June 16, 2021

Miles: 47

Start time: 8:55

End time: 2:38

Saddle time: 3:23

Highlight: Just getting going and ending the anticipation. Realizing a mirror on my helmet is a fabulous addition. Highly recommended, never rid with one prior to the past few weeks.

Lowlights: Thinking I didn’t pack my battery pack. Tore through my bags along the side of the road at a diner but came up empty. Found it setting up camp, smartly placed in a side pocket for easy access. Sometimes I impress myself.

I love coffee.  I also love beer but if I could only drink one for the rest of my life I would probably choose coffee.  It’s an important part of my morning.  I sat at our friends house on thinking this may be the last, or one of the few, good cups of coffee I have for many weeks.  Since I’m camping most of my morning coffee consumption will be instant, Starbucks Via which is just bad not terrible like most instant coffees. I considered bring everything from a small grinder to just a simple drip filter but realized all combination would add noticeable weight and bulk, so I’ll just have to suck it up.

I was on the road before 9:00am, plenty early enough for what I planned to be about a 57 mile day.  I had to ride about 25 north to the town of Burlington to join the official Northern Tier.  Google maps found my way by paralleling interstate 5 most of the way.  Turned out this was jumping in the deep end because a lot of this route had little shoulder and 50mph speed limits.  They seem to love chip seal out here as most of the roads were sealed with the stone/tar combination making for a rough surface and lots of stones congregating on the shoulder, if there was one.

I recently read an article about bike safety which stated, counterintuitively, that riding in the lane is safer than sticking close to the shoulder.  In the lane you are more apparent and it forces drivers to think about getting around you, risking their own lives by veering into on coming traffic. I’m taking this under consideration as I ride.

I’m from Connecticut.  Some of you may be from more progressive states where marijuana sales have already been legalized. For me it was noticeable how many marijuana dispensaries and passed.  Not that I care either way but I did consider if a little weed would help my ride. As I write this at my campsite my neighbors are getting baked.

Once on the official route the roads were excellent.  I mostly paralleled route 20 on back roads with little traffic.  I only rode about a mile on route 20.   Lots of farm land out here.  I got up and close with the Skagit River for the first time which will be my friend for the next several days as I ride into the cascades.

Remember when Twitter was just starting and the joke was who cares what you had for lunch?  Well I think people actually do care what I have for lunch.  How do you feed yourself on a bike tour? I bought food and snacks for lunch but ended up stopping at a roadside diner that looked pretty popular, Hal’s Drive In. I had a mediocre fish sandwich. I feel like I’m carrying too much food weight when food for the most part is readily available, one of the things I need to sort out as I get more riding time.

I made the mistake of keeping my google maps navigation on as I rode north to Burlington, a route I know because we drove it in the car the past couple days.  A couple hours into the ride my battery was getting low so I figured I’d charge with my battery bank.  No luck finding it.  I tore everything apart while at the diner but could not find it. I asked the girls working the window if they could plug my phone in to top it off which they did. Michelle and our friends offered to meet me for diner which worked out perfect, they could stop at Best Buy and get me a replacement battery. 

The day turned out shorter than expected.  I previously had mapped 57 miles but it ended up being 47.  I may have taken a more direct route north that previously mapped.  Setting up camp I took one more look for my battery and found it smartly placed in a side pocket for easy access.

Michelle, Julie and Carolyn met me for diner, bringing the iPhone charge cable I forgot in the car (a spare, I’m carrying two).  We ate at the Birdsview Brewing Company which was a good way to end the day.