June 17, 2018 Everett to Skykomish

The first ride of the cross country ride is in the books.  A short 67 miles with 2400 feet of climb.  Although I have ridden this very same ride three times this is the first time it has not been pouring rain.  And I mean West Coast pouring rain.  Where it is pouring when you get up and pouring when you get in.  It is an absolutely a beautiful ride, which I have never seen. 

After the wheel dip you can see the mountains way off in the distance.  The sun reflecting off the water was beautiful.  So we charge off up a bunch of relatively steep rollers following the Skykomish River.   Then as we are climbing a longer steep hill I get a flat.  Yikes 40 riders and only 14 miles into the ride and I get the first flat of the tour.  Ok somebody has to get it but why me and only 14 miles in.  To make matters worse the tire is the tightest tire I have ever had to wrestle with.  Tom R came along and he is a huge guy and immensely strong and he could not get it off.  The two of us wrestled with it for almost an hour before we got it off.  I think that the tire had settled itself onto the rim as the bike had been hanging in the garage since 2014  Having said all this one of the riders came off his bike in the parking lot of where we did the wheel dip. He has 5 stiches in his upper lip and a lot of road rash on his face. I guess the flat wasn't so bad.            

Now I am the very last rider and I have to catch up with the rest of the group or at least get to picnic before they wrap it up.  As you ride east along hwy 2 the mountains are getting closer and closer and of course the road is getting steeper and steeper.  I was really surprised at how much traffic there was along hwy 2.  I sure don’t remember it that way. 

By the time I get to picnic I am pretty much exhausted.  It is really clear that my training which was basically non-existent since we left Phoenix and headed back to Kelowna in mid-February.   In fact that is kind of understating the case.  However it is only 27 miles to camp so I climb back on the bike and peddle on.  About 5 miles out I realize I have left one of my water bottles at picnic and I am dangerously low on water.   The temperature gauges on signs are saying 76 F but it is probably close to 90 out on the pavement.  I really don’t want to go back so I peddle on it is only 10 more miles to water.   I can’t believe I made such a rookie mistake.  Fortunately  I find a café at mile 50 and get a coke and that tides me over the last 5 miles to water.   After water it is only 12 miles into camp.  To say I was glad to see camp was a total understatement.   I am totally all in but here and after a shower and supper feel much better. 

Early to bed tonight.

Terry hot biker

Sorry for the really little pictures but no internet and only 1 bar on the phone signal.

June 17, 2018 Everett Washington

June 17, 2018  Everett Washington

This morning Agnes and I drove down from our hotel in Chilliwack BC to Everett Washington where the meet up location was for the start of the Cycle America Coast to Coast ride.   To say I was excited would be a total understatement. 

It was only 100 miles from the hotel down to the Everett Boys and Girls club where we are staying.  However it seemed like it took forever.  The short 20 minute line up at the boarder was a life time.  A couple of phone calls from Ken Teague and we were organized to meet him and go for lunch.  It was really a blast seeing my long-time friend.  To think that here we are doing a coast to coast bike ride together after having worked together in the 1980’s is just incredible. 

After lunch, Agnes dropped Ken and I off and she was off to visit one of her sewing friends from Trilogy. Ken and I found a camping spot out in the back and set our tents up.  It was fun getting everything set up and figuring it all out. 

We were among the first in so we were able to meet the other riders as they arrived.  It looks like a much smaller rider this year with only 22 cross country riders and something like only 18 sectional riders the first week.  I was surprised at how many of the riders I knew from other rides.  I think there are 8 or so of the 40 riders I have meet before and at least 6 of them are going all the way.  

Tonight is the first organizational meeting so I wanted to get my blog posted as it always runs late and luggage loading is at 6:15 Am tomorrow.  Luckily it is a short day of only 68 miles. 

