2019 Tour De Lopez

Are we going for a ride!?

This post almost didn't happen because this ride very nearly didn't happen.  I was home sick on Tuesday and Wednesday with a stomach bug and if I had been able to cancel my registration for a refund I would have, but the deadline had passed so I was still in the game.   I checked the forecast Friday night, most of the week it had been indicating rain on Saturday and if that had been the case I would have most likely bailed, I saw nothing but Sun in the forecast so I prepped Friday night for an early Saturday departure.

I got up at O dark thirty Saturday morning to drive 90 miles north and catch a 7:30 am sailing from Anacortes to Lopez Island.  The forecast had not lied to me, it was freaking gorgeous out and I would have regretted missing this ride.

Early on I was just enjoying the fact I was doing the ride, that the bike was working as expected and I was even getting up the modest hills in the the middle ring and of course taking in the lovely Island vistas.

I did take advantage of rest stops as I was in no hurry and not in tip top shape.

I had the opportunity to turn for town early and ride the very short route which is what I did in 2017. Instead I pushed on and was rewarded with a cool gravel section through the woods, this would have not been so fun in wet conditions but on this day it was perfect.

Mostly I got up the hills, but there was one that was steeper than anything I had ridden to date and I didn't have an issue, or much choice lol, walking it - you can see above I wasn't the only one.

I got to the Village having ridden 20% farther than my longest ride to date.  I had been so efficent that I was there before they were set up to serve the BBQ that was included with the registration, it helped I did the short and not the medium or long routes.

Fortunately for me the beer garden was ready ahead of the rest of the food, this day just keeps getting better!  Hand crafted local micro brew.

I started out with the IPA and when I ordered I asked for the Hester Prynne, they just looked at me blankly.  Philistines!

Since I had the time I went back for the Lager which I mostly got just so I could say Highway to Helles.

Another reason for the 2nd beer is that I had already run across the Island transport.  It wasn't part of the original plan but for $5 getting a ride for me and the bike seemed like a great idea.  I made the early ferry I wanted, didn't extend the ride beyond my fitness and sidestepped the one mile climb that would have ended the ride back to the ferry.  The van was packed btw.

I ended up doing the green and purple parts of the ride although I started from the top of the island where the ferry lands.  I was very happy I went a bit farther than last time, saw some new parts of the Island, but stopped at enough rather than pushing on to too far.

I saw tons of bikes but no old steel until I parked near this old Peugeot in the waiting area for the return ferry.  I suspect this is an Island bike that someone with a getaway on the Island leaves by the ferry so they can walk on in Anacortes rather than drive on -which is much cheaper and doesn't require a reservation.

bye Lopez

It was a great day.

Ride in a beautiful place on a beautiful day. Drink hand crafted beer. Grin. Repeat!

2017 Bike year in review

Its that time of the year when folks are looking back over the year that is almost over and I am doing the same.

I spent the winter months tearing down and building back up my 1986 Schwinn Passage including many upgrades.  It has been my favorite bike to ride and I am very happy with how it turned out.  I have had occasion recently to think about which one bike I would keep if I could only keep one, it might just be the Passage.

Part of the reason for building up this 80's Japanese touring bike was to use it for the Tour De Lopez in April.  It was a ride I have been thinking about doing for a decade and it almost didn't happen because of back issues so actually getting to ride it on my freshly rebuilt bike was especially rewarding.  Did I mention there was beer at the end?

June ended up being vintage Mountain bike month.  I had wanted to find a lugged steel 80s Mt. bike for a while and for a total outlay of about $50 I found two, a 1984 Nishiki Cascade and a 1986 Miyata Trail runner respectively.  I have made some progress on the Miyata and got the Nishiki down to the frame and conquered a stuck seat post.

I also accomplished my goal of riding to a baseball game this year in June, they even won!

July was just about my "bikeyest" month ever, just a few highlights:

• Felt like I blogged just about every day (19 posts)
• One week I rode four different bikes
• Had a fun ride in Portland on my birthday and there was beer!
• Finished working on the Ritchey Project
• Capped off the month with a gravel ride on the John Wayne trail

October featured getting to ride on the Willapa river trail on an upgraded, but not finished, Miyata Trail Runner on a beautiful fall day and also kicked off my 2nd consecutive Coffeeneuring season.

There are plenty of projects in the queue so we'll see what happens in 2018.  Happy Holidays all and remember to Ride.Smile.Repeat. 

2017 Tour De Lopez

I went to bed Friday evening thinking that it was only about a 10% chance I would get to do the ride on Saturday.  I didn't even bother to set an alarm to get the really early ferry's.  Despite stretching and using heat strips my back was still very tight on Thursday and Friday and I realized no bendy no ridey.  I had been advised by a friend who teaches dance on getting the heat strips and when I went to the store to get some where were they?

really?

Yes of course put the remedy for people with sore tight backs on the lowest possible shelf.

