This Year's Tulips

At the turnoff to Farm to Market Road

Last weekend I got out for my traditional annual Tulip Festival bike ride in Mount Vernon. I drove to the Chuckanut Park & Ride lot in Burlington, meaning to ride Josh Wilson Road toward the tulip fields, but I missed a turn somewhere and ended up going too far north on Hwy. 11. I headed back south on Farm to Market Road, a route I remembered from back in 2014 when I was training for the Red-Bell 100, mostly because of a short-but-steep hill about halfway along. That year I made it halfway up the hill before I had to dismount and walk; this year I managed only about half that far. That's what car-commuting has done to me.

The rest of the ride was flat and easy, though, and car traffic was surprisingly light for a sunny Saturday afternoon, with only minor back-ups at two intersections, and slow traffic on the main street of Old Town Mount Vernon. Drivers were good sports and didn't try to block the bike lane to avoid being passed by cyclists. There were a good number of bicyclists out, too, including many people on ebikes, enjoying the freedom to get out to cruise around in the sun.

The tulip fields aren't as extensive as usual, because many farms lost a lot of bulbs in flooding over the winter. But two of the largest farms had vast fields in bloom, and one smaller new farm had some lovely plantings. Shops and restaurants are re-opening, too, now that pandemic restrictions are easing.

I rode a little more than thirty miles, with a stop for lunch at the Skagit Community Food Co-Op. I'm looking forward to more weekend day-trips, and maybe commuting by bike again, when Bike to Work month comes around in May.

Happy Spring

Sometimes it seems our February weather is colder, snowier and stormier each year. Luckily now I have Facebook to show me photos from two or three or eight years back. My old pictures are usually of snow several inches deep, or flooding from heavy rain and melting snow. It's good to have a digital memory more realistic than my own. Now it's March, the crocuses are up, and I'm ready for spring.

A couple of weeks ago I took my newish TriCross to REI to see if they could add some spacers to raise the handlebars. Turns out they couldn't, but they did swap the stem for one that is angled sharply upwards, and gives me almost an inch more height on the bars.

Today was the first chance I've had to take it for a test ride, and the new stem is just the change I needed. No more numb hands from leaning on the bars, no more stiff neck from riding with my head cocked back too far. I'm much happier now, and ready to travel.

Maybe I'll even start commuting by bike again soon - except that if I don't move my car regularly it tends to get vandalized.

Still a Bit Wet Out

New shoes

Today I got out for a twelve mile ride, my first for 2022, and first since October. I was tired and a little sore by the end, but no lasting pain. Very foggy this morning, and the pavement was wet and gritty, but not too cold and no rain. Some puddles remaining over the roads, however. This is on Church Road near Barnstar Farm.

Also got to test-ride some new shoes. These are Shimano brand, meant for touring and/or mountain biking, with no cleat-plates, just a flat, stickyish sole. They kind of remind me of the saddle shoes my parents forced me to wear when I was a kid, which I hated. These look pretty sharp, though, in classic black & white and coral-colored laces (they come with a spare set of black laces for a more conservative look). The sole isn't quite as stiff as I'd like, but I've been looking for something like this for a long time and I'm pretty pleased.

2022

Already two weeks in to the new year. And one year since I bought a car, after fifteen years of bicycle commuting and travel.

The editorial slant in many of the magazines I've been reading over the past year is that climate apocalypse is happening, the end is nigh, and there is nothing we can do to slow or stop it. I do believe in climate change, and that it has been influenced by human activity. I also believe the Earth is resilient, and has survived through many periods of drastic change, and life goes on. We don't know the time-line of the changes to come, and we can't be sure of what events will occur, where and when. Life goes on. It's still worth trying to repair the damage, and adapt.

Last year (or the year before?) the Washington state legislature passed a law that would have banned the sale of new gasoline powered automobiles by 2030, or maybe it was 2050, but soon anyway, either one would have been a pretty short deadline. Our staunch environmentalist governor Jay Inslee vetoed the bill, wisely I think. I agree that it would be best to phase out gas-burning cars, but this law would have started an insurrection worse than January 6, worse than anything that happened in Portland, worse than if he'd tried to outlaw guns.

Goodbye 2021

A holiday visit to the van Koi family in Lynden

I expect to finish the year having driven less than 6000 miles on my Subie, less than 500 miles a month. I fill the tank twice a month, spending around $100/month for gas. I'm also riding my bike a lot less, and have much less tolerance for cold, wet weather now that I don't have to gear up and get out in it every day. I haven't ridden since I test-rode my new bike back in October, and I miss it.

Water under the bridge, and over Main Street

On the other hand, our normally wet autumn months have been extraordinarily wet this year, starting with drenching "Pineapple Express" storms in November. The Nooksack River has flooded twice, mostly farther inland toward the foothills in the east. But the water went over the banks in Ferndale, flooding Hovander Park and Vanderyacht Park, and flowing under the railroad crossing by the car wash until it began to spill over Main Street toward the lower-lying section of downtown. Several local roads were flooded, washed out or had sections collapse. I was stuck in town, unable to make it to Bellingham for a day or two, and wasn't sure what route I could take to get to work. For the Christmas holiday weekend, we are having frigid temperatures and snow. And the furnace in my apartment isn't working.

