A few days of great weather after the long, cold, dreary winter and everyone’s jumping back on their bikes. 
Annie and I met at the Agate Pass Bridge for a “park and ride” loop around Port Gamble. Went up the back side via the Kingston-Port Gamble road, which was fun despite the narrow twists and turns. This road makes me nervous, as drivers fly along hoping to beat traffic on the main roads, but the scenery is great and the alternatives not appealing.
We stopped at Port Gamble but a north wind was whipping through, and even sitting in the sun was chilly. We continued west to the Hood Canal Bridge (closing May 1, btw), braved the trucks and other roaring road beasts on the old highway, then finally turned off onto Big Valley Road and enjoyed ourselves before facing the highway again in Poulsbo. A good spring outing, in all — Annie is starting to train for the AIDS Lifecycle Ride, her fourth year. Sadly, she’s moving to Los Angeles soon, so I’ll be losing a favorite riding buddy. Hopefully we’ll be adding So.Cal. to our outings.
It was good to get back out on the highway after a winter of riding Bainbridge backroads. Annie and I talked about the inevitable dilemma — we love the safety of island routes, wince at highway traffic, trucks, noise and glass, and yet there is an exhilaration and adventure about being on the highway that you can’t find on the familiar local loops. We’re thinking about exploring Clear Creek Road next. Bike season is here, at last!
