Sunday total

First Sunday since May 18 I’ve managed to break 100 miles for my weekly total (thanks to our Sequim trip) - and just barely, at 100.79.  (I didn’t even get a chocolate bar, either, as I’m on a cleansing diet!) I’m thinking about getting a mileage spreadsheet of some kind - just to be even more obsessive!   

Sequim to Port Angeles - redux

Another delicious three-course breakfast served by Simone, and it was off to do the Sequim-to-Port-Angeles piece of the Olympic Discovery Trail.  We loaded the bikes on the car and drove to Railroad Park, then rode 15 miles to the shores of PA, where rain off the Olympics moved in and forced us to make a decision:  Push ahead the last few miles to town, or turn back and hope for better weather. 

Sequim - Day 2

Took it easy today - 11 miles roundtrip to Dungeness Spit.  Pedaled furiously into a tearing westerly all the way there, and flew on it back to Groveland.  The spit was so windy and chilly, I took refuge behind a huge log on the leeward side and snoozed while Josie went photographing.   Tomorrow, we’ll do the big ride to Port Angeles.  More of Josie’s pix here:

Sequim - Day 1

Monday was a travel day - started early on Bainbridge but still didn’t get to Sequim until afternoon - we took naps, did long walk out 3 Crabs Road, and called it a day.  Today was our first day on the bikes, Josie and I did about 28 miles around Sequim, out to Dungeness (photo above is looking out to the Straits of Juan de Fuca), back through town via the Olympic Discovery Trail, out to West Sequim Bay, and back around to Groveland Cottage (where we’re staying) via Nash’s Organic Farm Store, which is just up the street. 

Since my daughter is a wonderful photographer, I thought I’d let her paint the picture of our day - better than my words could…  So - click “Continue” and …  enjoy.

Back to Sequim

Josie and I leave for a week in Sequim Monday morning.  We’ll be staying til Friday, and hopefully bicycling our brains out - at least, that’s the plan.  I’ve decided I also need to get back to some jogging, so I’m gonna pack my Asics.  School’s out and I’ve felt myself relaxing into the daily riding I was doing last summer - when I go somewhere, I take the bike, not the car.  I’ve been to Winslow several times this week, and although I haven’t done a huge ride, the mileage adds up - I’m at 65, just using my bike for transporation.  This is the way I want to live. 

5,000 at Fort Ward State Park

I opened my eyes at 6:30 this morning to blue skies and almost fell out of bed - first time in ???  A perfect day to cross the 5,000 mile mark.  Set out around lunchtime and decided to do my usual ride - and celebrate the milestone wherever I happened to be.  I tried not to think too much about it, but the closer I got, the more I started estimating and guessing, a kind of mileage roulette…  “Ok, seven miles to go, I’m on Fort Ward Hill, maybe I’ll head around Rockaway Beach and be at Port Blakely Cemetery…. Ok, looks like I won’t be at the cemetery, maybe Toe Jam Hill! - okay, two miles to go at the top of Toe Jam Hill…  Hey! looks like it’s gonna be Fort Ward Park!”  And, sure enough, the big “O’s” rolled over at the north entrance to the park, just north of the boat launch. 

Mileage: 4,977.30

Did a 30+ mile ride yesterday on the familiar south-end routes.  I now have about 23 miles left to go before hitting 5,000 miles on my odometer - in fact, I will probably do it on my next ride, sometime this weekend.  It’s a testament to how corny I am, to be thinking about where I want to be when I get to the big milestone.  A friend of mine bought a new Wilier bicycle last year in Portland, and said he wanted his first ride to be along Crystal Springs, where he’s lived for many years.  “Can’t explain that,” he said. 

Frances E. Willard, bicyclist

Indeed, I found a whole philosophy of life in the wooing and the winning of my bicycle.

Josephine and PG

No no!  Josie is not pregnant!  We rode to Port Gamble today…  in chilly, cloudy, June weather. 

Liftoff

From the May, 2008 issue of Adventure Cycling magazine.  No link to the article is possible, unfortunately, as it is not posted on the organization’s website.  I hope Mr. Weir does not mind me sharing it, as it saves much xeroxing and mailing to friends and family.  It’s one of the best pieces I’ve read about bicycling (and other endeavors?)  in a long time…

by Willie Weir

I remember vividly watching the launch of the space shuttle Discovery.  The camera zoomed in as the rockets ignited.  The billowing fireballs, its sheer power and energy, were awesome.  But the shuttle just sat there.  Was something wrong?  Then there was movement, almost undetectable movement, as the shuttle struggled.  It was hard to believe that this lumbering, struggling vehicle would soon be up in space and free from the force of Earth’s gravity.  I love travel – the open road, the undiscovered nooks and crannies off the tourist track.  There are moments on a bicycle journey when I believe I’ve discovered true bliss.  Yet, in order for me to take that bike trip, I must break free from the gravitational pull of home.