ClubUnivega

Return to the Coast of Bohemia

2026-10-08T21:29:10.329-07:00

So far this month, every day feels like a Saturday morning, and all day I don't have to do anything I don't feel like doing.

The nights are turning chilly, there's heavy fog in the morning, and sunshine and pleasant temperatures in the afternoon. But the fog returns in the evening and sunset is noticeably earlier every day.

Roadside farm stands are full of pumpkins now, fields are plowed bare, and the berry fields are done.

Mount Baker's shoulders are covered with snow above the foothills.

And here's a peculiar roadside shrine along Marine Drive:

El Nino is Kind

2026-09-17T20:57:42.665-07:00

El Nino is being kind to us already this fall. Weather predictions are for sunny but cool conditions in September and into October, and a warmer and dryer than usual winter. That is actually bad for our water supply, but it's hard to complain about days like today.

Yesterday I went to the pharmacy to get this year's immunizations - a shot for COVID in my right arm, and for flu in my left. Over night I had a little fever and headache, with some stiff, sore muscles. This morning my right arm was tender, while my left arm was pretty sore and I still had pain and stiffness in my left shoulder and neck. The flu shot is definitely worse than the COVID shot.

Thinking a gentle, relaxed bike ride would help me recover faster, I took a 15-mile turn around the flat lands near the Silver Reef Casino. This area on S. Church Road usually floods and has to be closed over the winter. The county decided to do some preventive drainage maintenance this fall, in spite of the optimistic weather forecasts. So I had to back-track and revise my planned route, but it was a beautiful day and a beautiful ride.

Living Fossils of the Chuckanuts

2026-09-12T18:31:26.014-07:00

During the hot, smoky weather in July and August, I'd been hiding indoors. After a few cooler, rainy days, though, I finally got out for an early September ride on the Interurban Trail, above Chuckanut Drive. I meant to turn back at the end of the gravel trail, but after cruising along on the shady trail for ten miles or so, I felt too good to quit. So I jumped on to the road and went on past Chuckanut Manor, then to the tiny postal stop of Bow, where I turned right and went on to the next tiny town of Edison.

I believe the photo to the right is of a fossil impression of a fern or palm leaf in the rock wall along Chuckanut Drive. Also, I predict there will be more slides and rock falls this winter, judging from the fresh cracks and gaps in the rocks. In my not-so-expert opinion.

Edison is a former farm town at a bend in the road, with a few art studios and a high-end furniture and wood-working business, and some good eating spots. By the time I got this far I was too hungry to make it back home without some sustenance, so I had coffee and a blueberry & cream cheese Danish at the Bread Farm - but only drip coffee, no more espresso. I almost felt good enough to continue on all the way to Anacortes, but I'll save that trip for a bit later when I can spare a few days.

The Longhorn Saloon is the place for beer and (moto)bikers, and there is also a good oyster and seafood restaurant the next block down.

I peeked through a hedge to see this nicely maintained Victorian house. It's probably the showiest mansion in town.

The Lucky Dumpster appears to be a combination pottery studio, art gallery and second-hand shop. It was closed, I couldn't tell for sure.

On my return trip I made a detour to Colony Mountain Road, which turned out to meander several miles farther south-east-ish than I remembered, but it was a nice flat farm tour, with a nice tailwind. There are some blueberry fields and an old local cemetery. One house along the way is known for its menagerie of driftwood sculptures of fanciful animals.

This part of Skagit County is former marsh land and tide flat at the south end of Chuckanut Bay, which was drained for pasture and farming. It still tends to flood in winter, and is a tsunami hazard zone. But there are no crocodiles or alligators, and no carnivore hazards, at least not for nimble bicyclists.

After Labor Day, when the kids are back in school, is the best time for us old people to get out for late summer excursions. This ride came out to be about a 36-mile round-trip, starting from Fairhaven Park in south Bellingham.

I don't mean to be a Karen, but ...

2026-07-27T20:36:12.696-07:00

I don't mean to be a Karen, but ...

This is on Guide Meridian, just past the Wiser Lake roundabout. I tried to move some branches aside but they were too tangled together, and some were as thick as my arm. They are very dry, in case anyone is looking for kindling.

Since my adventure on the Cascade Trail I've been slacking off a bit. Following the Tour de France, that's my excuse. But it's been nice to get out for rides around the county now that the blueberries and raspberries are ripening - the smell is wonderful.

And I'm keeping in shape for my next adventure. I've been wanting to ride the area around the Columbia River Gorge, the Palouse hills and the channeled scablands but it's very hot and dry and there are wildfires during this part of the summer. So I will probably head for the coast or the Olympic Peninsula instead, and try the dry side of the state later in the summer, or early in the fall.

67 Miles for 67 Years

2026-06-20T14:29:11.795-07:00

This year I skipped both the Tulip Festival and the Highland Games, but I'm still on the road - and rail trails.

Trail start

Old bicyclists have a tradition called "riding your age" - rather than acting it, maybe. The summer I turned 65 I made a 65 mile ride, but I skipped 66 because my spine, knees and ankles were too touchy from standing for long hours behind the cash register at the bookstore. After reaching my official full retirement age in April, I quit work. To celebrate, I resolved to make a 67 mile trip to ride my age in June.

I decided to try the Cascade Trail, Bicycle Route #10, which runs along side Highway 20 and the Skagit River from Burlington to the town of Concrete. The Skagit flooded badly last winter and Hwy. 20 was washed out and closed for several months, reopening on Monday, just a few days before I rode on Thursday. But I was pretty sure that if the trail was still washed out, I could just detour to the highway.

