Day 4 - Friday, June 29, 2012 - The yurt takes away the hurt

We rode out of Centralia with sunny skies. Lunch was consumed in the parking lot of the grocery in Toledo, WA -population 968. We rode through dense pine forests, miles of perfect road with little to no traffic, even though the hills were killer. A lot of the scenery was agricultural with many horse, cow, goat, buffalo, and alpaca pastures. We also saw a good amount of deer along the way. At one point Mount St. Helen's was in view, according to DJ.

We rode 79 miles to Cathlamet, where we spent the night at the Cathlamet Marina in a yurt. The yurt was equipped with a heater, outlet, and table - perfect.

Additional day 2 photos

Photos from our wet, hill climbing day.

Photo credit: Corey

Day 3 - Thursday, June 28, 2012 - Century to Centralia: flats on flats on flats

We rode out of Seattle this morning with the morning bike and car traffic. Our route took us around Lake Washington in the morning and Mt. Rainier was in good view on our sunny morning ride.

As we made our way out of the city, Melissa got a flat in her rear tire- due to a super large staple. Once we replaced the tube and reassembled all panniers, the tire went flat again. The situation was handled again, using the patched tube from the original flat and we were off!

Next stop was at a local fruit stand. We indulged in fresh strawberries, melon, and cherries. We met a woman who spent a semester at the College of Wooster and many pleasant locals who were curious about our trip. After consuming way too much natural sugar, we rolled out but we're quickly stopped by another flat tire on Melissa's bike. Apparently the patch job did not hold up. We're getting really good at changing flats at this point.

The rest of the ride can be summarized by driving through a military area where they do some sort of training, and dogs of all sizes and shapes running with us behind fences barking.

We rode the last 30 or so miles in a light drizzle. Half of this was on a fairly empty bike path, which was a nice change from the road. We made it into Centralia, 103 miles logged, with no campsite around. We took rest at the Travelodge, where we prepared dinner in our camping stoves and took advantage of the continental breakfast in the morning. Tomorrow should be a lower mileage day.

Rest day in Seattle - Wednesday, June 27, 2012

After two days of hard riding to start the trip, we're taking a rest day in Seattle. The day was spent looking for cycling supplies and either checking out the city or watching the Euro Cup - depending on which member of the group you might be. The group reconvened to tune and clean bikes. We were able to check out one of the best views of Seattle from Doug, Jess, and Ax's rooftop. Big thanks to Corey and Andrea for the tremendous hospitality while we were in Seattle. Miss you both already!!

Day 2 - Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - Mount Vernon to Seattle - Hills and Slugs

Day 2 was filled with lots of interesting weather, a ton of HUGE slugs that Mike was determined to make me lick, and more climbs than we had done in a single day.  The Support Crew, DJ, Matt, and Corey piled on 92 more miles.

We started with 40 miles to the Port Townsend Ferry, saw a few seal and two otters, DJ says, "those are the cutest little bastards out there, if you don't think they're cute, then you don't have a soul."
After the first ferry we rode ten miles to a lunch stop, where I was determined to relive my bubble guts.  Note:  Don't try the Quick and Easy Japanese Noodles at the gas station in Mt. Vernon, WA.

We finished the day with a long afternoon of repetitive, moderate climbs, over 46.7 miles before catching the 7:10 ferry across Puget Sound to Seattle.

Just as we thought we had a decent five miles left to Corey's house we experienced our first flat of the trip, on my trailer.  Corey's masterful bike work provided a quick turn-around and we finished the last few miles with burning legs and empty bellies.

Breaking for ice cream and cherries

Port Townsend Ferry

Post Fort Townsend Ferry ride

 Otter watching

 Riding is serious

 Outfit opposites

 Covered in road grime post rain

First flat of the trip in Seattle, five miles from our destination....trailer tire!

posted by Z

Day 1 - Monday, June 25, 2012

We began the day by assembling our bikes outside the hotel. We were able to set out around 10:30am.

The day consisted of a lot of map checking and several off rode ventures, but we made it to the border (30miles) and beyond (47miles) to Bayview State Park in Mount Vernon, WA.

The crew!

Riding out of Vancouver

Entering the USA!!

Larabee State Park - WA

Bayview State Park - Mt. Vernon, WA

Setting up camp

We made it!

After checking in Sunday morning, we were told there could only be two bike boxes per small plane. This is information that was not mentioned when we called the airline a month ago. So Z's two boxes followed us on our three flight journey and the other four boxes were rerouted. A very helpful Delta agent in Cleveland made sure all our gear would rendezvous with us in Minneapolis/St. Paul and join us on our final flight to Vancouver. It all worked out, thankfully.

I'm currently writing from the Vancouver airport hotel....time to get up and assemble everything!!

Test Run

Tuesday, June 19th was spent making adjustments on bikes and packing up all the gear we'll be taking on the trip. After sifting through camping gear and riding essentials, we loaded down and completed a 16mile round trip test run to Eddy's Bike Shop in Wickliffe.  

Handlebar tape wrapping 101 with Mike.

 

Love Dr. Bronner's soap...can't leave home without it!  And of course headlamps, first aid,  and a ziploc bag vull of Starbucks' Via!

I tend to over pack....so we'll see how much I can get away with bringing for our four week trip...

 

DJ, ready to ride!

 BOB trailer looks great...it even has two spots for additional water bottle cages!

The test run was successful.  Mike got a flat about a half a mile out, but quickly changed the tire and we were rolling again in no time.  We even tackled the 8% grade hill on Chardon road with no problem!  

Random last minute items purchased from Eddy's:  lots of spare tubes, spare tire, larger water bottles, trunk bags for the top of DJ and my rear racks, and bungee cords. 

Any suggestions on necessities we should be stowing away?  And yes, we will have chamois cream!

MapMyRide live tracking

I'm a little obsessed with tracking my progress as far as pace goes, so I use an app to map my runs and rides.  MayMyRide or MapMyRun both give you a wealth of information as you ride/run during your workout.  You can also analyze additional data once you are finished: calories burned, elevation, and percent grade of hills.  MapMyRide allows you to chart out future rides/runs.  We actually planned out our entire bike trip on a series of maps with this application.  If you are looking for inspiration for a ride, you can browse through other riders or runners' public routes.  

My routes are for friends only.  If you are interested in live tracking our progress through MapMyRide, be sure to create an account at www.mapmyride.com and friend me, mspigutz.  This will give you an opportunity to follow us as we make our way down the Pacific Coast.  

With our Pacific Coast trip rapidly approaching, DJ decided it might be a good time to get his third training ride in.  I was unaware he had intended for this ride to be a hill work out, but the route provided some recovery from the climbing after the first 15miles of the 50mile ride. 

Tan lines are already in full effect.

 

Z posing casually.  Love the new Soma.

DJ with all the essentials needed for a bike trip! 

This sort of posing continued during all of the breaks along our ride...so I felt it was my duty to capture such moments.