I keep thinking of a short story by T.C. Boyle, which I read sometime back in the 1980's, called "Bloodfall." It's about a house full of layabout stoners (trigger warning: it's pretty revolting). One day it begins to rain blood. The story goes on in some gory detail, as it rains blood for several days while these slackers are stuck inside the house with each other. At last the blood rain stops and they venture outside, where blood is still clotted on the trees and lawn and running in the gutters. Just when they think it's all over and the world is going back to normal . . . plop, plop, plop . . . feces begin to splat on the sidewalk around them.

That's kind of how 2021 has seemed sometimes. As I may have said before: Things can only get better. Or, worse things have happened.

Shopping Tips (I Forgot)

I had been in the market (again) for a touring bike for at least a year before I finally settled on the previously mentioned consignment Tricross. The pandemic cut off supply lines for bicycles and associated gear but even before then, it was always hard to find smaller size road/touring bikes. (As I may have mentioned before.) When I walked in to bike shops I was usually steered to beach cruisers or "comfort" bikes, or in the past year or so, to electrics. I started printing out pictures and specs for a few models that interested me so I could show salespeople what I wanted, but one time when I walked in to a local shop that caters to high-end, high-maintenance customers, the shop-chick seemed to mistake the papers in my hand for a creased, wrinkled resume, and me for a needy job-hunter. I showed her the pictures but she didn't seem convinced and brushed me off pretty quickly.

I shopped online a lot, too, and for a while thought I might try ordering a new bike direct from Fuji or Liv. But brands won't deliver to home addresses, only to bike shops, and probably not just a single bicycle, either, unless it's a very pricey one. I looked at REI Co-op and Bikesdirect.com, but their inventory and selection was very limited. I even looked at Amazon, which looked a lot like Walmart Online.

One new shopping option is The Pro's Closet (www.theproscloset.com) which lists lightly-used competitive bikes from professional riders, including mountain, road, triathlon, super-aero time-trial bikes, and more, at bargain prices, if you think $4000-$10,000 for a bicycle is a bargain. I was hoping to find something for more like $1200-$1500, limiting my choices everywhere.

I was terribly tempted by one bike, a beautiful metallic-gold color Salsa Casseroll, priced at less than $1000. (This one: https://www.theproscloset.com/products/2012-salsa-casseroll-m) It's a single-speed, but after some online research I concluded it might be possible to add gears, a derailleur and shifters to the rear wheel at least. The bike is called a Small, and the size shown is 49cm, with a suggested rider height of about 765mm, and a standover height of 765mm too. This converts to about 30" which would make sense for the standover, but for an awfully short rider. But it is sooooo pretty . . . .

Finally I messaged a sales rep at Pro's Closet who very patiently and clearly explained that Salsa uses different size measurements than most (any?) brands. He also said it would be possible to rebuild the rear wheel to add more gears, but maybe expensive and difficult to find compatible parts. When I looked at all the frame dimensions and compared them to my Synapse, I concluded that the bike would probably be too large for me. I've already had enough painful experience with riding an over-size bicycle so I decided to be sensible and move on.

But it is sooooo pretty . . . 

My Cannondale Synapse, which fits well, is a 51cm, size Small. The Specialized Tricross I bought is a 51cm frame, called an XXS. When I test-rode it at the store, the shop guy didn't raise the seat quite high enough, but it felt so comfortable otherwise that I told him it was exactly what I'd been looking for, and bought it right away (no returns on consignment bikes). At home, I raised the seat by an inch or two, then went for a 10-mile test ride. This felt better on my knees, but with my rear-end lifted higher I leaned harder on the handlebars and my hands went numb quickly. For a little while I thought I'd made a serious mistake, but then I spent a morning switching to a better saddle, tilting the handlebars up a bit, and adding a few accessories. After another 14-mile test ride, the fit feels better, though I still might want to raise up the handlebars a bit more.

For less than $500, I'm happy with my choice. Still day-dreaming about that beautiful gold Salsa, though.

Celebrate the Autumnal Equinox!

Summer of 2021 was not a lot of fun, as you may have guessed, seeing that I haven't posted since June 21st. The Pandemic kept me mostly close to home, along with the threat of forest fires, although the smoke level didn't seem as bad as it has been some summers. We had record-high temperatures (100F+), but only for a few days. There were only a few nights when it was difficult to sleep because of the heat, and one day I spent outdoors in a park, hoping to keep my apartment cool during the day (didn't work). Then there were spells of unusually cool, rainy weather which must be what dampened the smoke and fire threat. Rain is good!

I've made up my mind that next summer will be my year for travelling, when I will finally get going on some of the tours I've wanted to take since I began riding more than fifteen years ago. I plan to start with some Washington State trips on new railtrails being completed west of the Cascades, and along the Columbia River and in the Badlands east of the mountains.

To set me on my way, today I bought a new-to-me touring bike - actually a used consignment bike from Earl's Bike Shop in Bellingham, a 2018 Specialized TriCross. My Cannondale Synapse is still fine for road rides, but the hub on the rear wheel has been knocked loose after I rode it with panniers on the gravel Galloping Goose Trail. The TriCross is meant to carry racks with baggage, and it has mechanical disc brakes, with shifters and brake levers that fit my small hands and arthritic thumbs.

I took it for a ten mile test ride on the gravel pathways in Hovander Park, wearing the silicone footballers sleeves that have given me some reassurance on bad pavement and loose gravel since my crash on the Slater Road roundabout in June of 2020. After the first quarter-mile I was plowing through deep loose gravel with more confidence than I've felt in more than a year.

So long ago! I need to get moving before I get too old and decrepit to be able to ride.