I drove to the Chuckanut Park & Ride lot in Burlington. From there getting through traffic and bad intersections in Burlington and Sedro Woolley was the worst part of the trip, but once I found my way to LaFayette Road it was easy to follow the Bicycle Route 10 signs to get to the Cascade Trail. The gravel trail starts out fairly open and sunny, passing through grassy farms and pastures before getting on to shady forested areas.

Wiseman Creek is the first bridge on the route, just before a flooded section that still has a little water on the trail. It's easily passable, though I did get my socks wet.

At my first rest spot, ten or twelve miles along, I met a young man walking with a small boy. They seemed a little wary of me, but warmed up a bit when I asked about trail conditions ahead. It turned out the man worked on trail repair and maintenance, keeping the grass mowed along the way. I hope I didn't make them regret bringing crazy strangers to their neighborhood.

Some short sections of the trail have new gravel, which is still a little thick to ride through. Other places are fine, loose sand, hard-packed mud or big ballast rocks. But the rough patches are easy to walk through and overall it was easy to ride with 700x32 tires on my touring bike, though I wouldn't try my road bike.

First view of the Skagit River

Below is a sort of panorama view of a section of the Skagit River that flooded last winter.

Two bridges are washed out past the town of Lyman. The second bridge, near Hamilton, was knocked off its pilings, and has been spray-painted with a swastika and racist graffiti: NO N---ERS ALLOUD. This seemed like a good place to stop to apply more sunscreen, before detouring to the highway via Cabin Creek Road.

Maybe better to not repair this one?

Highway 20 has wide bike lanes but a fair amount of fast traffic and heavy trucks. Then there's a crossing that is easily visible to cyclists, but not so well marked to slow down car traffic - definitely a "cross at your own risk" spot. Luckily the Thursday morning traffic wasn't too heavy and it was fairly easy to cross over and get back on the trail.

Fresh, new gravel and a

restful corridor of cedar trees.

The trail is lovely and woodsy from here on. There are a couple of cuts through solid rock walls. Big old maple trees, fir and cedar make the path shady but light-filled. A few miles from the trail end in Concrete there is a deeper wash-out with a small creek still running through, but it is easily passable via some small improvised foot bridges.

You'll know you've come to the town of Concrete when you get to bare gravel and come out into the sun in front of the massive concrete gravel towers.

You can just barely see my bicycle at the base of the towers below. Up the hill behind the towers is a small park with picnic tables, bathrooms, a kiddie spray park and a bike jump park under construction.

There is also a Skagit Transit Park & Ride lot, where a SKAT bus was waiting. I was a little tired but not the least tempted to bail on the ride and take the bus home. After a snack and rest break I rode around the town a little. There is a motel, a laundromat, a few restaurants, an ice cream place, a little theater and some craft shops hoping to catch tourist traffic in the summer - or during ski season?

When I ventured across a small art nouveau-ish bridge at the edge of the main business blocks I discovered what is probably the real reason the town continues to exist: the Baker River Hydroelectric Project. Though much smaller than Ross Dam, the two dams on the Baker River are still a major power source.

For the interest of literary-type people, Tobias Wolff, author of the memoir "This Boy's Life", spent his formative years in Concrete. He hated it so much he resorted to forging documentation to get admitted to a toney upper-class East Coast boarding school for boys, where he was even more miserable, until he finally got kicked out. A spell in the army, and then the University of Washington, eventually turned him around.

Baker River Dam, seen from Hwy. 20

I think about this a lot because I also hated the small town where I grew up in the 1970s, and couldn't wait to get out. Yet now that kind of town seems like it could be a haven (if I didn't need to have a job, and a social life). How is it possible to make places like this not feel like a trap and a dead-end to younger people?

Anyhow, my maps and trail guides show the distance on the trail as about 30 miles each way, plus a few miles from my car at the Chuckanut P&R lot. Thinking I might need to add some miles to make 67, I meant to try riding up to Lake Shannon. But I couldn't find the right turn-off and didn't feel like adding on any steep hill-climbing, so I headed back to Hwy. 20 from the dam.

Out on the pavement, my front wheel began to weave and bump: flat tire. I made it to the fire station at Cabin Creek Road, where I found a shady place to change the tube. Then I crossed back to the trail, off the highway, and back to Sedro Wooley. I had made good time on my way up, and was pretty pleased with myself, but it turned out I'd had a steady tailwind the whole way, and I had to work a bit all the way back down. Then I circled around Burlington for four or five miles to make my odometer turn over to 67 miles.

Usually my shoulders are sore at the end of a long ride, and my hands get numb. This time my legs were pretty tired, but I felt surprisingly good when I got back to the P&R lot. I rested in the shade, had another snack, and was going to finish off the last inch of water in my bottle. But when I took off the cap, there was a surprise: an earwig floating in the dregs of my drink.

It must have got in when I refilled my bottle back in Concrete. 48 hours later, I'm not sick yet. Does anyone know if earwigs carry any parasites or diseases I should worry about?

Not Yeti

2026-01-01T17:12:00.000-08:00

I went for a ride on Thanksgiving weekend, then not again until mid-December, after the storms had passed and flood waters were receding. Today I went out for a New Year's Day ride, only twelve miles but in slightly above freezing temperatures. I'm looking forward to riding more than once a month in the new year.

Someone could hang this from
the ceiling of their new ballroom

Sad Christmas photo - a Christmas tree floating down river.

Cafe Cruising

2025-11-13T18:24:00.000-08:00

As usual the weather turned stormy toward the end of October and I've been riding much less than in my commuting days. Luckily a few years ago I discovered a Facebook social group of "Coffeeneurs". Beginning the first week of October, once a week for seven weeks, group members ride to a coffee shop at least one mile from home, indulge in a "coffee adjacent" beverage and snack, then post photos and details of the ride and the treats. The group has members all over the world, so people in my latitude are mostly riding in the rain and some farther north already have snow, while people in the southern hemisphere are complaining about the heat.

