Geometry Lesson

While I wasn't riding over the winter I was considering buying a new touring bike that could carry panniers and camping stuff, maybe one with straight handlebars that would be easier on my arthritic thumbs. My Cannondale is still a fun road bike, but I've had a few panicky moments trying to brake on a fast downhill on wet pavement wearing thick gloves, when I could barely grip the brake levers. Besides I probably voided the warranty twelve times over during the summer I was travelling between Ferndale and Friday Harbor with a week's worth of luggage on board. But with all the uncertainty caused by the COVID situation, I put that decision aside.

Instead I bought a new Terry saddle for the Cannondale, and switched the old-but-still-good-one over to my old but ever-reliable K2 hybrid, thinking I could take some experimental camping trips on the old bike when the weather gets better. As I began riding more in late March, switching between the two bikes, I started having pain in my right knee, usually a symptom that the seat is too low.* So I experimented with raising the seats by a millimeter or two at a time until the twinges went away. During a rainy spell I rested my knee and treated it with a cold pack, and once I was sure I'd found the sweet spot(s), I marked the seatposts with fingernail polish.

Just this morning, though, as I was looking at the two bikes lined up and leaning against the living room wall, I noticed that the top of the saddle on the Cannondale is actually a good half-inch lower than the one on the K2, though both have been perfectly comfortable to ride. For a moment I thought the seat posts had somehow slipped, and I'd have to start over with trial-and-error raising and lowering to make the two bikes equal and pain-free.

But the seat posts were still at the marks. After puzzling over the geometry for a moment, I looked closer and found that the bottom bracket on the Cannondale is about a half-inch lower than the K2, and the pedal came closer to the ground, making up the difference in the seat height up top.

It's the distance between the pedal and the saddle that matters, not the distance from the saddle to the ground, and standover height is just a rough measure. The current best guide is to sit on the seat and place your heel on the pedal to get a better idea of saddle placement and bike size.

They didn't tell us that at Bicycle Mechanic School.

*If the seat is too high you'll have pain in the tendons at the back of the knee, among other things, I have learned through experience. They didn't teach that at Bicycle Mechanic School, either

One Month of Semi-Isolation

It's been one month since my last day at work. Partial pay from my job has run out - I will pick up my last check tomorrow - and today I filed a claim for Unemployment Compensation Benefits. The online system was so overloaded that I had to come back to my computer and log in four times, twice in the morning and twice in the early evening, before the site finally came up and I could complete my claim. I should be getting $600/week in addition to my regular weekly benefit, plus the $1200 stimulus payment, at least twice what I've been earning working irregular retail hours. I'll believe it when the payments clear my bank.

I'd like to go travelling, on some day trips at least, but everything is cancelled, even the perennial Skagit Tulip Festival, and the Ski to Sea Race in May. About four days a week I get out for a bike ride, to the Post Office in Bellingham at least, about a 24 mile round-trip, and then I get out for 20-40 mile local sight-seeing rides. Normally I would stop for coffee and pastry but even Starbucks is closed, except for drive-through. Without a car I can only buy as much as I can carry on foot (or in panniers) so I still walk to the grocery store several times a week, wearing a scarf around my face to block my breath. I used to walk out to the store often after dinner if I was craving chips, sweets or ice cream, but then I'd have to buy bread or milk or nutritious green vegetables, too, so the cashier wouldn't think I'd come in just for junk food. Now I've foregone those binges, and with all the bike rides, I'm losing my winter weight pretty quickly.

So I've been reading a lot, and studying French again, a bit. I spend far too much time browsing randomly online, mostly Facebook, Instagram and my Google news feed. Sometimes I start to get irritable and take it personally when people make comments about not keeping an absolute quarantine. This isn't really, literally a "lockdown" or "shelter in place" situation, those terms have particular meanings that don't apply now, though I suppose things are more dire in larger cities with more dense populations. Around here it's not hard to go out and ramble around for hours and just see cows, no people.

I've been thinking about what is essential, and whether this enforced austerity will make a long-term difference in what people buy and consume and how they spend their time. I suppose if the economy doesn't bounce back immediately we will be forced to change.