Terry

June 13, 2018 Getting ready to go Coast to Coast Number 5

You would think that after four coast to coast bike tours the getting ready to go butterflies would not be a problem. However it seems like this year they are worse than ever.  This could be that I have had a real motivation problem with the training.  When we got back to Kelowna in mid-February  I was suffering from a running injury and that coupled with three foot high snow banks and the gray skies of a Kelowna winter  crippled my energy to go down stairs and sit on the stationary bike for a couple of hours.  Besides the ride is months away and I will train later.   Before I knew it we were off to China on a three week tour.  Filling my belly three times a day at the buffet didn’t help and I came home carrying an additional five pounds.   Yikes now I have less than two weeks to get ready.  So I hurriedly set my bike on the trainer and pedaled away.   

Agnes is going to drive me down to Everett Washington and will drop me off June 16 and she will continue on to Bellevue to visit one of her Trilogy quilting friends. I will be on the road Sunday morning June 17 and headed east for the next 64 days.  Arrival in Gloucester MA Aug 18 and fly home the next day. 

How hard can it be? The first week of this tour has four back to back century rides up and over the Cascades mountain range.  At least the weather forecast this year is for sunny skies and a bit of a tail wind.  In previous years it has been pouring rain and gale force head winds.

I have made a couple of changes for this year.  The big change is I am going to take a cot rather than use my self-inflating Therma-rest mattress.   Hopefully this will prevent me from getting a sore hip where I sank through the mattress and my hip would be on the ground.   The second change is a new fly for the tent.  The old fly had become brittle from too many days in the sun.   Not a big change but I am hoping that I will be able to find my tent as it is now gray rather than the yellow I have become so accustom to. 

I will be riding on my Giant OCR Formula One which is an al carbon fiber bike and is equipped with Shimano Dura-Ace components.  It has a triple front crank and a 10 speed rear cassette. This bike has taken me across the United States on three prior Coast to Coast rides.  It is a very comfortable bike to ride and it knows the way.

Here is a picture of me wearing one of Fran Consagra’s cycling kits. It is a beautiful kit with matching bib shorts, jersey and arm warmers.  Fran was an excellent cyclist and was always an inspiration to me.  He helped me with my photographic efforts and offered tips on how to improve my shots.   To honor Fran I am going to campaign his kit across the country.  I know he would be pleased to see his kit go across the US.   Keep a look out on the blog for Fran’s bike kit as I cross the country.  

Thanks for following along. 

Remember to subscribe and all your dreams will come true.

Terry

Sept 25, 2017 Return to Kelowna

Agnes and I were up at 7:00 am and in the shower.  This was actually only 11:00 pm Pacific time Sept 24 back  in Kelowna as there is an 8 hour time difference.   We had a quick breakfast with Liam and Siubhan before getting in the car at 8:20 am.   Liam had said it was only 50 minutes on a good day down to the Lisbon airport but at this time of day we were looking a rush hour traffic.   Liam made good time down to Lisbon until we got to within a few kilometres of the airport and then the freeway turned into a parking lot.   However Liam skillfully maneuvered us through what seemed like a maze of fly overs and under passes and dropped us at the airport just minutes before 10:00 am.   After the good byes and thanks on the departures ramp they were off.

Agnes and I found the Air Canada kiosk and dropped our luggage and headed for security.  It seemed pretty easy and then off to passport control to get our passports stamped.  So you are stamped in and out.   As it turned out they had the wrong date on the stamp but nobody seemed to notice or care.  Makes me wonder why they bother to stamp you out.   Finally down to the gate and a chance to catch our breath.  The flight was on time at 12:50 and while it looked like we had lots of time we got to the gate only 20 minutes before boarding. 

The plane was another of Air Canada’s cast offs now flying under the banner of “Rouge” and it was cooking hot on the plane as no one turned the AC on.   Once on board we sat on the ground for 30 minutes before being pushed back.   Didn’t get into the takeoff cue.   OOPS!  However we were on our way.  It seemed like we were surrounded by hackers.  There was a lady infront of us who coughed almost continuously and there were two or three others behind us who coughed sporadically.   If we avoid  the plague it will be a miracle.  The flight was pretty smooth and non-eventful so I guess that is a successful outcome.  Unfortunately neither Agnes nor I were able to catch a nap during the 7 plus hour flight.  

