Friday, September 18, 2009

Statistics and Maps

Here are maps of our route, by day. Click on a link and it will take you to BikeRouteToaster. Note that on days one and eight, mileage includes the ferry ride across Puget Sound. Average speed and time as calculated by BikeRouteToaster is total time, which includes time in bars drinking beer, or just doing nothing in particular.

Our ride was recorded on a Garmin 705. I converted the TCX files to GPX format using GPSVisualizer.com, then uploaded those files to BikeRoute Toaster.

Total riding mileage: 424 miles
Total elevation gain: 19,391 feet

Day One Fall City to Hood Canal
Day Two Hood Canal to Sequim
Day Three Sequim to Salt Creek County Park
Day Four Salt Creek Co.Park to Bogachiel State Park (Forks)
Day Five Bogachiel to Kalaloch (Olympic National Park)
Day Six Kalaloch to Montesano
Day Seven Montesano to Shelton
Day Eight Shelton to Fall City

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Day 8 Shelton to Home

72 miles 3,200 elevation gain

On our last day, we got our earliest start-on the road at 7:26AM! Heading north, we successfully navigated Shelton "traffic" at rush hour and were soon on rural backroads leading towards Bremerton. The Adventure Cycling Association's route kept us off major roads, so traffic was non existent. We rode past Mason Lake, a small lake surrounded by homes; each one seemed to have a ski boat either docked out front or on a trailer in the driveway.

About 25 miles into the day, we stopped at a Starbuck's in Belfair, located on the bottom end of Hood Canal. (geography note: Hood Canal is a canal in name only-it is a fjord.) We took a short break, then off to remaining 20 miles to Bremerton. Shortly after leaving the coffee shop, my rear tire went flat. I replaced the inner tube, only to break off the valve stem. So, pull that one out, put in another, pump it up and head out. Lesson learned: choose smooth valve stems, not threaded ones. Smooth is stronger and is easier on the pump head fitting, and those little nuts on threaded stems aren't necessary anyway. With everything fixed, we rode on towards the ferry in Bremerton.

The ACA route avoids Hwy 3 (a busy, fast four lane road), but does so by climbing a bunch of really steep hills-14 to 15% grades. Quads burning, we continued on across town to the ferry terminal. We missed the 11:35 boat to Seattle, so we found an Anthony's restaurant on the waterfront to kill some time until the next one. We enjoyed the sun and cold drinks on the patio, then caught the M/V Kitsap for the hour passage to Seattle. The ride was classic-blue sky, no clouds, calm water and Mount Rainier to the south, seemingly close enough to touch.

Back in Seattle, we were back on the familar route across Lake Washington, Mercer Island, then to points east. Soon we were in Eastgate, where Steve peeled off to home. I continued on for the remaining 17 miles home. A stop in Issaquah for my final quart of Powerade (with Ion4, of course),then last last few miles, including about four miles on the shoulder of I-90. The Preston-Fall City road was a fast 4 miles, and the final, familiar climb up Lake Alice Road seemed easier than usual. Into the driveway, and the trip was done! A cold beer (Redhook ESB) and a shower, and the Olympic Loop was done!

I'll put up a post-ride wrap up in the next couple of days. Thanks for reading.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Day 7 Montesano to Shelton

Another classic Washington morning-gray, upper 50's, damp and wet pavement. Breakfast was at the Beehive Restaurant-a Montesano classic since the 1930's. Back at the motel, we got ready to hit the road-with a somewhat leisurely start time of about 10:00am, because we were planning a short day's ride of about 40 miles to Shelton.

We headed east on old Hwy 410, also known as the Montesano-Elma Road. This road brought back not-so-fond memories of last year-remarkably rough chip-seal pavement. This year, however, it wasn't quite so bad, because we had to endure the rough ten miles to Elma first thing in the morning, not after 100 miles of riding, and we didn't have a 20mph headwind to buck. Also.

We stopped at a small grocery store to down the now traditional quart of sport drink. This store was within sight of the Satsop Nuclear Power Plant. Steve took a bold step and had a bottle of Gatorade G2, in some un-natural brilliant blue color. Given my fondness for Powerade with the wonder substance Ion4, I grabbed a bottle of a fluorescent green "sour melon" flavor. The color of this stuff would make anti-freeze look dull and drab. I took a picture of this elixir, but the true color was not captured with absolute fidelity, but it is a pretty good approximation. I have a suspicion that Powerade Sour Melon (with Ion4)is really some sort of effluent from the nearby nuclear plant. It may make me glow in the dark-we'll see.

The Adventure Cycling Association route took us over the Cloquallam Road to Shelton. The first 15 miles climbed gently, but continuously. The road surface was generally quite good, but was even better when entered Mason County. We stopped at a little grocery store for coffee in Buck's Prairie, which was owned by a friendly Hawaiian woman. After chatting with her for a while, we took off again. The last miles into Shelton went with out incident, other than what seemed like a hundred dogs chased us down their fencelines as we rode through the rural landscape of Grays Harbor and Mason Counties.