My parents grew up in small farm towns during the Depression and WWII years, and I inherited their pessimism and frugality (before I inherited Mom's retirement accounts). I grew up during Boeing's Boom & Bust cycles, the Arab Oil Embargo, the S&L crisis . . . one thing after another every decade. I still feel fairly secure about my future, but when I try to look beyond the time when the immediate stimulus money runs out - anything can happen.

Life in the Time of Corona

Trumpeter swans

As usual I've been isolated, bored and restless in Ferndale over the winter. In the past few weeks the weather has brightened up, but just when I was beginning to think I might start riding my bike to work again, the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders took effect. A week ago my boss called as I was leaving for work, to say that the store was closing for at least the next two weeks. He promised that we'll be paid for all hours scheduled for those weeks, and then receive partial pay after that, until the store can open again, who knows when. Luckily I still have savings to keep me from too much worry for a while. Since they're mailing paychecks I will make weekly trips in to Bellingham to pick up my check and mail at the Post Office - by bicycle, weather permitting, or on the bus if it's stormy, which is not uncommon in March. Or April.

I am well, though stiff and out-of-shape from being sedentary and stuck indoors for so long. Early this month I had immunization shots for flu and shingles, which I think may have fired up my immune system to help me resist the virus (I hope). The injection site was very sore and swollen, with a lot of back pain and muscle pain in my arms and legs for a few days afterward. Vaccinations were a new thing when I was a kid, my parents were both skeptical and careless about medical insurance and doctors, so I've had to make up for that as an adult.

I've been out for some 20-25 mile rides. Yesterday I rode through Lynden to Everson and back to Ferndale, a 42 mile round trip. Car traffic was light, but I saw Moms with kids riding bikes in some neighborhoods (at safe social distances), and farmers out working in the farms and dairies, and big flocks of trumpeter swans feeding in the stubbly, greening fields.

Now We Are Sixty

Sometimes I still dream of the beautiful morning commute on San Juan Island. Over the winter of 2017, after I worked at Island Bicycles, the owner thought he had found a buyer for the business and property. He closed down, moved everything out of the Argyle Street location and started up a smaller, more part-time at-home by-appointment shop. Then the sale fell through. He must have received earnest money from the buyer, but it seems like a raw deal that they could shut him down and then walk away.

During that summer I found that my eyesight was bothering me - it was hard to line up the chain and derailleurs when tuning bikes, though I could still see tiny bearings or screws if I dropped them at my feet. For several years I'd been noticing that my vision seemed to get bad in late summer or early fall, so when I returned to Bellingham in October I went for my annual eye exam. Huge shock when I looked at the eye-test chart at the optometrist's office: looking with my right eye, even the big E at the top was just a big, blurry gray rectangle. Cataracts that had been developing slowly were suddenly bad enough to warrant surgery. After some follow-up exams and waiting time (partly waiting to see if I might have better insurance coverage in 2018), I finally had surgery on my right eye in January 2019. There is still slight blurring in my right eye, and I will probably need new prescription glasses soon, but it has been a huge improvement, much less squinting and scrunching up my face trying to see people's faces and computer screens, and etc.

Never Give Up

This month I passed a milestone birthday (guess which one). I am actually feeling fine about it, lucky to be healthy, active and financially secure in a modest way. I wish now that I had been a bit more adventurous in the past few years while I had life insurance cash in the bank, but I still have savings, and time for travel and eccentric hobbies and so on. And with investments in a retirement account, I'm no longer burdened with the worry of working low-paid retail or pink-collar jobs, then retiring at 67 or 72 with nothing but social security money to live on.

I'm still working 4-5 days a week, 5-7 hours a day, and commuting by bike 17 miles round-trip since the managers asked me to start coming in at 7am. I have had a couple of wage increases in the past year. Not so long ago I was working minimum wage jobs, back when it was $9.76/hour and you had to sell yourself body and soul to get up to $10/hour, so Washington state's new $11/hour minimum wage seems like nothing to complain about, even though it still works out to a barely livable monthly income for most people.

Today I went for a quick morning ride in the rain, out past the Silver Reef Casino on the Lummi Reservation. I'm even glad of the rain. The past few summers the haze and smell of smoke from forest fires in northwest Washington and lower British Columbia was so oppressive and ominous. Rain is good. I love the rain.

Victoria BC - Rest Day

On this trip I allowed an extra "rest day" in Victoria, but I did so much walking around the city that I was more tired at the end of the day than I had been after riding 65 miles on the Galloping Goose Trail.