Upon arrival in Toronto we were still 20 minutes late and now had to clear customs, go through a second set of security screening and wind our way through the sprawling maze of the Toronto airport going from the international arrivals gate to the domestic departures. However we sat on the tarmac for 15 minutes as the ground crew didn’t have the gate ready.  I guess someone forgot to call ahead. OOPS! We did have a three hour layover. However by time all of this transpired all we had time for was to grab a quick Teen Burger from an A&W and get on the next leg of the journey to Vancouver.  

The leg to Vancouver was a brand new Air Canada plane with modern seats and built in tv monitors and power points on the seats. Agnes and I watched the new Guardians of the Galaxy #2.   It was good but not as good as Guardians of the Galaxy #1.  Lots of cameos by different actors and pretty campy.   The movie ate up 2 hours of the 5 hour flight.  So I still had lots of time to snooze but just couldn’t find a nap anywhere.   

The Vancouver layover was three hours so we had lots of time to wander down the corridor from one gate to the next.   We stopped at a panni shop and had a bite to eat which really helped to revive us or at least keep us moving.  The plane was a turbo prop and it was only a 40 minute hop over to Kelowna.  Maybe it was the drone of the engines but both Agnes and I slept the entire 40 minutes of the flight.  

The luggage rolled off and we headed out to find a cab home.  We opened the door to our place in Kelowna a couple of minutes before 1:00 am Sept 26.  Total elapsed time from our first show to Kelowna 26 hours.   Home sweet Home.

I would like to thank Liam and Siubhan for putting together and hosting us in Portugal.  It was a fabulous adventure and one Agnes and I treasure.   We look forward to our next adventure with you.

Terry  

This morning Liam and I were up early and on the road by 8:40 am.  It was quite foggy as we rolled out of the house and the temperature was reading only 12 C on my Garmin.  I had not put any leg warmers and had only short finger gloves so I was a little chilly.  As you leave Liam’s place there is a long steep downhill and at the bottom I was questioning my choses of clothing.  However this was quickly put behind me as there is a nasty steep pitch of around 15% almost right around the corner.  Half an hour later the sun was out and burning all but the stubbornest of fog patches off. By 10:00 the sun was out and it was a brilliant blue sky.   I cannot believe the luck we have had with the weather on this trip not a rainy day, or even a cold and blustery day.   

By 10:00 we are cycling through some of the ex-pat communities which hug the coast line.  These are really upscale places with fancy golf courses and Marriot hotels.  I have to admit the views are spectacular and the places look palatial.  After leaving the ex-pat communities we passed the motor scooter club going the other way.  There must have been 2-300 scooters and a few tiny motor bikes.  All of them were two cycle and the blue hazy was chokingly thick.  We joked that we had just smoked a couple of cigars.  

Liam and I are just cruising along and taking our time. It was a lot of fun not rushing and stopping to take pictures.  The views along the ocean are magnificent.  The coast has vast sand beaches below 100-200 meter high cliffs.  Along the head lands the waves are crashing against the rocks.  This was just a beautiful day with very nice temperatures in the low 20s and beautiful blue sky. 

We rode out on to this little spit of land at Balale which was few interesting as there was a beach on both sides of this little concrete road.  Out on the spit were a few houses, cafes and hotels.   It was crowded with late season tourists and locals getting in a last opportunity to enjoy the sand and sun. We sat in a beach side café and had a coffee.  It was great watching the people on the beach. 

From there we rode further along the coast to our main goal of the day which was the Peniche Peninsula which as the town of Peniche on it.  There are old walled fortifications long sections of the peninsula indicating that it was a major military post.  Now there are fish canning factories and tourist infrastructure. Along the north side of the peninsula is huge sand dune which protects the town. The front of the peninsula has tall cliffs with very large flat cliffs. Liam was talking my picture just as the section of rock I was standing on broke loose and I slid down along way before it stopped.  It took a long time to scramble back up.   The south side of the peninsula had a fishing village and a harbour which has some ship servicing facilities and a large marina.