Anyway I woke up Saturday and I still had back soreness but wait a second it seems like its not as tight? could it be....I grabbed the Handsome Devil which was handy and tentatively raised my leg as if to throw it over the top tube..yes! I was bendy enough to ride.  Despite my pessimism the night before I had prepped all my stuff and I knew there was a mid morning ferry I could catch and I had plenty of time for the 90 minute drive the ferry terminal.

waiting on the 10:35 sailing

Traffic was fairly light leaving Seattle just before 8 am and I got up to Annacortes in plenty of time to park get my ticket and wait with the other bicyclists for the mid morning sailing.  As I was to realize later, I  left the map of the ride safely on my car seat..D'oh.

Lopez landing

Lopez Island welcomes cyclists with a nice long uphill slog which by some miracle I was able to ride all the way up.  I was also reminded that training on smooth flat bike trails is not the same as riding chip seal roads in the real world, but I was doing it! I was doing a ride I had been planning for since February:

• Sign up for the ride you have been thinking about for a decade - Check
• Build up 30 year-old touring bike to ride the event - Check
• Do enough training to do the ride without passing out - Check
• Have troublesome lower back loosen enough to throw a leg over a top tube - Check
• Cycle down the back roads of a lovely Island in Puget sound - CHECK!

I have been going to the Sister Island of Orcas for about 30 years and have been to the biggest Island in the chain, San Juan, a handful of times but this was my first experience with Lopez and it is deserving of its reputation as a bike friendly place, quiet roads, no brutal hills (that I encountered) and lovely scenery, both pastoral

 And seaside

And the ride organizers did a great job, I found the course - my abbreviated version anyway - well marked and the set up in town for the included BBQ was very nice.  A big field for bike parking

Food tents

Live music from a quintet (drum set, congas, two guitars and a xylophone)

I opted for a brat

And a local beer

 I ended up doing almost exactly 20km on this ride and did some walking especially at the end on the long hill just before the downhill back to the ferry landing, and my granny gear definitely got a work out.  I think that with not too much more fitness and saddle miles the longer rides on the Island would be very doable.  I might just have to come back.

I was fortunate that I was only sprinkled on a few times during my ride as it rained steadily from late afternoon into evening.  As I waited on the ferry home I was treated to a nice selection of bagpipe tunes as the ferry landing operator practiced in her down time.  I also had a very nice conversation with a brother and sister of my age group who were riding Rivendells - A Rambouillet and a large Atlantis - he was about 6'5".

Rivs

I got a number of nice compliments about the Passage during the day which was gratifying, including a funny comment from a nice young lady who it turned out worked at REI who was next to me as all the cyclists waited to load on the return ferry.  She pointed at my shifters and said "hey his flipper-doodles are there" I replied that yes my shifters were on the um down tube, where they had been on most bikes from about 1930 to the late 70s -which got some smiles from the over 50 crowd.  She had a nice Salsa Vaya and we talked about our REI experience as we waited to load.  All in all a very good day and one I was grateful to have experienced, I am paying for it today as I sit here with another heat strip on my back but I am glad things worked out for yesterday.

As I waited with the rest of the cyclists at the back of the ferry for the cars to exit I took one last look at the sound and Islands and then we got the call to exit.  Definitely a day to Ride and Smile and someday I will go back and Repeat.

Training blocks for the big ride...

Today was the the day for the Passage shake down cruise...I barely got out of the harbor before turning back.   That is fodder for another post.

In addition to working on the Passage this week I have been riding my Handsome Devil, now the title of this post is with tongue firmly in cheek, by training I mean being able to go more than 5 blocks without having to dismount and bend over to gasp for breath.  And by big ride I mean the 10 mile short route I will be doing at the end of the month on Lopez Island.   The first step to doing rides longer than the 2km round trip farmers market run was to put my bike rack on the car.

When you are fat and out of shape you don't need to add hills into the mix to start things off, hence the bike rack to drive to the nice flat beach side Alki trail.  My goal for the week was to gradually increase my distance.

Monday

• Distance 10 km.
• Weather; dry and overcast

• Rest stop - midway point, just a mocha

Wednesday

• Distance 15km
• Weather, wet - rained the whole time and was the wettest ride I have done in probably 5 years

 

• Rest stop - about 3/5ths of the way into ride.  I sat outside, under cover, so I wouldn't leave a puddle inside the shop.  Mocha and snicker doodle.

Friday

• Distance 20km
• Weather, Sun glorious Sun!

• Rest stop - about 3/4ths of the way into the ride, Mocha with a side of donut for "refueling"

• Extra credit - a Hill! this ride was long enough that I ran out of flats, and ok its not much of a hill; short and maybe a 3 or 4% grade but when you're used to riding the dead flat route it counts.

(Postscript) I forgot to mention the best part of the Friday ride, besides the sun anyway, I got passed by a Grandma on a mid 70's Peugeot 10 speed, I am guessing it was a U-08, in a lovely blue.  As she passed I muttered "Go granny Go" between labored breaths.

Speaking of Hills that is on the menu for next week along with maintaining some distance work now that I have exceeded the length of the ride I will be doing.  I am also hopeful that I will have the Passage ready to go for next weeks riding and the event.  I don't care about speed or even dismounting to walk hills I just want to be as fit as possible in the short time before the ride.

 And while I am doing the short route I am not doing the really short route (5 miles), who knows maybe this will be the spring board for more event rides this year.  It would be nice to get to a point where riding exceeds wrenching.   Riding, Smiling, Repeating.