At right is the Legislative Building. Canadian official decorative motifs are much more interesting than American ones.

Craigdarroch Castle

Finally, I got to see the inside of Craigdarroch Castle. The house was built by coal baron Robert Dunsmuir, who unluckily died just before construction was finished in 1890. His widow, Joan, moved in, but traveled all over Europe and America in search of art and furnishings for the house, including exotic wood work, and stained and leaded glass windows. The house is full of beautiful parquet floors, wood trim and panelling, with brilliant stained glass at every window - lovely to see in person, but unfortunately that made it difficult to get good interior photos.

The tower room at the top of
Craigdarroch Castle

The tour proceeds up stairways on one side of the house to a small tower room at the top, then down the stairs on the other side. One of the upper floors which was used as a ballroom was roped off when I visited because the floor's supports had deteriorated so that it would not bear weight. A display case held souvenirs, fans, dance cards and programs from social events, and mannequins displayed suits or dresses from the late 1800's. I was surprised at how small they were: the women must have been less than five feet tall, with tiny wasp waists, and the men looked to be only about five and a half feet tall.

Tile flooring in the tower

Bikers in the family

After the deaths of Robert and Joan Dunsmuir, the family became mired in disputes over inheritances and division of property. Some of their children and grandchildren apparently grew up to be very colorful and bohemian: one young woman became fascinated with the actress Tallulah Bankhead, joining her entourage and following her around Europe, to New York and Hollywood, according to displays of photos and tabloid stories. I believe she eventually died on the Titanic, but I might be confused.

The house is partly restored with original furnishings, but some rooms that were used as a convalescent hospital for WWII soldiers will be restored to that state, to commemorate the history of the house. Later it was taken over by Victoria College, and was crowded with returning veterans after WWII. The Victoria Conservatory of Music operated there until the late 1970's, when it was taken over by the Society for Preservation & Maintenance of Craigdarroch Castle.

Just like home

After coffee and a scone at the castle gift shop, I walked a few blocks to Government House and rambled in the garden there, then left the grounds to explore the city neighborhoods. I had a city map but kept getting enticed down interesting-looking side streets until I got a bit lost. At last I happened upon a Starbucks on Cook Street. The afternoon was getting hot, time for an iced coffee break.

I walked to Beacon Hill Park, enjoying the water views from the bluff, then walked down a steep staircase to the beach for a rest, before walking back to the hostel by way of the waterfront.

For dinner I found a funky little Mexican place with a tiny seating area, where I ordered the fish tacos. They were OK, smothered in salsa and chipotle, but made with frozen breaded fish filets. Disappointing compared to the dinner I had in Swartz Bay at the end of last summer. It's never as good as the first time.

Next morning I started out early, riding back to Sidney on the Lochside Trail, aiming to catch the noon ferry back to Anacortes. Arriving with an hour and a half to spare, I locked my bike up to a fence and walked a few blocks in to Sidney to get coffee and ice cream, and idle around the shops and Sidney waterfront. I walked through the US border control station with my bike, but then had to line up in the car lanes to wait to board the ferry. I left my bike at the fence for a few minutes to take a bathroom break, which might have raised official suspicions, because when the line started moving, an officer called me inside a little office (to the left in the photo) where I had to show my passport again and answer a few questions. But they let me go and I boarded the by-now familiar old Washington State ferry to Anacortes.

Remembering Summer

At long last, here are the promised photos of my ride on the Galloping Goose Trail the summer of 2018.

By-the-Sea B&B, Sidney BC

The place for maps in Sidney BC

On this trip, I caught an afternoon ferry in Anacortes, arriving in Sidney BC at 5pm, staying overnight at the By-the-Sea B&B, an elegant antique-filled Art Deco ( or Bauhaus?) house with a sleek curving stairway to the comfy second-floor rooms. It is located along the bike trail a bit south of Sidney, about a 40-minute walk back to town for dinner. But a generous breakfast in the morning, more than I could finish. (No donuts, though.)

Big 10-inch donuts

McNeill Bay  from Harling Point, a former indigenous village called Chikawich, meaning "big hips".
This viewpoint is at the top of a short but memorably steep bump in the road that made me regret my big hips.