This is what us technologically impaired Boomers do with social media.

For my first ride I braved wind and rain riding to The Woods coffee shop in Boulevard Park by Bellingham Bay. And came down with a cold the next day. But I kept on riding, getting out any time it looks like we'll have a half day of mostly clear weather.

For my second ride I took a quick afternoon turn along some Ferndale park trails, packing a thermos of herb tea and a granola bar because I avoid caffeine after noon.

The Fragrance Garden at Tennant Lake was a nice spot for a bit of autumn sunshine.

Next was a ride to Bellewood Acres on a damp, grey day, for hot Dutch apple pie and an americano.

Week four was a quick ride to a Woods Cafe to the north. My seasonal favorite peppermint bark cookies are back.

This week I rode to the Cordata Food Co-op and had a hot-pot drip coffee with a cream cheese brownie at an outdoor table in the sun, with Buddha and ravens.

All these sweet treats might seem to defeat the purpose here, but I like to think that riding in bad weather keeps my metabolism fired up, and the incentive gets me out at least once a week. Two more rides to finish the Coffeeneuring Challenge. The weather is looking pretty foul for the rest of November but I'm sure I'll find a few decent riding days, or I'll ride in the rain again.

PS Here are the final two rides. First (or sixth) Mercato Delle Bonta in the Granary Building on the Bellingham waterfront, for my usual americano and almond croissant.

Finally, Week Seven was cold, rainy and windy, I was fighting a cold and working a lot, and almost thought I'd have to bail on the final ride. Luckily the weather cleared up some on Thanksgiving Day and I got out for a seven mile ride on the riverside paths in Ferndale. The Haggen Grocery food court was the only place open by then so I stopped in for an americano and a big piece of carrot cake. The cake is so rich I couldn't finish even half and was forced to carry it home balanced on my handlebars, to eat for Thanksgiving dessert.

Seven miles for the seventh ride and I'm thankful for good health, good coffee shops, tolerable weather and my trusty bicycle.

One More Perfect Day

2025-09-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

End of September, it's raining and the forecast is for some wild wind storms this week.

So here are some photos from a last-chance impulse ride last week that took me past a farm stand on Imhof Road.

... and one from Lynden

Equinox

2025-09-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

The summer has gone by so fast. September especially slipped by in a blur. The weather has been strange in the past few weeks, chilly in the morning, hot and humid in the afternoon, and getting pretty cold over night. Very little rain, but no doubt the storms are coming soon.

I thought I might manage a 66 mile ride for my 66th year this summer, but my longest ride (so far?) was a 45-mile round-trip to Blaine for my favorite Mexican grill fish tacos. Also my Tour de Lopez excursion, though that was more driving than riding. Mostly I'm riding 20-30 mile loops on the flatter roads from the Lummi Reservation to the farm roads farther east around Lynden.

Good news though: I have begun to work off the "winter weight gain" that has been accumulating since I bought my car almost five years ago. I finally resolved to get serious about it when I found I had only one pair of jeans left that I could wear comfortably, plus some yoga pants and bicycling shorts. I tried shopping for a size up, but every pair of pants I tried fit badly or looked weird. (This may be partly because I'm still getting used to the idea that maybe I shouldn't dress like a college student any longer, but I haven't settled on a new style I'm comfortable with.)

Anyway, it just seemed easier and less expensive to lose weight until I can wear my old pants again. Which I have been doing mostly by exercising consistently and eating a lot of fresh, leafy greens and whole grains. I'm determined to hold to it over the coming winter.

Below are a couple of Sasquatch in disguise photos from Blaine. I don't know who's in charge of costuming, or how they get all that fur to stick, or what will happen when the rains begin.

Chuckanut Drive

2025-08-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

For the past month I've been riding my Cannondale road bike while my Specialized Tricross touring bike has been in the shop for an overhaul. I enjoy riding the Synapse road bike because it makes me significantly faster and gives me delusions of raciness. But the lower, more stretched out riding position also gives me a stiff neck, headaches and numb hands and feet. Now that I'm back on the touring bike I'm finding that it's much more comfortable, and probably healthier in the long run, even if I am slower on it.

I bought the TriCross touring bike just at the tail end of the pandemic shut-down, five years ago now, from Earl's Bike Shop in Bellingham. I felt it was a lucky find since at the time it had proved to be near impossible to find a bike in my size with the features I wanted. And it was only about $300 on consignment - too good to pass up.

The tune up and overhaul cost only a little less than what I'd paid for the bike, but it was worth the price considering the original low cost. Although I was disappointed that it took a month to complete the job - I could have replaced the brake pads and chain at home myself. But as it turned out, the shop needed to rebuild the rear wheel to replace the hub. Then there was a delay in getting the right part, and some miscommunication in getting my authorization. It almost seemed the shop people were worried that I wouldn't agree to pay (I might have a reputation for cheapness). But I still say it's worth the expense to maintain a comfortable, functional bike.

Last winter some large boulders broke off the cliff near the south end of Chuckanut Drive, completely blocking the road for a few months. In June the highway department finished removing the fallen rock and stabilizing the cliff face. I celebrated with a test ride down the Interurban Trail to view the rock slide area. It was fun to get back on the gravel Interurban rail trail, which was shady and cool on a warmish day. I had to walk on a couple of very steep road crossing gaps in the trail that I used to ride up and down in my early days, but I had no neck and shoulder pain or numbness in my hands and feet.

