Winterizing

Rosebud & Baby Blue at home

They say this will be another La Nina winter so I'm getting ready for snow.  I've already found it can be a fair bit of fun to ride in fresh, light snow if you have the right clothes, good tread on your tires, and a solid, reliable bike.  I'm resolved to make the best of it.

Last week I had my first flat tire on my new bike, and had to patch a punctured tube on the road side at night on my way home from work (at least it wasn't raining).  I discovered the knobby tires that came on the bike aren't as rugged as they look - they're actually so soft and thin I could almost take the tire off bare-handed.  I was glad at the time, but I'll need something tougher for everyday commuting.

So I spent an afternoon swapping parts between my old and new bikes.  The Surly now has nearly-new Vittorias with tire liners, and the knobby tires are on the K-2.  I also added fenders, except the Planet Bike set I bought didn't exactly fit either bike.  I ended up putting the front fender on the Surly, which will help keep my feet dry.  The rear fender is on the K-2. I had to use some miscellaneous mounting hardware left over from old accessories, plus a couple of rubber-bands to keep the rear fender from rubbing the tire.  I haven't road-tested them yet, but I think things will hang together.

The K-2 has been re-christened Rosebud, the snow-bike.

Highway 539 Revisited

The photos of Highway 539 from last week's ride to Lynden are posted on a new tab (above).  I still say the highway isn't a very pleasant bike ride and I'd rather avoid it, but it's a fast and direct way to get from Bellingham to the border, and points between.  The new bike lanes and roundabouts are a huge improvement.

WSDOT is getting better with experience at accommodating bicyclists.  Thank you, wizdot!

Hwy. 539 / Guide-Meridian

Hwy. 539/Axton Rd. intersection, with the Canadian Rockies in the distance.
The site of the 2010 Winter Olympics is up there somewhere.

Meridian Street is one of the main streets through downtown Bellingham.  After it crosses under I-5 is called Guide-Meridian, or "The Guide" for unknown reasons.  The segment of Meridian next to Bellis Fair Mall, between the freeway and Kellogg Road, is the worst in the county for traffic congestion and accidents.  (It is currently under study for planned traffic improvements, but the emphasis will be on improving vehicle movement, not adding features for bicyclists.)  There are no bike lanes, intersections are badly laid out, and there are many driveways for businesses and shopping centers.  On the west side of the street, by Bellis Fair Mall, there is no sidewalk or shoulder, only concrete barriers next to the traffic lane.  Heading south into town, if you're fast and brave you can ride in the traffic lane, and cross the main entrance to the mall, plus three freeway on/off ramps.  I almost always cut through the mall parking lot, or ride on the sidewalk going the "wrong" way on the "wrong" side.

The bike lanes start at Kellogg Road, but traffic speed also starts to increase there.  Once you get out of the business district, the speed limit goes up to 50mph with two traffic lanes in each direction, plus left and right turn lanes at some intersections.  Car traffic is heavy and fast, and there are also lots of farm and construction vehicles, and large trucks to and from the Canadian border crossing.

The first roundabout, at Hemmi Road.  The bike lanes are designed to send cyclists up on to the sidewalk going through the roundabout, and with good reason.  Signs warn car drivers not to drive next to trucks in the roundabout.





Still, it's a bit awkward for a bicyclist to use the crosswalks.  If you're stiff in the neck and back, like me, it's hard to look back to make sure there are no cars coming before making a sharp turn off the sidewalk into the crosswalk.

But I guess that's the purpose of roundabouts:
to force people to slow down and look - truck drivers, car drivers and bicycle riders alike.

Views of Mount Baker are (usually, on clear days) visible to the right as you travel north.

Looking back south to Laurel Hill

The Pole Road roundabout

A tourist shop on the southbound side of Hwy. 539 promises indigenous arts and crafts.  The gravel and cable divider was added last year.

This is the northbound view.  Going home, southbound on Hwy. 539, I turned right on to W. Wiser Lake Road, which connects to Northwest Road, which connects to turn-offs to Ferndale at Axton or Smith Roads.

To the right is the public boat launch at Wiser Lake; the entry is two quick right turns at the Wiser Lake roundabout.  Wiser Lake is really a pond, mostly surrounded by new McMansions.  Water-skiing is allowed, but it's hard to see how anyone could get going fast enough to get up on skis for long.

Wiser Lake Road roundabout

Bridge over the Nooksack River.

The right side is the old bridge, which used to be two lanes and two directions.  Now the highway is divided into two northbound and two southbound lanes, with a new bridge on the left.  The bike lane still narrows crossing over the old bridge; there is a sidewalk which can be used by bicycles as well as pedestrians, but I wouldn't feel any safer there than riding by the roadway.

River Road roundabout, just past the bridge

Looking back at the bridge

A geographical footnote:  I usually think of I-5 as running north-south, but coming through Bellingham to the border it really mostly goes northwest.  Northwest Road, my commuter route, also runs northwest, more or less parallel to the freeway.  Otherwise, the road grid mostly runs north-south and east-west, with Guide-Meridian, Hannegan and Everson-Goshen roads being the main north-south routes in the county.