Once in Shelton we sought out a place lunch. We settled for Vern's, which looked somewhat upscale, particularly for Shelton. Steve asked if we could park our bikes inside, and they were totally accommodating-they said "sure, bring 'em on in". We wheeled our bikes through the restaurant, and parked them in the lounge. The people were friendly, and the food was good.

Later, we took a walking tour of downtown Shelton with Brew the beagle, where he attracted all types of attention. Steve went out to see a movie at the tiny Shelton Cinema-" ", which he said was pretty intense.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Day 6 Kalaloch to Montesano

80 miles, 2,500 feet elevation gain

Today started off in typical Western Washington fashion-cloudy/foggy, temps in the 50's and the occasional drop of moisture from the sky. Rolling out of the campground, Steve flatted within one mile. Luckily, Janet arrived shortly with the Supreme SAG Getaway Van, and repairs were made in short order. It should be noted that this morning was the first morning of the entire trip in which we both started off wearing knee warmers and rain jackets.

Traffic on 101 was Sunday morning light, and in spite of the chip-seal road surface, the 30 miles to Lake Quinalt/Amanda Park went by quickly. We stopped at the Internet Cafe, where Janet uploaded our previous day's photos and blog postings. After a break, we went back to Hwy. 101's chip-seal towards Humptulips, and then to where we would leave 101 another 7 miles down the road.

We stopped at the Humptulips Grocery and each downed a quart of Gatorade. While Gatorade does not contain Ion4 like Powerade, it does seem to have a similar effect. More chip-seal pavement, and spitting rain took us to our turn off at Youmans Road. It was nice to turn off on to the quiet low speed, low-traffic road that headed east through forest land and rural homes. It was somewhat surprising to see so many homes, a grocery store, and a school in the middle of nowhere.

The riding was quite pleasant, over generally rolling terrain. Again, the road surface was chip-seal, but with the low traffic, we were able to find the smoother parts that had been packed down by cars and trucks. There was one significant hill climb-a mile or two of 10% gradient, with a little bit as steep as 12%. This climb took us out of the Wishkah River drainage into the Wynoochee drainage. After the summit of this climb, the pavement ran out and we had to negotiate a section of gravel road for a little over a half a mile. Too bad this section wasn't paved, as it would have been a great downhill with tight technical turns. Back on pavement, the road dropped us down to the Wynoochee Valley-a broad agricultural valley. Smooth pavement and a general downhill trend led us to Montesano, where we got a motel room at the Monte Square Motel (Alan and I stayed here last year on the first night of our ride to San Diego). Dinner was at the same Italian place (Geseppe's) that we stopped at last year.

We'll have breakfast tomorrow at the Beehive Restaurant, then head home. We'll ride to Bremerton, where we'll catch the ferry to Seattle, then on home. For Steve, it should be a little under 80 miles to home, for me it will be a little over 100 miles for the day. I'll post photos as soon as I can.

Day 5 Bogachiel State Park to Kalaloch-Olympic National Park.

The day started out warm again-no need for knee warmers or arm warmers, just shorts and a jersey. The terrain is generally rolling hills-nothing too steep. The “highpoint” of the day was all the brand-new chip-seal pavement. There were a couple of sections where the chipsealing was currently underway, and we had to follow the pilot car through the one-lane section of highway. Not only was the chip-seal rought enough to jar fillings out of your teeth, it was so fresh you got to breathe in the wonderful aroma of tar and oil as you rode through!
Today we met a couple from Vancouver, Canada that were riding through to Santa Barbara. They were fully loaded, and seemed quite dialed into the routine of the road. We rode along with them for a while, as well as with the trailer girls. At Ruby Beach, I stopped to repair a flat tire; they all stopped to enjoy the beach.
When we reached the beach, we could tell that our weather was changing. Fog and low clouds shrouded the coast, and the temperature fell probably 20’. Riding in the fog, I donned my “Slow Moving Farm Equipment” triangle, for visibility to cars, and then put on my neon green jacket. The wind had also changed from easterly, to out of the west. It appears that our warm dry weather is coming to an end. The thermal trough offshore and high pressure inland must be shifting east. From 85’ in Forks to the 50’s at the beach. The bright side though is that as we turn east back home, we will have tailwinds to push us towards our destination!
After a short 30 mile day, we decided to stop at Kalaloch Beach for the night, camping at the National Park Campground. Perhaps we will walk down to the Kalaloch Lodge for dinner. Who can resist a $13.00 cheeseburger?!