Chuckanut Manor, at the south end of Chuckanut Drive

Oyster flats at Samish Bay

When I stepped across the road to look back, it was a little alarming to see how tiny my bike looked at the bottom of the rock fall. For a moment I thought it might be dangerous to stay too long. In fact, it could be dangerous to walk around on the roadway here as there isn't much shoulder-space and cars like to cruise through fast, without looking out for sight-seeing cyclists and pedestrians.

4th of July Weekend

2025-07-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning I got out early for a ride to one of my favorite places, the Mexican Grill near the border crossing in Blaine. Unfortunately, I got such an early start that they weren't open when I arrived. Fortunately, I wasn't really hungry yet and just had iced coffee and pastry from the Starbuck's next door.

For one worried moment I thought maybe they had closed down because of slow tourist traffic due to the tariff situation. The Mexican Grill has opened a second shop to the south in Bellingham, but I think I'll visit Blaine another time later in the day for brunch.

The weather started out coolish, with variable breezes from various directions, though it was warm and sunny later in the day. I was riding my Synapse road bike because my touring bike is in the shop for some routine maintenance, and was feeling light, fast and frisky. On the way home at about 30 miles, I was speeding along so easily that I decided to try to keep my average speed above 13mph, in spite of the wind and rolling hills.

On a winding back road somewhere around Hoier Road, I got chased by a couple of dogs who appeared to be waiting to ambush me, but I was able to out-sprint them and they gave up after a short chase. That old saying about how you only have to be faster than your slowest companion doesn't apply when you're riding alone.

By the time I was within five miles of home my legs and shoulders were aching and I was starting to feel sore spots in the balls of my feet. The last couple of miles in Ferndale were pretty painful, but I held out and finished strong. This was a 42 or 43 mile ride, depending on the accuracy of Map My Ride vs. my bike computer. The longest ride I've done so far this summer, and it was a lovely day. Maybe I'll be able to manage 66 miles for my 66th year sometime before fall.

Today is the Independence Day holiday, and I'm resting and rehydrating at home. Tomorrow is the first day of the Tour de France.

Solstice Story

2025-06-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

The road behind

At last I have succeeded in dropping my five pounds of winter weight gain. Now I can start working on losing the ten to fifteen pounds I've gained since buying my car back on Inauguration Day 2021. (Seems so long ago now ... )

Actually my weight is still in a reasonably healthy range, presently about 140lbs on a fairly muscular 5'4", over 65-year-old body. I feel a little bit silly, vain, even guilty for worrying about my weight, as if I've fallen for those unrealistic standards of beauty and fitness we're all supposed to reject.

But a few months ago I had only one pair of very worn 12-year-old jeans that fit comfortably, and about a dozen other pairs of pants that were too tight in varying degrees. I shopped around for something new, but size 8s were too saggy, size 6s too tight, and everything just looked and fit weird.

So I decided to get serious about losing the weight to fit into my old pants. That way, instead of buying new clothes, I can save my extra money for buying an N+1 bike.

Mostly I've done it by making sure to get out every day for at least a 2-3 mile walk, or a 10-30 mile bike ride. During the worst winter weather in January and February, when I tried a New Year's resolution diet, I was eating so little that I had no energy and spent a lot of time napping. I'm eating more now, though I've cut out ice cream and potato chip binges, and daily cafe visits for coffee and pastry.

I still usually treat myself after a bike ride, though. More exercise rather than a very restrictive diet is what's working for me.

Raspberries ripening soon

Back to the Islands

2025-05-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

me again

Last month I impulsively signed up for the Tour de Lopez on Lopez Island. This turned out to be one of those trips where I drive 100 miles for a 50 mile bike ride. Also I carelessly parked in the wrong area and got a $55 ticket. But this year I qualify for the senior discount so my ferry fare was only $10.50, which made up for the ticket. Sure it did. Anyway, it was worth the drive and the expense to visit the Islands again on a perfect spring day.

I haven't been back to the San Juan Islands since pre-pandemic days in the summer of 2017, when I worked at Island Bicycles. Lopez Island is quieter and more rural than San Juan or Orcas Islands, and everybody always says it is flatter too, except for the first climb up from the ferry landing. On this ride, though, the organizers found plenty of rolling hills and a few long uphill hauls. Or maybe I was just feeling them because I haven't been riding much so far this spring and have been keeping to flatter roads.

I did some big deep-breathing exercises on the first hill. I suppose people hear me and think I'm gasping for breath and won't make it to the top, but it really is intentional and it feels so good to fully expand my lungs.

After check-in I managed to lose my route map and take a wrong turn at the first opportunity. But I'd brought an old road map and even a compass, and soon enough I caught up to a group to follow, so I was able to finish the 30-mile scenic ride, including some very fun rolling hills where I got my rhythm and momentum just right for a two-wheeled roller coaster ride.

At the end of the day, the Lopez Chamber of Commerce provided a hearty lunch, snacks and beverages, and a live band. I was only able to finish half of my huge veggie burrito, with coffee and a cookie for dessert. Then I walked around Lopez Village a bit before heading back to the ferry.

The ferry Issaquah on the Anacortes run features a Lego replica at least six feet long, including details like little cars and trucks on the vehicle deck, and passengers visible through the windows of the upper decks. It must have been someone's pandemic shut-down passion project.

Here's a real ferry in the distance, and the car deck with cyclists waiting their turn to disembark. This was a more mature crowd of recreational cyclists, though I did get caught in the middle of a group of more competitive young women near the turnaround-point of the route.

A Winter's Tale? Winter's Bone?

2025-01-29T17:24:00.000-08:00

Hey again.

A very short tale - I've only been riding about once a week since Thanksgiving, weather permitting. It's so hard to get motivated to get on all my layers of cold and rain gear and get out the door. Hard to remember the days when I bundled up without a second thought several days a week to ride my bike to work.

