Updates & Caution

Trailside composition

A word of warning for anyone who might have been inspired to take a bike trip to the San Juan Islands via the Anacortes ferry this summer: a construction project is getting underway on Hwy. 20, at the three-way intersection turn-off to Deception Pass. The state highway department will be building a traffic roundabout at this major intersection between the towns of Mount Vernon and Anacortes. Bicycling may be the best way to get through this choke-point during construction - car traffic is sure to be backed up, but cyclists should be able to squeak by in the bike lane, or detour toward March's Point on the Coast to Cascades Route or Tommy Thompson Trail (I have never tried these routes, but they are marked on my Skagit County Bike Map).

Since early April I've been working at a new sports gear and clothing retailer in Bellingham. It took me a few weeks to adjust to working again. I caught a cold my first week, and was very absent-minded and scatter-brained at first - lost my keys, lost a lens from my glasses, then broke my back-up pair, then left my back-up keys in my locker at work and had to turn right around and go back to get them. I was commuting by bike at first, but the wardrobe change facilities weren't very convenient, and once the store opened my work hours matched up with the bus schedule pretty well. Most days now I ride the bus, but on weekends I get out for 25-35 mile rides, and I'm still planning some little overnight trips, after my failure at joining the Adventure Cycling group.