Cherry Blossom Time

A view of Bellingham Bay

Between studying for my final exam, completing a class project, and waves of wind and rain storms, I wasn't able to ride at all last week, until today, Sunday. It was drizzly until about 11am, when the clouds started brightening and I decided to get out while I had a chance.

I rode 25 miles, riding out of town on Ferndale Road to Marine Drive, then in to Bellingham, where I went looking for cherry trees on the Western Washington University campus.

The ride up Indian Street was a little challenging - I got a bit out of breath and my upper back felt strained, but I rode all the way up to Viking Commons in low gear without standing on the pedals - the ride down the hill is eye-watering fun.

Campus was very quiet and deserted, this being the first weekend of spring break. I toured around a bit, visiting some of my favorite campus sculptures. I always think Richard Beyer's "Man Who Used to Hunt Cougars for Bounty" is the best, but then I passed by the little "Feats of Strength" guys, and the stone labyrinth that always reminds me of scenes from King Lear or MacBeth.

For my first five years in Bellingham I lived in a tiny basement studio apartment just south of the WWU campus. There was no mail delivery to the building, so I used the downtown post office, and I used to walk across campus almost daily to pick up my mail - I could have had my own postal route. They've had a building boom since then and added several new buildings, but there are lots of interesting walks through Sehome Arboretum, to pretty spots on campus, and some of the best bay views in town.

Unfortunately, I passed through campus so frequently, sometimes in shabby clothes and preoccupied with job-search activities, that I'd probably become a suspicious person to campus security, and even more so in these post-9/11 days. In fact, some of the staff at the community college give me the side-eye sometimes, I guess wondering what a middle-aged person who is not an employee is doing hanging around the youngsters. But then Whatcom CC is planning some new buildings that will add study-space on campus - for now there isn't enough seating space in the library, class buildings or student union for students to do classwork on campus.

Bike parking at WW

Officially Spring - at last

At the Fairhaven Cruise Terminal

This past week, for the first time in more than a year, I logged more than one hundred miles in a week. I rode to and from campus three days, plus some side-trips for errands, then rode two 30-mile training rides this weekend. I should be doing longer rides, forty or more miles, but next week I have a final exam and a project due, and can't devote so much of my weekend to riding. I'll make up for it during spring break.

To celebrate my 109-mile week, I bought my first pint of Ben & Jerry's for the season. I haven't eaten it all yet, I still have some self-restraint, but I did eat a 12-inch pizza for dinner last night.

The Alaska Ferry is in

I spotted this - or rather, these vehicles as I was riding out of Ferndale this morning. The RV is not much smaller than a semi-trailer, but about as big as my apartment.

My mouth dropped open the first time I saw a rig like this on the road, and if there had been anyone riding with me at the time, I would have been ranting. Maybe this means of travel pencils out if you count money saved on hotels and restaurants, but such blatant conspicuous consumption still shocks me. Even considering my admittedly greedy eating habits.

I have been considering buying a car recently. It would give me a lot more freedom to choose where I live and work, and I could use it to take bike trips around Washington state, and even offer to car-pool with companions. Besides, I'll be turning 55 this spring, and getting a bit old to be depending so much on my own physical strength and endurance.

Then a sight like this reminds me:
I truly believe the petroleum industry and the auto industry are distorting our economy and social arrangements, and destroying the planet. So I'll hold out a while longer.

Obstacles in the road

I might have to go to Plan C in my training program. I managed to ride a total of 42 miles on two sunny days last week, but trying to work the rest of my schedule around good riding weather was too disruptive.

I didn't ride at all over the weekend. Now I'm thinking maybe I should go back to rain-or-shine bike commuting to school. That way, at least I will log fifteen miles a day, four days a week plus whatever I can manage on the weekends, for the next two weeks. Until spring break, and then I can ride every day all week.

The ever-changing Nooksack woodpile

I have been getting in a lot of study-time. I walk around with random French phrases running through my mind, and sometimes when someone greets me, I almost reply "bon jour." Studying a foreign language as an adult is an interesting experience. Everyone who has a chance should try it. In fact, I recommend any adult with kids nearing college age try taking a class or two, at least a not-for-credit community ed. class. A lot has changed, but some things never do. At the beginning of fall quarter, I had anxious dreams about getting ready for school, but not finding any clean clothes that matched and looked passably stylish, then not being able to find the right building on campus, then walking in late, to the wrong classroom. Then there's test anxiety, and procrastinating with homework.

Nooksack river ride

In Everson, near the bridge

Some mornings I can tell it's sunny because I wake up hearing birds chirping ecstatically in the alley. Other days, it's trees thrashing in the wind and rain splattering on the pavement. Friday and Sunday were partly-sunny days when I got out for rides of 32 and 34 miles.

With all the rain and warmer temperatures in the mountains, the Nooksack River is running very high. I'd been thinking I might take my usual route up to Birch Bay, which I haven't seen since last fall, but instead I decided to head inland to see what the river looked like farther upstream. I rode Pole Road to Everson, about 17 miles from my place. It's a pretty flat ride, but since I haven't been riding often I don't feel up to much hill-climbing yet.

From the Nooksack River bridge in Everson

There's a lot of water in the low spots in pastures, fields and golf courses, but the land mostly looks pretty well drained. When I crossed the river in Everson, it was easy to see where all the logs and tree branches passing through Ferndale are coming from: a big logjam of dead wood piled up just downriver from the Everson bridge was breaking up in the high water.

Back in Ferndale, lots of people were out looking at the river, which is about two feet below spilling over the bank in to VanderYacht Park.

I talked to a woman at the park, who said several years ago the water rose about four feet higher than it is now, causing flooding over a wide area of downtown Ferndale. She said the railroad bridge was closed, and they almost closed the auto bridge, too.

The river in Ferndale

I haven't heard any warnings about possible flooding. The weather forecasts I saw online say more rain early next week, and predict snow on days with a low temperature of forty degrees, and highs in the upper fifties. Which makes no sense, of course, unless maybe it's just that someone is having trouble converting from centigrade to Fahrenheit. Probably best to listen to the birds in the alley in the morning.

Persistence

I wimped out again over the weekend, but made up for it somewhat during the week. My training schedule is suspended for the present, the new plan is to just get out and ride any day we don't have rain, snow or gale-force winds. Wednesday I rode sixteen miles to and from school, and Friday I made a 22-mile round-trip to Bellingham. There was a storm blowing in on Friday, causing tailwinds riding south, but I had to struggle with headwinds and sideways gusts going home.

My back has been getting stiff and sore, I think from sitting at the computer or hitting the books at the dining table - lots of study time when the weather is bad. I've been doing a bit of yoga at home as a remedy, hoping sun salutes will bring back the sun.

You're supposed to let go of goals and expectations when practicing yoga, but I hope someday soon I will be able to touch my forehead to my knees when doing standing forward folds. This should also feed in to another aim of my training plan - building up my distance gradually so I don't injure myself by the time I make the century ride at the end of June.