But now a ten or fifteen or twenty mile ride leaves me feeling loose, invigorated and fired up, thinking about hitting the trails again in the spring, finally doing some of the Washington state rides I've dreamed about since my first years riding.

My job is half-time at most, and the scheduling system allows employees a fair amount of no-questions-asked freedom to request days off. At least I think it does, I haven't tried too much so far. But when spring break and summer vacation come, and the students want more hours, I will take my chances. In the meantime, I am saving up some travel money.

Seasons Greetings

2024-12-26T16:20:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day under the atmospheric river: I celebrated with home-made ham & pineapple pizza, after a four-mile walk in the wind and rain.

Not sure if I mentioned it before, but since October I've been working half-time at the local Barnes & Noble bookstore, usually driving to and from work because my hours often don't match the bus schedule well. In November I had a spell of car trouble and did a lot of walking and bus-riding for a couple of weeks, which has helped avoid any holiday weight-gain (so far).

The store closed at 6pm on Christmas Eve, and I was back at work at 8am the day after Christmas. Customers had been friendly and pleasant up until the last hour, when some impatient, irritable or scammy types started to show up and I was glad to close up shop and get away. It's been busy all season, which seems to surprise some people. Book-lovers still have their own refuges from the high-tech world, and they're still spending a lot of money on hard-copy books.

But I haven't been out on my bike in a month and I'm starting to feel weak and sore in the legs. Time for some re-hab yoga or tai chi or whatever, and then I can get back out on the road.

Fields & Streams

2024-10-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

Another atmospheric river is headed our way, bringing three or four days of heavy rain. Sunday I went out for a 20-mile random loop ride on a last-chance sunny day.

Over the summer I was passing by a nearby corn field about once a week, taking photos to track the progress of the crop. I missed a week, then when I rode by this week the harvest was done, just a few stalks left for the geese. There are nearby pumpkin farms in season, too.

As I was crossing the Nooksack River bridge on Slater Road I remembered that the new section of the river trail, between Slater and Marine Drive, was set to re-open after September 30, and I decided to turn off to try out the new trail.

End of the trail, at the Marine Drive bridge

This part of the river bank is prone to floods and wash-outs in the rainy season. I've ridden it several times in fall and spring, and taken many photos of the interesting effects of water over the banks. After the big floods a few years ago, the trail was closed for rebuilding and restoration, I think by state, county and tribal river management authorities

The trail had been blocked off for over a year; it was scheduled to open earlier in the spring, but apparently users (or abusers) damaged the work, and it was closed again to allow time for new plantings to take hold. Last time I rode the trail, before the restoration work, I encountered some people on heavy, fat-tire e-bikes, which are probably too heavy and too fast for this environment.

This time it was hard to recognize old landmarks on the way - the rooty or washed-out spots are gone now, and the trail has been shifted farther back from the river edge, with cedar and pine saplings and understory bushes planted between the trail and the water. The trail is flat double-track with a thick grass strip down the middle, and sandy or muddy stretches are gone. It seems the trail-builders put down a layer of ballast rock, buried it with dirt, then covered that with a layer of plastic mesh that allows grass and weeds to take hold on the surface.

I was riding my touring bike, which has somewhat wider 700x32mm tires but no shocks or suspension, and I know the ballast rock was there because I felt every bump and jolt for two or three miles. By the time I got to Marine Drive at the end of the trail, my wrists and shoulders hurt so much that I decided to leave the trail and return home on pavement via Ferndale Road. I wouldn't try my road bike on it again, and I'm sorry to say it's one trail where e-bikes probably shouldn't be allowed. It's a very pretty trail, but maybe better for walkers, runners and light suspension bikes. In fact, I'd like to walk it sometime so I can get a better view of changes to the river and sand bars along the way.

Day-Trip to White Rock BC

2024-09-25T17:31:00.000-07:00

Despite living barely 25 miles south of the border, the last time I visited Canada was pre-pandemic. I've heard about people who would take quick trips across the border just to shop at Ikea - or used to in the old days - but for myself, I only make infrequent visits by car, bus, train or bicycle. The last time was my trip to Vancouver Island to ride the Galloping Goose Trail in 2018, when I returned home on the BC Ferry and rode my bike across the border to Blaine.

Last week was perfect for an end-of-summer trip to White Rock BC, which I'd been meaning to try all summer. The morning started cool and foggy but by lunchtime it was sunny and warm, with cool breezes by the water.

The border crossing has been re-configured since my last trip, and there is very little in the way of signage or directions for bicycles and pedestrians. Now, crossing from the US to Canada, I rode my bike on 2nd Street, then through some parking lots to Peach Arch Park and finally on the left-hand side of the car lanes to the Canadian border check point. There I waited outside a glassed-in entry way until an officer in the booth motioned me in to check my passport. A few brief questions and she waved me through.

In the old days - easily twenty years ago - there was a turn-off to the left, across the highway, leading to a very sketchy looking dirt road along the water-side. There were a few houses, and some large plywood signs spray-painted with messages saying "You are on camera! Don't even think about trying anything!" The road lead to a creek crossed by small foot bridge that ended in a park in the town of White Rock.

Turns out this road is on tribal land, and it is now blocked off. There was a check-point of some sort and I might have been allowed to pass, but I didn't ask. Instead I kept to a paved sidewalk on the right hand side of the highway that ran past a golf course to a highway exit lane. At the 8th Street overpass I went left/west through a couple of roundabouts and down the hill to White Rock.

These two photos are from the White Rock side of the sketchy road/bridge. From previous trips, I remembered more trees and a shorter bridge, and I wondered whether the river mouth might have been washed out during the floods in 2020. Or maybe the brush and trees have been cleared for border security reasons.

