Kula Yoga in Ferndale

Last February's one-week snow storm wore me out so badly that I've been dreading the coming winter. Now the weather has changed so suddenly that even though I've been bargain-hunting for cold-and-rain-gear for weeks, I still feel unprepared. Sunday night cold winds coming down from the Canadian North Cascades met up with rain clouds blowing north over Bellingham Bay over Whatcom County and we had an early snow and hail storm. When I biked to work at mid-day there were still wet piles of snow in the gutters and lumps of slush along the road. Monday was cold and drier, with snow still on the hilltops around town.

Along with shopping, I resolved to prepare my body for winter. Last winter, after a very hard week of commuting in icy, snowy weather, I tried a drop-in yoga session at a place in Bellingham. During one movement that involved lying on my back with knees raised, twisting at the waist to roll the legs from side to side, I had such hard, painful muscle spasms in my inner thighs that I almost yelled out loud. Feeling it was unfair to the teacher and other students to continue when I was in such bad shape, I decided to rest and take it easy for a few months.

Later in the spring a new yoga studio opened in Ferndale, only about a mile from where I live, and last month I signed up for a four-week, twice-a-week beginner series. Now I'm attending one night a week, and have even been practicing at home, in a somewhat hit-and-miss irregular way, meaning I do some warm-up stretches and exercises while drinking my morning coffee, and a few more stretches and relaxation exercises at the end of the day. It's helping already, which is encouraging me to get up early enough in the morning for a longer, more disciplined practice.

When I first took up bicycling several years ago, at forty-five years old, I read that because of the repetitive and narrow range of movement while pedaling, bicyclists often become stiff and rigid in the shoulders and hips, weak in the feet and ankles, and develop slack muscles in the front of the body compared to the back. I knew I should be doing some sort of cross-training or stretching exercises, but being disorganized and undisciplined, I procrastinated until my laziness started to hurt.

Actually I remember trying tree pose after I'd been riding frequently for a few months, and being proud of myself because I could actually do it - I'd finally developed enough muscle in my thighs to hold my leg up without wedging my foot hard against the inner thigh of my other leg. Not anymore - I have tendinitis in my left ankle, and both my feet are too weak and wobbly to balance on one foot for long. So I've been working on my feet at home, standing on tiptoe, balancing on one foot, doing a lot of mountain poses, especially when my back starts to hurt at work. In class we work mostly on sun salute and warrior poses, after warming up with cat-cow and downward dog, loosening up my legs and back so I can move on to more challenging moves without hurting myself. Doing warrior poses usually makes my spine pop in a few places, which might be alarming to some people, but has done huge good for my back.

I'm beginning to feel calmer and more confident about facing the winter.

The Drought is Over

Friday was the first rainy day of autumn, after more than eighty days without rain. The Nooksack River is lower than I've ever seen it (not that my experience goes back very far), with sandbars appearing below the bridges in Ferndale. The woodpile I was observing at the beginning of summer was broken up and partly cleared away not long after Memorial Day weekend, but the under-water base is visible now. The pilings in the middle of the picture on the right are the remains of the old Main Street bridge, which was replaced in 1996, about a year after I moved to Bellingham.

I haven't heard any winter-weather predictions I'd trust much, but no doubt the water level will rise quickly now.

As of Monday morning, October 15, the river has risen a bit above the rock banks, and the pilings and sand bars are no longer visible. In case you're wondering what this has to do with bicycling, people in cars can't see much of the river; the view is better on foot or by bicycle. Drivers did get to see an above-the-bumpers pond that formed in the roadway below the railroad overpass, when storm drains backed up at the intersection of Hovander Road and Main Street. The sidewalks were under water and I stayed well back to avoid getting drenched.

Car-centricity

Maybe it's not my place to be judgmental, but I laughed when I first saw this place, in a small shopping center built by the Lummi tribe on Rural Avenue near the Slater Road I-5 overpass. Customers do have to get out of their cars and walk in to the store to purchase alcohol.

Besides the drive-through, there is a seafood market, cafe, and arts & crafts shop, which I guess give the place more redeeming social value.

I've been spending too much time indoors on the computer, especially considering that the weather continues sunny and breezy, in the low-to-mid-70's. This morning I took a break to walk to the grocery store and coffee shop.

This was the scene on Main Street:

Every day during my six weeks at the bike shop, I saw another bike with mechanical features I'd never touched before - a surrey, tandems, internal gears, coaster brakes, knee-height fixed-gear children's bikes and more. So even though I'm not a car-fancier, I can't help but admire the care and skill that goes in to restoring and maintaining these classic cars.

I also can't help but wonder what kind of gas mileage they get.

Party's Over

The C-Shop is closed for the season now. Last Tuesday I rode to Birch Bay expecting to work a half-day, but the place was all locked up and forlorn. Instead I spent the afternoon cruising by the bay and walking on the beach, which I'd been meaning to do all summer anyhow. The tide was out and the tideflat was noisy and crowded with feasting geese and gulls.