As it was getting on we headed home.  Liam entered home in his Garmin and we flew off aided by a nice tail wind.  It was a great day of riding we covered 88 kms and climbed 1100 meters.  I have really had a lot of fun riding here in Portugal.   

Tomorrow is a long day as Agnes and I fly home.

Agnes and I really have to thank Liam and Siubhan for hosting us.  This has been a really great trip, exploring Portugal and Spain.  They did a wonderful job picking highlights, organizing hotels, driving us around, planning bike rides and a thousand other things.   Special thanks to Liam who lent me his spare bike which was a great ride.  The triple front crank and the low range gears were perfectly suited to the hills of Portugal. 

Terry  

Sept 23 Caldha De Rainha

This morning we were up early and off to see the local farmers market.  We arrived about 8:45 and it was in full swing.  In fact we had to park quite a distance from the market in order to find a spot.  The center of town is completely given over to the market.  This was in the truest sense a real farmers market as there was not any crafts or junk being sold.  It was all produce (fruit and vegtables) and flowers.  The variety of vegetables was amazing.  There must have been twenty different kinds of potatoes, of every imaginable colour.  The tomatoes ranged from tiny little cherry tomatoes to huge segmented tomatoes which were a blotchy red and red.  The fruit was also amazing as the number of different kinds of apples and pears for sale was huge.   The prices were extremely low as a lot of the apples and pears were priced at 0.50 Euros per kilogram.   Regular potatoes were 0.20 Euros per kilogram.  The flowers were also very cheap by North American standards. Huge bouquets were selling for 5 Euros.  It looked like everyone was enjoying the bountiful harvest.

We walked through an interesting tiled art display in the center of town.  It was kind of hard to understand what the artist was thinking of.   Maybe it was some type of post-modern meets apocalypse.   But then modern sculpture was never my strong suit. 

After lunch Liam and pulled on some cycling gear and headed off for a short spin.  We headed north along the coast into a quite stiff head wind.  The views along the coast were absolutely stunning.  The blue green of the ocean and the green of the cliffs was great.   We rolled into the small sea side village of San Martinho de Porto which has a beautiful beach front and a lively front street.  Liam and I decided we needed a gelato.   Sitting in the sun eating ice cream was great.   The trip home with a stiff tail wind was a lot of fun even though we had some major climbs to complete.

Supper was a treat at a local restaurant in Cladha de Rainhas. 

What a great day.

Terry  

Sept 22 2017, Rest Day Caldas de Rainhas

 

Sleeping in was really nice this morning.  Liam has put together a real whirlwind tour and it was great to just be able to lay in bed.  It was well past 9:00 am before I was out of bed.  I was awake earlier but lying in bed an picking up my book to read for a bit was a real luxury.

There had been a problem with the hot water tank so Liam had arranged to have the plumber come to check out the hot water tank.   The gas to the tank is supplied off a large propane tank which serves all of the condos in the development and it looked like the tank has not been filled so the pressure was low.  The plumber bled the lines and got the system running which was great. 

After a leisurely breakfast and a nice hot shower I fought the urge to lay down for a nap.  Instead I pulled a chair into the sun and did some reading.  I am reading a Michael Crighton novel called Rising Sun.  It is kind of dated and not quite the page turner he normally puts out.   However it a is pretty easy read and nothing better on an easy day.

This afternoon Liam and Suibhan headed off to do some shopping so I pulled the bikes out and cleaned the bikes.  After the long hard ride up Pico de Veleta and the long drive back they were covered in road grim.   We had taken the seats and bags off the bikes for the drive back so in addition to cleaning there was some assembly to be done.  Bikes are now cleaned and the chains oil. 

Liam and I spent a couple of hours sitting in the sun enjoying a couple of bike stories and sipping a few beers.  It was a very nice enjoyable talking about rides we would like to do.  A circumnavigation of the Iberian Peninsula was the favoured ride. Maybe in 2019. 

Suibhan made a wonderful baked salmon for supper.

I didn’t take pictures today.  In fact I didn’t even take any pictures.  So I have posted some pictures from other days

Terry