Brunch with a view

In White Rock, there is a paved walkway between the train tracks and the bay. It's a little narrow, and there were lots of pedestrians out strolling and enjoying the view. I was a little surprised that I was the only bicyclist on the path and kept looking for signs banning bicycles. The only ones I saw said "stay off the train tracks" so I rode up and down by the beach a couple of times. I stopped to walk my bike in crowded spots, and turned off to ride on the street in some places. And of course, stopped for a photo at the legendary White Rock on the beach, and took a short walk on the longest pier in Canada.

After a while a very grumpy man yelled "No bicycles!" as I rode by. I ignored him until I got to the next crossing gate, where I finally did see a "no bicycles" sign. That's when I decided to stop for lunch.

I am ashamed and contrite. I apologize to all trail-users.

White Rock has lots of Indian, Chinese and sushi places, also fish & chips and burgers, but ice cream shops outnumber them all. I had panini and espresso.

Going home, I back-tracked on my route to Peace Arch Park, then rode on the left side of the south-bound lanes until I got to the emergency vehicles turn-off lane that led to the front of the US border crossing offices. I locked up my bike by the entrance and walked in to "Line A" where the officer, who seemed a little amused, cleared me through quickly. Locking and unlocking my bicycle probably took more time than going through the border screening, but I never take a chance on leaving my bike unsecured. I wouldn't expect Homeland Security to guard my bicycle.

This was a 50-mile excursion for lunch and I'm glad I went because this week it's pouring rain and I'm supposed to be starting a new job next week.

O Pattern of Life Indelible

2024-09-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

Once the Northwest Washington Fair left the county, it seemed like a good time for a peaceful Sunday ride to Lynden. I have enjoyed attending the Fair in the past, but as I get older I find I dislike crowds and commotion. Also, it seemed like kind of a MAGA atmosphere this year and I don't fit in too well with that crowd.

The petunias are spectacular as usual, and I tried out the coffee shop at the Lynden Firehouse arts center. The coffee was good, but they need a better selection of sweet pastries.

On the way home I rode down Hannegan, and got to try out the new roundabout at Smith Road. The bike lane markings are clear and the curb cuts are well-placed. The crosswalks hadn't been painted in yet and there was a lot of bare dirt that could use some plantings and landscaping. But pedestrians, bikes and cars will all be able to flow through the intersection smoothly.

A couple of weekends later I came through the roundabout by car on a rainy Saturday. (I was on my way to join a Million Trees Project work party, digging up blackberry roots in the rain at the Rutsatz Forest Reserve.)

A work crew was out at the roundabout putting up some signs and lighting, I think. Traffic was only allowed on one lane on Smith Road, and it was very slow and backed up. The crew had several big, white trucks that almost looked like fire trucks, and at least one very tall lift-arm bucket thing raised high over the safety island in the middle.

I'm not sure what they were doing. I guess I'll have to ride out that way again soon. This is the view from Smith Road, looking back at Hannegan:

Left

Center

Right

On the Road Again

2024-07-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

just a sprinkling for the May Queen

It's been four years since I crash-landed on my elbows after my first day back at work after the pandemic shut-down. That was my worst bicycling mis-hap (so far), resulting in a trip to Urgent Care for a few stitches and some antibiotics. My Cannondale Synapse came through with only some torn handlebar tape, which I replaced with some cool zigzag patterned stuff. I took a few days off from riding but then, because bus service was still too limited for commuting, it was back to riding my old Northwest Drive route to and from work.

Not long after, the Cannondale developed a wobble in the rear hub. This had been a recurring problem that began because the wheel apparently wasn't built right. Added to that, even though the bike was designed for pavement-riding only, during the summer I lived and worked on San Juan Island I had put on a rear rack & panniers and used it for grocery shopping and rail-trail riding. So the bike actually held up pretty well under my abuse. Anyhow, I stopped riding it for a while, in favor of the little Specialized TriCross consignment bike I bought near the end of the shut-down. This bike was designed for racks & panniers on gravel trails, but it's an extra-extra-small, which lately has begun to feel a little bit too small.

Finally I decided to take the Cannondale in to REI to see if they could fix the rear hub. I've explained the trouble with the wheel build before but this time the master mechanic saw the issue and seemed agreeable to fixing it. The work was more expensive than I expected and I'm still a little bothered that the REI shop wouldn't address the problem when I first brought it up after purchase several years ago. But the mech did a good job with it, and after all the hard use I've put the poor bike through I decided to just call it normal wear and tear. Last week, after removing the rear rack, I took it out for a pavement-only ride on the new wheel. The small-size Synapse definitely fits better than the XXS TriCross but I kept having to remind myself I couldn't turn off the pavement and take gravel trails through the parks. And I need to rig up some kind of handle-bar bag so I can carry a spare tube and some tools, and my wallet and keys. And without my heavy-duty cable & lock, I'll have to skip coffee-shop stops.

Which might be for the best, because during the recent spell of hot weather I was skipping bike rides while making daily coffee shop visits for an iced americano and pastry.

Fish Tacos Friday

2024-07-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

Sasquatch always has the right of way

Summer has been late in coming, but the past few weeks we've had a hot spell with extreme heat advisories. It actually hasn't seemed that bad to me, the temperature hasn't gone above 90F yet. A few days have been in the 80s and my apartment became uncomfortably warm in the afternoons, and difficult to sleep in at night. But I keep the lights off, blinds drawn and the door half-open when I'm home. With a couple of small electric fans running and lots of iced drinks (non-alcoholic) I'm fine. I've been waking before 6am most mornings and try to get out for a ride while it's still cool.