Day 4-Salt Creek to Bogachiel State Park

Our earliest start so far-we were on the road by around 9:15. Previous to this, we were riding generally by 11:15 or so. Leaving the campground, the road follows the shoreline of Crescent Bay, a lovely arc of white sand beach, maybe a mile or longer. We saw a group (herd?) of otters just offshore catching fish and devouring them.
On the previous day, we had a fast downhill run off of the highway down to the beach, and we had to pay for it on the way out. Crescent Bay Road climbs steeply from the beach-a 10 to 12% grade for about a mile gets you back up to the highway. This road is a rude awakening to the first bit of riding in the morning. The day heated up quickly, and by the time we made it to the little hamlet of Joyce, we were ready for a cool drink , and each quickly downed a quart of Powerade. We were also very pleased to know that Powerade contains a substance that they call “Ion 4”. We have no idea what it does, but are pretty sure that it converts quickly to something we called “PeeOn 2”, as we had to stop shortly there after for couple of “nature breaks”.
On Hwy 112, we again enjoyed killer easterly tailwinds, that sped us along at speeds that made us feel like dudes in the Tour de France. I didn’t take too many photos, as the riding was way too fun…cruising on the flats at 26 and 28 mph. Also way fun were the fun downhills on Hwy 112. Whenever there was a hill to climb, it was followed by an outstanding downhill on good pavement and fun, technical turns. On one downhill, my top speed was 46mph, with turns that the signs said “30mph” taken at about 40, and 15mph indicated turns taken at 30mph+. The miles flew by occasional glimpses of the water and the Strait. Past Pysht, the road starts a gentle climb towards Hwy 113, which climbs over Burnt Mountain.
The climb up Hwy 113 is about 2 ½ to 3 miles long, gains about 800 feet at a reasonable 6 to 8% gradient. We had very little traffic, and the shoulders are adequate. After the summit, the road drops down to the Sol Duc river drainage and US 101. We were happy to see Janet and the Getaway van at a pullout offering cold water and delicious PBJ sandwiches.
On Hwy 101, we again had favorable tailwinds, inflating our cycling egos. The miles sped by, and soon we were approaching Forks. Just north of Forks, we stopped at the Smokehouse Restaurant and Lounge for refreshments. The restaurant looked more like a café (without the accent mark)or diner. The lounge was upstairs, and by the looks of things, it could be the happenin’ place, complete with a cranky old bartender and beer taps that didn’t work. But, they had big screen Tee-Vees, a Wii game, Guitar Hero, a big dance floor, and my favorite, a brass pole in the center of the dance floor! Pole Dancin’ in Forks! Yee Haw!
As we rode into Forks, we noticed everything in the town was all about “Twillight”. Twilight tours, Twilight gifts, gee gaws and souvenirs. Steve suffered some equipment failure earlier the day (a water bottle cage had broke), so we looked for a bike shop. We found several stores (like the Ace Hardware Store)that sold sporting goods, but that mostly meant fishing and hunting supplies. We did find Mr. Lew’s Bike Shop, and stopped there. The shop was a mess. It is primarily a bike repair shop, but he did have some retail stuff. The repair shop looked worse than my garage-there was crap everywhere. When Steve asked if he had a bottle cage for sale, Mr. Lew said no, but when Steve pointed one out in a cardboard box of junk, Mr. Lew said “You can have it for free”. Steve then turned on his excellent negotiating skills and gave Mr. Lew $5.00 for it. Mr. Lew was kinda cranky too, but pretty entertaining. He recommended some place at the south end of town for cold beers-said he couldn’t remember the name of it as he had a serious case of CRS. We cruised south and found the Mill Creek Bar and Grill, and enjoyed frosty cold Mac and Jack’s. The folks there were friendly, and the bartenders were not cranky.
After Mill Creek,we rode the remaining 6 miles to Bogachiel State Park where Janet had secured a site for us. At this camp, we met a couple of girls that were beginning their ride down the coast to San Diego. They were all enthusiastic-however we did have our doubts as to how having one cargo trailer that they shared towing duties was going to work out.

Day 3 Dungeness County Park (Sequim) to Salt Creek County Park

We started the day with a yummy breakfast at the Oak Table Café in Sequim. Here they served genuine German Pancakes, as well as all other kinds of breakfast goodness. Highly recommended. Also, free wi-fi, which allowed me to make the previous posting. The weather was again fantastic-sunny and mid to upper 70’s. Today’s ride would be almost entirely on the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT) between Sequim and Port Angeles. Signage along the trail is kinda dodgy, but after a few fits and starts, we were able to follow the trail the entire way.
Riding on bike trails (or multi-purpose trails) like the ODT is not the fastest way to make miles, but this trail is worth the extra time. The route is through farmlands, across old railroad trestles, and along places where you could never get to in a car. Nor are bike paths always the safest way to go, as sometimes they are just glorified sidewalks that cross driveways-where car drivers aren’t looking for bikes or other trail users. We didn’t have any problems, but it does make me a little nervous zipping across driveways.
The ODT has some really fun sections-fast downhills with swoopy turns, followed by way-too-steep climbs (like 18 to 19%). But overall, a great trail.
Once in Port Angeles, we followed the waterfront for a while, then got a little lost out on Ediz Hook-a totally industrial area. We wandered around for a while, found our bearings , and had a cool drink at the Castaway, a place that had a cranky bartender, some friendly patrons, and Mac and Jack’s on tap. After chatting with the locals, we continued on through some neighborhoods in Port Angeles, and on to the night’s camp at Salt Creek. The riding was great on relatively good pavement, low traffic, and a sweet easterly tailwind that made us feel like heroes. We met Janet and Brew at camp, and enjoyed chicken and black bean burritos for dinner. There’s lots to explore and see here-tide pools, old WWII bunkers, and park-like settings to just relax and enjoy the view across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island-even some views that include Mt. Baker. We saw a whale spouting in Crescent Bay while we wandered around.