Ready Now

For Saturday, I had planned an 85-mile round-trip ride (Ferndale-LaConner-Ferndale) but deviations from the route I mapped on Google turned the ride into 92 miles. Out of habit, I turned off Hwy. 11 south of Chuckanut Drive and rode through the tiny towns of Bow and Edison, before realizing my Google cue-sheet gave other directions. Referring to my Skagit County map, I decided to follow Farm-to-Market Road as far as Young Road, then zag over to LaConner-Whitney Road in to LaConner. There was one short but steep hill on Farm-to-Market that I couldn't take, and had to dismount and walk half-way up, but otherwise I enjoyed a nice tailwind going south, though I was aware all the way that the ride home would be harder.

Tulips in the spring, wheat in the summer

On the return trip I rode LaConner-Whitney to MacLean Road and on in to Mount Vernon. The town seems to be going through a general remodelling right now - there are lots of vacant storefronts, and the waterfront boardwalk, usually the site of a summer Saturday Farmer's Market, is being rebuilt. I stopped to rest and read my maps again, and decided to turn back and follow Avon-Allen Road back to Hwy. 11/ Chuckant Drive. This turn-off is a little bit tricky: just before Hwy. 11 is an intersection with Sam Bell Road, where it's tempting to turn left, but that would send you out to Padilla Bay and Samish Island, which is a whole ride for another day.

The Skagit Valley farms seem to be less mono-culture than they have been: tulip and daffodil fields are now planted with wheat and pumpkins or squash, and there are tree and blueberry or strawberry farms, which smell delightful just now.

Edward R. Murrow lived here, according to local legend

Chuckanut Drive, as I've mentioned before, is a beautiful but difficult ride because of the short rollers, rough pavement and narrow road. The Samish flats are difficult going north as well because of the prevailing headwind, so I was pretty tired and weaving a bit on Hwy 11 as I approached Chuckanut Drive. My odometer turned 3000 miles just past the Edward R. Murrow house, where the Chuckanut rollers begin, but I had to ride on a half mile or so before I could stop safely to celebrate with a Clif bar and a slug of Powerade.

I got fired up somewhere along the way and made the last hillclimb before Fairhaven pretty well, and was just past the 80-mile mark near Boundary Bay Brewery in downtown Bellingham. This will be the finish area of the Red-Bell 100 next Saturday. However, after eighty miles on that day, I would still be back somewhere on Hwy. 11, just approaching Chuckanut. Still, yesterday I had to ride twelve miles more to get home, and the 92-mile ride is pretty close to a century, so now I feel confident I can last for the whole ride. I probably won't make it in less than seven hours, but maybe eight, and I expect I can get back in time to catch the #27 bus back to Ferndale after the finish party at Boundary Bay. If not, I might have to sleep in a doorway or something, and crawl home on Sunday morning.

Postcards from LaConner:

Swinomish Tribal Center, across the channel from LaConner