Today has been a bit cooler so I got out early for one of my favorite summer brunch rides, from Ferndale to Blaine, with a lunch break at the Mexican Grill. This time I did my usual route in reverse, going clockwise. Usually I head out of town on Enterprise Road and ride the fairly flat farm roads to Blaine then take the water-side route coming home.

Today I started with a stiff one-mile climb up Vista Drive to Church Road. After that comes some not-too-hard rolling hills and flat roads to Birch Bay. I rode the scenic route by the beach, then on to the hillier, wooded road over the bluff, past some pricey view houses and the Semiahmoo golf course development. Then there's a big, kind of scary downhill just before the turn-off to Blaine via Peace Portal Drive. It was 24 miles to the Mexican Grill where I ordered my favorite fish tacos, after stopping in at Starbucks for a 16oz iced americano. After the hilly start I was very hungry and glad to enjoy a favorite treat.

The Blaine Music Festival is going on this weekend, and the town is still decked out for the 4th of July. While I was in town I stopped at the Visitor's Center to ask about bicycling across the border. Google Maps said cyclists have to use the truck crossing now, but the nice lady at the desk said we can still just walk/ride through Peace Arch Park to the Canadian Border offices. (I'm planning ahead for another excursion.)

Retracing my usual route backwards was a little tricky and I was pretty hot and tired by the time I got close to Ferndale. In the last few miles I got that painful sensation of having a large rock in my right shoe just at the base of my toes but I stretched my leg out and straightened my back on the bike, which helped enough to get me back home. It was a 45-mile round-trip.

This weekend the Ragnar relay race is on, with runners on the road starting at the border, passing through Bellingham, and ending 200 miles later, on Whidbey Island. It's billed as a Northwest Passage event, one of those things that any Pacific Northwesterner who wants to call themselves a runner/biker has to do once. Kind of like the Seattle-to-Portland bike ride, except that Ragnar looks like much more of a painful ordeal, to be running on paved roads in the heat.

Surprised Myself

2024-06-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

WYSIWYG

I hate taking selfies, but here I am with helmet hair at 65 years old.

All this month I had been meaning to go for a 65 mile ride to commemorate this milestone birthday. I thought, given my usual average speeds, that the ride would take me at least six hours, maybe seven, so I procrastinated because I just haven't felt like devoting a whole day to logging miles around Whatcom County. Suddenly it's the last week of the month and the weather is iffy, with only a few days when rain isn't in the forecast.

Today, Wednesday, I woke early in the morning. My other plans for the day had been cancelled so it seemed like a good day to get out for a ride before the rains came. I didn't really feel like doing the whole 65 miles, but thought I'd head out to Everson and then maybe cruise through Lynden and add on other detours and loops, depending on how I felt.

People have told me I'm a diesel engine - I start slow, but once I get warmed up and get my steam up I keep going pretty strong for a long time, though maybe not very fast. When I got to the Glen Echo Community Center, about 20 miles from home, I was getting warm. I took a long way around to get to Lynden, coming in on Hampton Road, which is being repaved and widened, with new bike lanes. On the smooth, virgin blacktop I was zipping along at about 15mph, pretty fast for me, until flaggers and orange cones for the paving project appeared, and I had to stop for about 10 minutes until they waved traffic through. Not long after that the wind turned around and I had to fight to keep my speed up until I got on to Front Street in Lynden.

Conveniently, my odometer hit 30 miles just as I reached The Woods coffee shop, where I stopped for a snack break. After that I back-tracked down Front Street to Hannegan Road, planning to add on 10-mile or 5-mile increments to maybe eventually add up to 65 miles. Or not, if I didn't feel like it.

A new roundabout is under construction at Hannegan and Smith Road, so I turned off before that intersection, at Axton Road. There are a few small rolling hills on the first bit of Axton, and I had to push hard to get up the first, steepest ones, but after that I got the momentum and rhythm worked out and had a pretty speedy ride back toward Northwest Drive. By this time, at about 40 miles, I was fired up and decided to aim for the whole 65 miles. I began zigzagging around to add distance. Now I'm not exactly sure what route I followed.

By the time I crossed the freeway overpass to Main Street in Ferndale, I was still about 12 miles short, getting pretty tired, and it was beginning to rain. But I stuck it out, looping around the flat farm roads west of the Nooksack River, and finally returning to town by way of the gravel trail through Hovander Park.

My bike computer showed my time at 5:22:54, with a 12.1 average speed and 24.8 maximum, probably because of the construction delay on Hampton Road. My back was hurting in the last several miles, and now my legs are sore, but I'm pretty pleased with myself. If I hadn't been so pessimistic about how long the ride would take, I probably would have gone out earlier in the month. However, I usually ride faster in cool, rainy weather. Maybe I wouldn't do so well on a warm, sunny summer day.

On Woodlyn Road, at about 50 miles

Dept. of Transportation

2024-05-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

I'm still feeling a bit foolish and ambivalent about a trip I took this Memorial Day weekend, when I volunteered to help out with the 2024 Ski to Sea relay race. Usually I just stay in Ferndale to watch the canoes passing under the bridges over the Nooksack River, or walk to Hovander Park to see the paddlers staggering out of their canoes to make the hand-off to their cross-country bike rider. This year I got to see an earlier phase of the race, from the Washington State DOT station on the Mount Baker Highway, which is the start of the fourth leg of the relay. Farther up the mountain the ski and snowboard legs take place, then the road running leg, then the runner hands off to a road biker for a 44-mile ride into Everson.