Still Life with Pumpkins

Half-full:  lunch at the Lynden Dutch Bakery

Another one of those glorious October days.  I had it in mind to ride until my odometer turned one thousand miles.  After forty-seven miles, I'm still nine miles short.

Tomorrow for sure, even if it rains.

I rode to Lynden by way of Hwy. 539, the main state route through Bellingham, also known as Guide-Meridian, which runs to the Lynden-Aldergrove border crossing.

This year the state completed improvements to the highway, adding a divider between the north and south bound lanes, roundabouts at several main intersections, and wide paved bike lanes.  Northwest Avenue or Hannegan Road are still more scenic, and possibly safer routes to the border, but there are interesting sights along "The Guide" and if you're looking for a fast, straight bicycle-express route from Bellingham to Canada it's a good choice.  (I'll post more technical-type photos of the route and roundabouts under another heading.)

 The gateway to Lynden doesn't look very promising - you turn right off Hwy. 539 at the cemetery, go past the Lynden WTA park-and-ride, the Northwest Washington Fairgrounds, and a Dutch-themed strip mall on Front Street.  Then you get to about a half-mile of handsome, wide main street lined by tidy houses with perfect lawns and a canopy of old oak trees.

This is the main downtown street, also known as Van Frontsma Street.  Lynden has a reputation for being a very straight-laced Dutch-Reformed-Church town - businesses are closed on Sundays, and there are blue-laws that ban dancing at places that sell alcohol.  But people are friendly, definitely not humorless, and  many shop-owners or workers speak Dutch as well as English.

A lot of the shops are vacant right now, but the Dutch Bakery and Dutch Mother's Restaurant have been in business for many years.  Both are good for brunch or lunch on a long bike-ride.




The windmill is also a hotel, with a complex of shops, a restaurant, and a theater below.  An indoor pond is home to the Van Koi family.

In spring there's a tulip festival, the Northwest Washington Fair in summer, harvest festivals in the fall, and at Christmas there's a parade featuring Father Christmas and the three Magi.

There's only one bus route to Lynden, the number 26, but sometimes in winter I take the last bus in the evening to get a tour of the Christmas lights on Van Frontsma.

. . . maybe not all that straight-laced.

The petunia baskets are still blooming in Lynden, but they're not as big as Ferndale's.

The Coast of Bohemia

Kayakers in Blaine Harbor

Mount Baker again, this time from Tennant Lake Park.  The old heap didn't lose much snow over the summer, and the first winter snow came last week.

Naturally, it's pouring rain on my days off so I'm spending today baking cookies and messing with the computer.  These are a bunch of photos from Bellingham, Ferndale and Blaine on some recent sunny-day rides.

The Burlington-Northern railroad bridge over the Nooksack River.  This is also where Ferndale's Main Street crosses the river.

To improve access to the city center, a roundabout has been put in at the Portage Way underpass to I-5, and the road has been widened and repaved, including bike lanes, sidewalks, and a dog-walking path.

The granary dominates the Ferndale skyline.

The Hub Community Bike Shop in Bellingham, between North State Street and the Interurban Bike Trail, on the way to Boulevard Park, is inhabited by inventive, talented and committed bicyclists and mechanics.

Whatcom Transit Center
- another hub for the carless

Boulevard Park.

Public fishing dock

The Interurban Trail crosses the railroad tracks to a small outcrop into Bellingham Bay that is one of the most popular parks in the city.  A new boardwalk connects it with Taylor Dock in Fairhaven, but it's usually so crowded with elderly walkers, moms and small children and bunches of tourists that it's best for bikes to stay off.  Maybe on a rainy Wednesday morning in January or February . . . but it's bumpy, too.

The Woods in Boulevard Park may have one of
the world's most scenic locations for a coffee shop.

 Jugglers, and the Bellingham Fire Department Pipe Band practicing after work (sorry they're so blurry, it was getting dark).

And some downtown scenes:

The Mount Bakery Cafe opens very early in the morning in July to offer live coverage of the Tour de France.

Find the radish in this picture.

Old City Hall is now the old museum.

The Whatcom County Courthouse.
Don't go there if you can help it.

This sign explains the tree
in front of the courthouse
(click on it to enlarge).

 At Whatcom Community College:
This sculpture was made from the Donovan Rock, a glacial eccentric that was found at the south end of town, in Fairhaven.   Donovan Street was split down the middle to go around it, but when I-5 came through, the rock was blown up into several pieces and dragged away.  A technology class at WCC used a laser cutter to make this sculpture.  The globe floats on a film of water forced up from below, and can be spun around in any direction.



A traffic roundabout was put in a coupla few years ago at a high-traffic (and high-collision) intersection near the college, the north end transit center, Bellis Fair Mall and a couple of other major shopping centers.  Students and Canadian shoppers complained at first, but it has helped slow down traffic.

That's Mount Baker in the distance again.

I felt a lot better about riding my bicycle ten miles home in the dark when I saw gas prices above $4 a gallon at this station.

The End.