Amtrak is having a sale

During dinner last Monday Scott mentioned that Amtrak was having a sale.  Cheap fares between Seattle and Vancouver.  Sounded good to me. Scott has a friend in Seattle, I like Anthropologie and there are good local brews.  Then Scott suggested that we should ride to Seattle !!!

We checked the weather for Saturday and started looking at routes.

By Wednesday, there were funny dangling bits on Scott’s singlespeed Surly. Going from a 1×1 to a 1×9.

By Thursday, we had a hotel booked in downtown Seattle.  By Thursday, the forecast was still for good weather.

By Friday night, we had cue sheets.

We departed North Vancouver by 5:45 am and headed south to the border.  South is my referred travel direction.   We cast long early morning shadows at the Peace Arch Border Crossing.

Bikes and pedestrians go directly to the front of the border que.  There were no problems, only funny looks, when we told the border agent we were going to Seattle by bike.  The route took us through Blaine, Birch Bay State Park and into Bellingham.  The awesome Rocket Donuts was about 130 kms into the ride and total sugar overload!  Breakfast wraps, hot chocolate with whipped cream, apple fritter and chocolate donuts.

On the bench outside over Scott’s right shoulder there are 3 Bellingham hipsters in their natural habitat and with textbook plumage and group dynamics.  There were 1) 1980s sunglasses over prescription glasses, 2) thrift store sweater and skinny blue jeans with hand-sewn contrast stiched thrift store flannel patches, and 3) duck tape girders on one shoe.  When I stepped out to get the waterbottles, they told me the liked Scott’s wheels (dura ace road wheels from the 90s).  I wish I had known to mention they were Shimano and therefore hipster inappropriate.

Leaving Bellingham via the colorful and beautiful Chuckanut Road.

We continued south through the La Conner area which has an annual tulip festival in spring and then to Whidbey Island.  Fidalgo Island, north of Whidby Island marked 170ish kms and some more great views.

Deception Pass State Park.

I was still rolling strong (relatively, of course) after 200 kms towards the Mulkiteo Ferry which would take us to Everett on the mainland, the final leg of the ride to downtown Seattle, and the Immortal at the Elysian Brewing Company.  However, a misread cue sheet turned 25 kms into 55 kms.  Combined with my very bad habit of not eating enough, the mistake reading the cue sheet put me in a mental low that I hadn’t experienced during a ride before (though Scott says it is very common during such long efforts).  The rolling hills of south Whidbey Island, which I normally love, became mini, episodic love-hate dramas.  Approaching the crest of each hill was a moment of relief and too few seconds of free wheeling, shifting to a bigger gear and pedalling with little g.  Approaching the bottom of each hill was the anticipation and dread of the next climb.  It was dark when we rolled into the ferry, but our timing was perfect as we waited only a couple of minutes before loading and the attendant didn’t charge us!

We off loaded the ferry with 275 kms on the GPS and fresh batteries for our lights.  Scott can hold his act together much better than I can and guided us through Everett and North Seattle to the Burke-Gillman bike path at the north end of Lake Washington.  We started looking for shortcuts once we made it through the University District, but our cue sheets were not sufficient to allow for re-routing on the fly.  I finally remembered the GPS had uploaded maps and was zooming in just as the unit ran out of batteries.  After a few wrong turns, bad directions from a gas station attendant and my tantrum, we returned to the bike path were we immediately saw a sign for the Inter Urban bike path to downtown – now less than 10 miles away.

Heads down, pedalling and relief when the Space Needle came into fuzzy view.  Heads back down, pedalling into downtown.  We’re too late and too tired for the brew pub, Chiptole’s is closed, so we head straight to the hotel.  It’s late.  Our total trip time was 16 hours (+/-) and 330 to 340 kms.  The last 70 kms have taken 4 hours!!!  I order delivery for two pizzas and bread sticks while Scott picks up a 6 pack.    Showered, fed, beer-ed and asleep by 1 am.

Sunday morning we met a really cool friend of Scott’s from Los Alamos for breakfast in the Panther Room at the Cyclops Cafe and Lounge (because they had really cool chairs)  and a personal tour of downtown Seattle.  Eventually we boarded the Amtrak bus and returned to Vancouver enjoying the sound of the windshield wipers on a rainy Sunday as we ate the leftover pizza but forgot to drink the beers hidden in our packs.

I thank Scott for putting up with me during this ride.  My longest road ride before this was only 190 kms.  Scott stayed with me all day, was patient during my tantrums, and was very good a route finding (I did lead us in the wrong direction a few times).  We had some great discussions about endurance riding on the way home and I learned a lot from this event about areas that I can improve upon (very few areas) and how much the mental game counts (at least as important as the physical)!  I think this next year will be a lot of fun for us (this year isn’t over yet) !!  Look out (we may be riding to your house next)!

(comments by scott)