That's the BP refinery on the horizon (I think)

I had asked for a schedule adjustment at my regular job so I could work at the bike shop as long as the good weather lasted, but now I'm only working three days a week and have a whole month of four-day weekends. This is almost better than taking an actual vacation, which I never got around to planning. I've signed up for a yoga class, in hopes of resting and preparing for the hard winter months, and I'm going to take some local day-trips. Plus getting caught up on much-neglected house-cleaning, and learning to speak French, and becoming more adept with my computer. Busy month.

My Other Job

At the C-Shop in Birch Bay:

Besides a cafe and candy store, the C-Shop (sometimes) has (or had) bike rentals and a repair shop. The owner wants to clean out the old shop and offer new bikes for rent, plus a bike repair shop, next summer. So I've been working a couple of days a week fixing up old bikes for sale, and sorting through boxes of new, used and vintage parts and accessories. It's kind of a candy store for bike geeks.

I'm still a beginner mechanic, but have been able to complete some simpler repairs, rehabs and clean-ups. The shop has new and used kid's bikes, some ugly-but-functional commuter bikes, and some classic-style road bikes that have been painstakingly restored by better mechanics than me, though I have one in progress.

The shop will probably close down when the autumn rains begin and we can't put them outside any more - there's no space to work with all the bikes inside.

All summer I've been meaning to treat myself to a day-trip ride to Birch Bay, but rainy weather, my job, and ordinary daily hassles always interfered. Since I got this job I've been riding from Ferndale two days a week, over a hilly 12-mile route through a scenic semi-rural area, to a sunny, breezy resort village by the bay. It's been kind of a working vacation, but the rolling hills and extra miles are tiring, along with working six days a week. I need to take some time off from everything soon.

Riding the Interurban

One night last week when I left work a bit after eight in the evening, it was getting dark by the time I got to Ferndale. Dozens of Canadian geese were flying south in V-formation over town and the air was brisk and damp. Already I'm feeling my usual autumn skittishness.

All through August I have been working two jobs (more about the new one later), six days a week, and on my one day off I'm still dragging my dirty laundry on the bus to Bellingham to the coin-op laundromat.

With the extra paychecks, I hope to afford a vacation soon, as soon as I have time, but I think I might want some time off from my bike. In the meantime, here are some photos from a ride on the Interurban Trail last October.

The Interurban railway used to run between Bellingham and Mount Vernon. Now parts of the rail route have been converted to bicycle and hiking trails in the south part of town, and on the hillside above Chuckanut Drive as far south as Larrabee State Park.

The bike trail through Fairhaven Park, next to Old Fairhaven Parkway, connects to a section of the Interurban that runs straight and flat as far as Arroyo Park on Lake Samish Road. When I lived near the University this was one of my favorite summer evening walks, to the remains of the rail bridge over Samish Road. There is a pretty walking trail across the road along Chuckanut Creek, but I don't like to bike there because it's narrow, muddy, rooty, rocky and shared with walkers, runners, horses and even alpacas.

It's a little tricky to pick up the Interurban Trail from this point. You have to turn right downhill on Samish Road, ride to the stop sign at Chuckanut Drive, where you turn left, then ride on the roadside for a short distance to 21st Street. Here you make a risky left turn across Chuckanut Drive, to a short but very steep hill-climb up to the gravel trail turn-off on the right. Last time I rode this way, the trail had just been thickly re-covered with gravel, making the ride a bit of work, but at least riding slowly is courteous to pedestrians, and allows plenty of opportunity to enjoy the scenery and take lots of photos.

Looking down on Chuckanut Drive

The uphill side of the trail -
rock and mud slides are common in winter

Driveways cross the trail in several places, connecting to Chuckanut Drive if you'd rather ride on the road. And there is a turn-off to Teddy Bear Cove, a small, secluded (and at one time clothing-optional) beach on Chuckanut Bay. The beach is named for the pale, pudgy, herbally inspired college students who visited the cove in the happy hippie days of the '70's.

The trail is mostly flat, but it crosses some creek gullies, so there are short, steep dips and rises in a couple of places.

The trail side is lovely, woodsy and ferny with interesting rock bluffs and peek-a-boo views of the bay through the trees.

From Bellingham it's a twelve-to-fifteen mile round-trip to Larrabee Park, where the rail trail ends. From there you can continue riding on Chuckanut Drive, connecting to Highway 11 in to Mount Vernon. Bay views from roadside turn-outs are stunning, deer graze on the hillsides and eagles glide level with the road. There are oyster farms in the shallows of the bay, and two or three restaurants along the way (some may be closed because of low traffic and slow business).

4000 Miles More

Today on my way home from work, just as I crossed the bridge over the Nooksack River, the odometer on my one-year-old Surly Cross-Check turned 4000 miles.

The sixteen mile round-trip commute burns about 400 calories, according to my not-too-precise bike computer, which works out to 100,000 calories per year. No idea how many tall mochas that equals.