Fumi and Lan's Christmas Bike Adventure, part 1
Dec. 25, 1997
It all started with Adrian Ozinsky, a MD-fellow in a lab that I am a graduate student in. He wanted to do something with his wife for Christmas, and was seeking someone else to do stuff with in order to help defray the costs. He was thinking of renting a cabin on Orcas Island, one of the San Juan Islands up here in the Pacific Northwest. I had told my girlfriend Lan to not work Christmas and the day after so that we could try doing something. By Monday, we had planned that Adrian, his wife Gina, Lan and I would spend Christmas and the three days afterwards at the cabin. The rates were rather reasonable, since the islands are more of a summer vacation attraction.
We had bought the tandem (A Burley rumba, 96 or 97) about a month ago. We had ridden it a few times on the weekends, the longest ride being approximately 60 miles. I was thinking about how nice it would be to have the tandem for the weekend up on the island (I was not thinking about the bad weather at the time). But we did not own a roof rack for our car, or a tandem carrying attachment. Brand new, these two items would amount to $500, used maybe $350. I called a store that specializes in racks, but they did not have any used ones that would fit our car. I'm not sure I would have bought it anyway
After using the internet and looking at various maps on the WWW, I noted that (by car and freeway) it was about 60 miles from our house to Anacortes, the ferry terminal from which the ferry leaves to get to Orcas island. I knew that it was well within biking distance, but since we would be taking surface roads, I figured that it may be as much as 75 miles. All this plotting was still in the back of my mind, as I thought it was silly to do such a long ride on unknown roads in winter.
On Tuesday, I casually mentioned that it may be possible to ride to Anacortes on our tandem to Lan. Which may have been a mistake. I was hoping that she would object. Afterall, this is more of a summer activity. And it was quite far, and she doesn't exercise regularly. I was just coming off of a bad cold which kept me off my bike for about a week. But noooooo. Lan was enthusiastic about riding our tandem there. I kept asking her if she was sure for the next 24 hours, but it was already too late. We were going to ride to Anacortes.
On Wednesday, I used the newsgroups and the mailgroups that I belonged to to ask about the possibilities. Had anyone done such a thing? What route was best? I also went to a couple of bike shops to get parts, spare tubes, and talk to some of the store workers about such a trip. Someone at R&E cycles said that he had done it by going through Whidbey island and through Deception Pass. I remarked about how we were pretty much new to long distance stuff, and he said that yeah, it was kinda hilly. Couple of responses I got told me that it might be kind of chilly this time of year, but yeah, it's possible. One respondent was even nice enough to offer to let us use their roof rack and tandem carrier. One person had done the ride, but not in winter. Some suggested taking a ferry to Bainbridge, ride up to Port Townsend, take the ferry to Whidbey island, and then up to Anacortes. Others suggested Mukilteo-Clinton Ferry to Whidbey island, and ride on up to Anacortes. The route I was thinking about, following I-5 on the mainland to Anacortes, was not mentioned. I imagine the scenary was not nice, but I was mainly thinking of the fastest way from point A to point B.
The majority of the responses suggested going through Whidbey island, and as the closest ferry to our house in Shoreline (northern Seattle) was Mukilteo to Clinton at the south end of Whidbey island, that was the route I chose. Leafing thorough some bike touring books, I noted that there were quite a few loops that were recommended on Whidbey island, so I knew that the island, although hilly, was not full of impassible wall-like hills. The other routes I was planning may well have been flatter, but I had no knowledge at all.
The day before, we bought the DeLorme Gazetteer for Washington, and photocopied the relevant pages. I was happy to note the distinct lack of contour line crossings along my intended route. We packed our clothes for the rest of the trip, and had Adrian take it with them and their car for us.
The plan was to be out of the house by 8AM. I figured that about 70 miles was doable before it got dark.
The first leg of the journey was rather uneventful. Left our house, got onto NE145th St. westward to Highway 99, known alternatively as Aurora Ave. We were going to follow this north to Mukilteo Speedway, or Highway 525. We had been up there just a few days previously to get our car repaired. The area, Lynwood, seems to be full of body shops and junk yards.
I believe it was about 19 miles to the ferry terminal, and we had gotten there just shy of 2 hours. We weren't going fast, but we weren't trying to. The Mukilteo ferry is a short ferry ride, and a ferry leaves every thirty minutes. But we didn't have to wait at all, as we just rolled on. This 19 miler was pretty easy as most of our rides go for at least 40 miles.