After breakfast I headed out on the Lochside and Seaside Routes to Victoria BC. The Seaside Touring Route branches off from the Lochside Route at (more or less) Bay Road near the Cordova Bay Golf Course. It's kind of a real estate tour for much of the way but there are some stunning water views here and there. The distance between Sidney and Victoria is only about 20-25 miles, depending on your route, side-trips or detours, and exact start and end points. I usually ride it in two or three hours. After idling at the viewpoints, parks and along the Victoria BC waterfront for a couple of hours, I checked in at Ocean Island Inn, the same hostel where I stayed last summer. In the morning, after another luscious Nutella-on-toast breakfast, I headed out for the trail.

OceanIsland Inn, Pandora St., Victoria BC

The route start in Victoria BC

I got another bear warning along the way, but this one was a little more plausible. A retiree-couple who lived by the trail stopped me, to say they had seen a black bear in an apple tree a little further on. They pointed down the trail, and I could see a tree shaking wildly beside the way. On second look, though, the tree seemed a little small to bear the weight of a bear, so I decided to risk it, riding as close as possible to the opposite edge of the trail, and got by safely. I'm not sure whether it was a prank, or NIMBY's trying to scare off tourists, or maybe they just wanted to chat.

Mechtosin Valley farm from trailside

Seeking a closer view of Lake Matheson, I left my bike leaning against a tree and followed a footpath to the edge of the bluff, where I walked up and down a bit, then sat on a rock for a rest break. When I turned to go back to the trail, I didn't recognize the break in the bushes where I'd come out. Since all paths only went one way, I just chose the biggest opening, but coming back from the opposite direction the rocks and fallen trees on the way didn't look familiar and I was a little worried for a moment that I could get lost when barely out of sight of the rail-trail. Embarrassing, but I guess it was a good reminder to check for landmarks.

Views of Lake Matheson from the trail.


















And here is a bad photo of the notoriously bad road crossing near Green Man Bicycle Shop, which was improved this summer. The old route followed the path on the right, leading to a Y-intersection with fast, heavy car traffic and no marked crossing. Now the trail branches to the left around the triangle-shaped building, coming out at a T-shaped three way intersection with a stop-light and crosswalk with a signal. Simple solution, but not quite perfect. For one thing, the Green Man Bike Shop is set pretty close to the street edge, which is convenient in a way, but riders who don't want to visit there have to make a sharp right turn to get back to the trail. More important, when the crossing light changed and I stepped into the crosswalk, three drivers making left turns passed in front of me without stopping, giving me that "what are you doing on my road?" stare.

I had stopped at a grocery store in the town of Colton to buy some lunch, so I was able to ride past Gillespie Road this time. The trail drops down sharply and I had to walk my bike a bit near Rocky Bay, but then I got on to the stretch of trail I had missed the summer before. I'm glad I made the return trip: the water views along Sooke Inlet are gorgeous, easy to admire from the wide, flat rail trail.

End of the trail

In the end I was frustrated again, though: the trestle bridge at Todd Creek was closed for repair. A detour required carrying bikes up a steep, rough dirt trail, and it was already mid-afternoon when I got there, with a 33 mile ride to get back to the city. Time to turn back. A better plan would be to ride a trail bike capable of carrying camping stuff to stay overnight at the regional park camping ground at the far end of the trail. That way I'd have time to explore and find some of the famous Sooke Potholes. I would also like to see a live Sitka Spruce . . . another summer.

Last Summer (2018)

What's left of the old Georgia Pacific plant, summer 2018

Smith Rd. & Northwest Rd.

The wise Kurt Vonnegut, once said "Never forget that we were put on Earth to fart around." And I did a lot of that last summer, along with working (where I don't fart around much, strangely).

Near the end of August Whatcom County had a spell of hot weather, along with smoke from wild fires in the North Cascades, Olympic Mountains and lower BC. The haze from the fires smothered the county for several days, making me feel sick and sluggish. A lot of people I know were putting off biking, running, hiking and other outdoor activities because of worry about the health effects of the smoke. A few rainy spells in September dampened the fires and cleared the smoke a bit. When the weather turned mild and sunny again I decided to take a last chance vacation and return to Vancouver Island, to finish what I started last summer, and ride the complete Galloping Goose Trail. It was the last week of September, exactly one year from my previous trip.