English Major in the Woods

I should add that Agate Bay Road heads straight into the hills for a couple miles, then joins up to Jensen Road, which curves around and intersects with Y Road again, just before the top of the climb.  So I got to ride the downhill twice, but only did the climb once.

I should also have said "neither the bear NOR I was much disturbed."

Bears in the Woods

Wednesday I rode Northshore Drive to the Y Road hill climb, then on Mt. Baker Hwy. to the Nooksack River, and back the same way.  At the bottom of Y Road I stopped to rest, just across from where Agate Bay Road angles up the hill.  After sixteen or so years in Whatcom County, I'd never been on that road, and noting that my odometer was at 3199.6 miles, I decided to go exploring and watch my odo turn over.  At first the road goes over a few small, steepish rolling hills through woods with a few houses.  Near the top of a hill I looked off in to the trees and huckleberries on my right and saw either a very large black Newfoundland dog, or a small black bear. Assisted by the downhill, I coasted by fast enough that neither the bear or I was much disturbed.  When I glanced at my odo again, it said 3200 exactly.

I was riding about 4-6pm, so there were deer out feeding, too.  I saw several grazing in cleared fields or front yards at the top of the hill climb.

Y Road, by the way, is about a Category 2 or 3 hill climb, in Tour de France terms.  I've learned to appreciate low gears, but did not have to drop down to the smallest chainring.

Coming Down from the Hills

The November rains are trying to get an early start.  Usually by afternoon the sky is only partly cloudy, the temperature moderate but uncomfortably damp and humid.  I'm still running errands by bike, and going for flattish 20-30 mile rides for fun.  I've ridden more than 3100 miles since mid-February; I expect to ride 4000 miles this year.

I hate to admit it, but after returning from vacation I found my hilly eight mile commute was beginning to wear on me.  I rode that route five days a week for more than a year and half, and the year before I rode another route with an easier daily hill-climb.  I started doing hilly rides back in a warm spell in January, to test myself before the Chilly Hilly.  And then some hard hill-climbing on my vacation in July.  By mid-August I was getting twinges in both knees and straining my back on the hills on my commute.  I guess it's a good time for a rest.

Now that I'm not commuting any more, maybe in the next couple of weeks I'll revisit my old routes to work and review my hill-climbing lessons from the past two or three years.

Club Univega

This is a newly-created blog dedicated to bicycle commuting and recreational cycling in and around Bellingham, Washington.

My Summer Vacation

NOTE: this is a repost of one of my first posts from September 2010. At the time I was still learning the finer points of placing and sizing photos and wrapping text. Since then something seems to have gone wrong, and the post and some photos went missing, except in draft form. So there they are again, because I miss the sun.

Klamath River

For my summer vacation this year I went away to Bicycle Mechanic School in Ashland, Oregon. I took the train to Klamath Falls, and then rode my bike on Highway 66 to Ashland. At both ends of the ride there is a hard, winding climb of about ten miles, then it's about sixty miles through the mountains, most of it through national forest where there are no houses, rest stops, convenience stores or Starbucks. Not even very much shade, and I picked the hottest day of the summer to ride (as of the last week of July) - the temperature got up to 103F. At mid-day I was getting a little sick from the heat, weak, dizzy, creeping along at 4-6mph. Luckily I came to a store in Mountain View, about twenty-five miles away from Ashland and a bit before the Green Springs Summit. They had a big, beautiful freezer in back, stacked with blocks and bags of ice. I bought an eight pound bag and sat out front of the store hugging it, holding it on my lap, rubbing lumps of ice on my face, neck and head. I slid chunks down my back, in my bra, in my shorts, trying not to look utterly shameless while reveling in the coldness.

Emigrant Lake, near Ashland

The ten mile downhill, almost all the way to Ashland, was a screamer. It's a winding two-lane road without much shoulder, but not much car traffic either, and lovely views of the valley. I was worried that on my hybrid bike with thirty pounds of baggage I would get going like a cannonball and not be able to stop, but I never got above about 33mph and I wasn't even riding the brakes all the way.

Some high points of the ride

Last public restroom for 65 miles

The return trip, riding from Ashland to Klamath Falls, was easier. I started earlier in the morning, and the temperature only got into the mid-80's. The downhill from Hayden Mt. summit isn't as thrilling as from Green Springs to Ashland, but it still made me forget all the climbing. At the bottom I stopped to rest at the Klamath River crossing, where pioneer caravans crossed the river in ox-drawn wagons.

The historical marker there tells about one group who were delayed when an ox became mired in the mud, then had to abandon a wagon after it broke a wheel. To make the climb up to Hayden Pass they had to double-team the wagons, using two ox teams to pull one wagon up, then returning to pull the one left behind.

Alas, I won't have much to say about commuting for a while, as I was laid off from my job on September 1.  But this is a glorious season for recreational cycling in Bellingham and I plan to take full advantage before the November rains set in.

Here are some photos from a recent ride to Blaine, just south of the Canadian border:

My trusty K2 on the public fishing dock across from Semiahmoo Spit.

Quick-Step was here - steam-powered

Some scenes from the 2010 Chilly Hilly, a 33-mile ride

around Bainbridge Island, last February:

The bike deck on the ferry

Lining up to disembark - people were very orderly
and docile, probably because of hypothermia.

Rest-stop at the half-way point

The line-up for the return trip on the last ferry to Seattle.

ClubUnivega

This is a newly-created blog dedicated to bicycle commuting and recreational cycling in and around Bellingham, Washington.