Once we were on Whidbey island, it got a bit hillier. I don't remember much of it, but it was steady going for quite a long way. The only problem we had was a chain derailment off of the big ring, but Lan was able to reach down and put it back without having to stop. By this time, one of our recent modifications to the bike was making itself felt. The bike had come with Specialized Armadillo Transition tires, 25mm width. They were kinda thin for tandem use, and our tandem didn't have any sort of suspension for the stoker (back seat rider) that most of the nicer tandems have. We were thinking of getting the popular seat post shock, but at at least $100, we were thinking it would be for the future. But I remember seeing an Erickson on a training ride, which I believe was being ridden by Glenn Erickson himself. It was stopped at Logboom park, and I snuck a peek at what kind of tires he was using. He was using Avocet FasGrip 32mm tires. So when I was at REI a day before the ride, I had bought their only fat tire in 700c, a Specialized Nimbus III at 38mm width. This was a seriously fat tire. I was concerned about it fitting on the bike, but eyeball comparisons with a bike at the store seem to say it would fit, and it did.
Anyway, Lan seemed to find it far more comfortable with the enormous tire on the back. Bumps that were quite noticeable before became far more muted. In fact, during the whole 190 mile round trip, there was only one big bump that made her say 'wow!'.
We stopped about halfway thorough Whidbey island where Highway 525 turned to 20, and where one would go west if headed towards the Port Townsend ferry. We ate some Clif bars and had some of the sweet potatoes we'd cooked the day before. I was kind of concerned with the lack of water consumption on Lan's part, but she didn't seem to be sweating. I, on the other hand, was sweating like my usual self. The Swobo wool jersey (a gift from Lan :) ) was keeping me quite warm despite the fact that my back was soaking with my own sweat. And wool's supposed ability to inhibit odors seemed to be working.
The miles seemed to blend together, and the only thing I remember were strange road names, like 'Surface Rd.' and 'Useless Bay Rd.'. The second was obviously due to a stupidly named bay, but I imagined the first was due to some inept map reader who made out the label of the road indicating the fact that it was not a highway or freeway to, in fact, be the name of the road.
The various signage slowly changed from 'Southern Whidbey Island (whatever)' to 'Central Whidbey Island (whatever)' and finally to 'Northern Whidbey Island (whatever)'. The next thing I was dreading was Deception Pass. Mentally, I think of a pass as a gap between two mountains which is a good place to pass through, not because you didn't have to climb the mountain, but because you did not have to climb up as far. The name was also somewhat troubling. We had been to Deception Falls, which was in a totally different area. Deception Falls is near Deception Lake, but nowhere near Deception Pass. Deception Pass is near Pass Lake and Deception State Park, but nowhere near Deception Falls or Lake. I had begun to wonder if this is what the deception was all about...
The whole time, I was telling Lan not to work too hard on the flats, because I may need her help on the hills that I imagined were ahead, as well as this 'pass'. As it turned out, there was a gentle rise, but not much of a climb to Deception Pass. Instead, the landscape kind of falls away from you. You stay on the road which turns to a bridge as the land passes down down down towards Puget Sound. It was a pretty sight, but we didn't stop, since I was concered about making the 3pm ferry from Anacortes. According to my bike computer, our current speed seemed to indicate that we had a chance of reaching the ferry in time. If we hurried. So we tried to maintain a good pace the rest of the way. A sign approached, and Lan happily remarked that it stated 'Anacortes 3 miles', but I glumly pointed out the words below 'San Juan Island Ferry Terminal 7 miles'. We totally motored the rest of the way, but each time it appeared that we were close, it turned out that it was further away. As we turned off the highway, I was expecting to see the water and the ferry. Instead I saw the commercial strip of Anacortes, with blocks and blocks of car dealerships and fast food joints. There was finally a road to turn off of the strip, but instead of the ferry, rows and rows of houses. We finally approached the final downhill to the ferry dock, the clock ticking itself closer to 3pm. We finally made it to the terminal, which was rather deserted because of Christmas. I sent Lan in hurriedly to buy the ferry tickets. As I waited, I was preparing myself for the bad news of the ferry taking off before us. But Lan came back, without the tickets. She told me that they weren't selling the tickets for the 3:30 ferry yet. 3:30! I was too exhausted to care too much, and we waited in the warmth of the waiting area.
The Anacortes ferry was about as empty as the Mukilteo ferry. I guess no one is busy traveling on Christmas Day. This was a good thing, as it cut down on road traffic. By the time we finally got to Orcas island, it was beginning to get dark. Happily, I had packed both of my bicycle head lights and mounted them on the bike.
The directions once on the island were obscure. I had the map that Adrian prepared for me, and it seemed easy enough. But many minor roads were not marked, and the approaching darkness made it difficult to read signs. We made a wrong turn, headed back the other way, got chased by a dog, and realized we were now headed in the wrong way. So, back past the semi-rabid dog, and back towards the 'wrong' way onto the correct road. Once we found the road to turn off on, the going got a bit steep, and my bike lights started to die. Both of them. So we pushed the bike up the big hill, and road down at rather high speeds especially since I could only see about 30 feet ahead of me. Orcas island at night is very dark. We thought were were very close by this time, but we still had a few miles to go. But we finally made it and stumbled into cabin #8 where Adrian and Gina were waiting for us. Victory! And more importantly food and a shower. Gina cooked roasted chicken which was marvelous, and the bones were quite good in attracting crabs into a crab pot which caught our dinner for the next day.