast to coast ride.

Terry   

 

Kimberly Training Tour

Cranbrook to Kimberly

May 16, 2022

It was raining quite heavily this morning when so there wasn’t any hurray getting out on the day’s ride.  After yesterday’s big ride we had decided that it would be a slightly easier day down the bike trail to Cranbrook and then back to Kimberly and then returning to the campground in St Mary’s.  This would give us a 62 kms ride and we would be in before the afternoon rain. 

We got on the trail just after 10:00 am so by then it was already around 12 C.  I stopped in St Mary’s to take a photo of a local street sculpture which depicts the returning spawning salmon. The sign indicates that they had not been returning to the St Mary’s river but improvements to the water course have allowed them back into the river.  Certainly a happy story even though the sculpture makes the salmon look kind of prehistoric. 

The ride down to Cranbrook is a really pleasant ride down the rails to trail.  A couple of turns in Cranbrook and you are at the local A&W where I had the teen burger, fries and a large root beer. 

The return ride is all up hill and a very pleasant ride, although it was marred by an uncouth couple on fat tired e-bikes.  Not the pedal assist kind but the throttle kind.  They came flying by without calling out to warn us of their approach.  The woman who was the second bike came within inches of me.  It is this type of bad road manners which put cyclists off these motorized e-bikes.

I noticed today that there are quite a few of the tiny houses along the trail and in Kimberly. 

Once we were in Kimberly we headed over to the new Save-On-Foods where we got one liter chocolate milks to celebrate our conquering to this ride.  Garmin shows a total ride of 62.5 kms and a climb of 472m.

My rear disc brakes have been dragging a little bit so Ken and I got out his bike stand and within a couple minutes we had remedied this problem.  I was pretty happy as I don’t have much experience with disc bakes.

Terry 

 

Kimberly Training Tour

Lunch at Wasa Pub

May 15, 2022

It was cold and clammy this morning at 6C and what was probably close to 100% humidity it was just bone chilling.  Sitting having coffee in the nice warmth of Barry’s motorhome it was really tough to get motivated to get out and hit the road.  The route we had chosen for the day was an out and back to Wasa Pub.  It was an 84 km return route.  The ride out to Wasa Pub had about 150 meters of climb and the remaining 730 meters was the return ride. The Pub opened at noon so the trick was to time it to get there as the pub opened so that you could make it back to camp before the afternoon rain shower showed up. 

The ride out to Wasa was great fun even though it was gray and cold.  Sailing along downhill is always good. Ken was having fun telling us what a great downhill rider he is, claiming he could out coast anyone. Truth was he was crouching down in the drops and pedaling like crazy when no one was looking. 

Right after lunch we got passed by a young woman on a tri-bike.  She was just flying along.  It was pretty flat all the way from Wasa to the corner of hwy 95A (about 5 kms) and by then she was about a km infront of us.  After we turned south on 95A there was an 8-10 km grade of about 6%.  I got within about 50 feet before we crested the hill and then she was gone.   

By time we got back to Kimberly  I was about 10 minutes in front of Ken, so I waited there. When Ken and Barry showed up we went in to the local market and got some chocolate milk.  It was so refreshing.

The last 10 kms into camps was down hill and we just flew down and into camp as the first drops of rain came down.  The Garmin recorded 82.9 kms and a climb of 882.

Terry