Early cyclists at check-in

On Saturday morning I joined a crew of a dozen or so volunteers to set up tables, tents, signage, barriers, traffic cones etc. Then on Sunday, for race day, I left Ferndale in the dark to arrive at 5am and get organized before the first runners started coming in after 7am. I was assigned to cover the First Aid Station, even though I only have very basic first aid training, plus personal experience self-treating my own injuries. Luckily the only aid required was for a few runners who came in with blisters and needed band-aids. After the last bicycles were on the road, we packed everything up and left the DOT station as it was before the race, finishing around 1pm.

I got pretty well chilled standing around in the cold and damp, despite wearing winter layers, while runners and bikers milled around with bare legs in thin shorts, t-shirts, and various styles of road-bike apparel.

I haven't heard much about specific results, but it must have been a hard year for racers. It was cold and rainy most of the day, especially on the mountain highway. Snow conditions weren't very good this year, but the folks at the ski area managed to pile up enough snow for the two events. However, due to lack of snow melt, water levels in the river were low, the current was slow and there was more debris in the river, which would make paddling harder and more dangerous.

Cars head up the highway toward the ski slopes

Probably the hardiest and most heroic are the zero-carbon teams. The day before the race, they load up bicycles and trailers with ski and camping gear, or tow canoes and kayaks to their starting points. They camp out over night in the rain and cold and wake early to get to their starting point on foot or by bike. Then they haul all their gear home on bicycles.

The hand-off area, just before the DOT gas pumps

One of the reasons I bought a car was so that I could load it with my bike and some camping gear and drive to trail starts or event rides farther away from home without wearing myself out just getting to the starting point. I have made a few trips each year, like the Willapa Hills ride, or an annual tulip tour. With gas prices close to $5/gallon, though, I still avoid long drives.

The foolish part of the experience is that it was a 50+ mile drive to the DOT station. For this weekend I drove at least 220 miles in two days. It was interesting to see another leg of the race, and be a peripheral part of it. Besides, I can't remember the last time I've been so far up the Mount Baker Highway and I'd kind of like to come back and make some stops to view the falls and the river. Maybe even ride my bike up the highway ... I could make it a three or four day camping trip ...

They're Baaaaack

2024-05-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

Ick

The summer of 2014, when I was training to ride the Red-Bell 100, was a bad year for tent caterpillars. These fuzzy critters hatch out from nests in alder, willow or fruit trees then swarm all over. In some places they were so thick on the pavement that I couldn't avoid running over them, which is nasty because they splattered all over the underside of my bike, and even worse, on my shins and knees.

Out of curiosity I did a little research on Google and Wikipedia, and learned that tent caterpillars have a roughly seven-year boom and bust life cycle, where their population builds up to a peak, then dies down. Lucky me: 2014 was a peak summer.

The buggers died back after that, and I never saw more than a few caterpillars here and there, and no nests near the roads or trails where I ride or walk. By 2021 I was waiting to see the population building again, but the awful swarms haven't come back yet. I suppose because of unusual weather patterns, and a few summers of wild fires farther back in the hills, which might have prevented nests from spreading. I can't exactly call it a bright side to climate change, but ....

Any how, it looks like they're coming back now. At least we don't have cicadas in the Pacific Northwest.

My Annual Tulip Tour

2024-04-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

What more can I say about the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival?

I went early this year, on a Wednesday morning so there was very little car traffic and no crowds. The weather was brisk but sunny. Because I am a "Budget Traveler" I just bicycled past the fields to get the free view. The more elaborate gardens, where you have to pay for admission, aren't visible from the road but I don't mind that.

Paper maps are getting hard to find, though I still like them to get the big picture. The most recent ones I have are pre-pandemic and not very accurate any more. With Map My Ride I can keep track of where I've been and how far I've gone, but it's not very helpful for navigating. So I took a sort of random and unusual route this year, following the very badly maintained Bradshaw Road until it t-boned with the Rexville Grange Road, or Best Road. I'm not sure which because the signage was a little bent and didn't match my maps. Anyhow, I turned right to a vigorous but not difficult uphill, and got a panoramic view.

The daffodils were fading, the tulips just coming in to bloom.

Usually I stop for espresso & pastry or brunch somewhere, but I skipped that this year, I'm not sure why. When I got back to my car, an apparently homeless woman was having a bit of a mental health crisis at the Park & Ride. She was dragging clothes and possessions out of her car, throwing things around, screaming and crying, and pouring bottled water over her head. I watched her as I loaded my bike into my car, wondering if I should approach her and try to help. After she smashed a glass bottle on the pavement, then got in the front seat of the car and started blasting the horn, I decided she was too out of control for me to handle. I called 911 and described the situation as calmly and compassionately as I could, then waited until a brigade of Skagit medics, police and fire trucks arrived. I hope they could get her to detox, or a shelter, or some sort of help.

So the ride ended on a down note. Still, it was a lovely break from my sometimes dull and dreary routine here in Ferndale. Hope for a brighter spring.

Here Comes the Sun - 2024

2024-02-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

I haven't been out for a bike ride since Christmas week, but today was sunny and warm. Finally, this morning I got motivated to go for an easy 15-mile round-trip to Bellewood Acres. Hot Dutch apple pie and an americano was my incentive.

I've been walking a lot, especially while there was snow on the ground, so I'm not in the worst shape I'd feared. It felt so good to ride fast enough to get out of breath and clear out my lungs and sinuses. And I had a tailwind on the way home, which helped me finish on a high note.

The home fires are still burning by the outdoor seating, and the Sunday brunch crowd was just beginning to arrive at 11am.

The online weather forecasts I see always seem to be wrong, even on the same day. This winter has actually been fairly mild so far, just a few days of snow and a lot of drenching rain. The usual. But I'm seeing predictions for a return of the atmospheric river, so winter's not over yet. The sun sets after 5:20pm now, though.

The Distillery is putting out some suggestions for Valentine's Day treats.