Breathe deeply, for I have arrived.
This bicycle experience has been, indeed, quite a trip. Too bad it's not 2001. If it were, I'd have a real excuse to call it a bicycle odyssey (2001: A Bicycle Odyssey). Sadly, 2006 just doesn't quite fit there.
I ended up leaving yesterday later than I'd expected: I departed home in the Fremont neighborhood of barely-north-of-the-ship-canal Seattle at 12:40 pm. I proceeded up Greenwood Avenue North, Dayton Avenue North, Richmond Beach Road, SR-99, and SR-525 to reach Mukilteo. I crossed the Seattle City Limits at 1 pm, and I reached the Mukilteo ferry terminal at 2:38 pm. The ferry left Mukilteo at 3 pm, and I rode off into the deep green yonder of Whidbey at 3:25.
3 hours later, I'd only covered 40 miles on Whidbey and it was getting dark, so I rented a motel room for the night in Oak Harbor. I proceeded to eat food from Safeway after a short rest and some time wandering through the grocery store staring dazedly at all the foodstuffs around. It's amazing how much the hills (most of them mild, but still hills!); the headwind (we had a NORTHERLY???); and the weight of a week's clothing, toiletries, school supplies, 2L water, and snack food (600g Syrian apricot paste, a pound of almonds, three bananas, a muffin) on your back wheel can add to your fatigue by the end of the day! And those panniers of mine -- can you say additional surface area? Sails (or parachutes, depending upon wind direction relative to travel direction), perhaps?
In any case, the world was a chemically enhanced place when I arrived Oak Harbor at dusk. The endorphins had started and they just would not stop. I must recommend to any of you the experience of biking all day and then staring at food you KNOW you have eaten and that you KNOW you must eat, but having no desire to do anything but stare at them and ponder imaginary qualities of the foodstuffs. Hooray for dumb moments and grocery store personnel who probably thought I was high.
This morning I woke up at 8 am and was on the road by 8:40. Nine miles of Whidbey Island preceded a long gawk at Deception Pass from the bridge, and then it was another 10-15 miles of Fidalgo Island before I arrived at the ferry terminal... to find that the whole class had been waiting there for something on the order of 90 minutes! I arrived in Friday Harbor at 12:15 with the ferry, disembarked, and rode into the labs. Now here I am.
That brings me to a grand total of roughly eight hours on my bicycle, three hours waiting for the ferries and on the ferries, biking in parts of five Washington state counties, and one pair of tired legs. Priceless.
On Saturday I begin my journey home. The intended route will be Friday Harbor to Anacortes (ferry), then bicycling back down Whidbey Island as far as Keystone, where I will catch another ferry to Port Townsend. From Port Townsend I will bike a short distance on the Olympic Peninsula to the Hood Canal Bridge, cross it, and travel within Kitsap County to Bainbridge Island. From Bainbridge, I will take the ferry to downtown Seattle, and from there I will have my little victory lap to the University of Washington -- Seattle campus.
So that's my Big Bike Bash itinerary for the next few days. It should be amazing! More trip details to come later. I saw some amazing things.
I ended up leaving yesterday later than I'd expected: I departed home in the Fremont neighborhood of barely-north-of-the-ship-canal Seattle at 12:40 pm. I proceeded up Greenwood Avenue North, Dayton Avenue North, Richmond Beach Road, SR-99, and SR-525 to reach Mukilteo. I crossed the Seattle City Limits at 1 pm, and I reached the Mukilteo ferry terminal at 2:38 pm. The ferry left Mukilteo at 3 pm, and I rode off into the deep green yonder of Whidbey at 3:25.
3 hours later, I'd only covered 40 miles on Whidbey and it was getting dark, so I rented a motel room for the night in Oak Harbor. I proceeded to eat food from Safeway after a short rest and some time wandering through the grocery store staring dazedly at all the foodstuffs around. It's amazing how much the hills (most of them mild, but still hills!); the headwind (we had a NORTHERLY???); and the weight of a week's clothing, toiletries, school supplies, 2L water, and snack food (600g Syrian apricot paste, a pound of almonds, three bananas, a muffin) on your back wheel can add to your fatigue by the end of the day! And those panniers of mine -- can you say additional surface area? Sails (or parachutes, depending upon wind direction relative to travel direction), perhaps?
In any case, the world was a chemically enhanced place when I arrived Oak Harbor at dusk. The endorphins had started and they just would not stop. I must recommend to any of you the experience of biking all day and then staring at food you KNOW you have eaten and that you KNOW you must eat, but having no desire to do anything but stare at them and ponder imaginary qualities of the foodstuffs. Hooray for dumb moments and grocery store personnel who probably thought I was high.
This morning I woke up at 8 am and was on the road by 8:40. Nine miles of Whidbey Island preceded a long gawk at Deception Pass from the bridge, and then it was another 10-15 miles of Fidalgo Island before I arrived at the ferry terminal... to find that the whole class had been waiting there for something on the order of 90 minutes! I arrived in Friday Harbor at 12:15 with the ferry, disembarked, and rode into the labs. Now here I am.
That brings me to a grand total of roughly eight hours on my bicycle, three hours waiting for the ferries and on the ferries, biking in parts of five Washington state counties, and one pair of tired legs. Priceless.
On Saturday I begin my journey home. The intended route will be Friday Harbor to Anacortes (ferry), then bicycling back down Whidbey Island as far as Keystone, where I will catch another ferry to Port Townsend. From Port Townsend I will bike a short distance on the Olympic Peninsula to the Hood Canal Bridge, cross it, and travel within Kitsap County to Bainbridge Island. From Bainbridge, I will take the ferry to downtown Seattle, and from there I will have my little victory lap to the University of Washington -- Seattle campus.
So that's my Big Bike Bash itinerary for the next few days. It should be amazing! More trip details to come later. I saw some amazing things.