Day 3 | – Notes from The Road

Day 3 | only one country left!

Distance

60.7 miles

Elevation Climbed

3,194 ft

Landscape

Coastal, forest and flora lined protected trail; climbing ridge line and suburban roads

Weather

Mostly sunny with 1 hour rain, 55 F

Lars’ Notes:

Our day started by heading out of Victoria. We were hoping to get on to the 10:35 a.m. ferry to Port Angeles. We arrived early, 9:00 and were placed in line. Luckily we made it, the next one wasn’t until 3:00. Kirsten and I would have needed to walk on with Lise taking the car on the 3:00…not ideal. We arrived in Port Angeles to sunny skies but ominous clouds inland. Our route started immediately as we exited the ferry; we would be riding the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT), along the northeast of the Olympic Peninsula. This was a beautiful path to ride, both from the fact that it had no vehicular traffic and awesome scenery. This was a bike trail established along the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul Pacific Railroad that had been abandoned in 1980. As we embarked on our first day of the US portion of our adventure, we enjoyed flat coastal terrain with the Strait of Juan De Fuca to our North. This led to a turn inland to a more upland forest environment along with…rain. We donned our rain gear and pushed on. (apparently my windbreaker is water “resistant”, not water “proof”). It was fine because it wasn’t too cold. As we meandered through the forest, the surface was slippery due to the rain. We emerged from the forest terrain to more agricultural areas, flatter and drier; the rain stopped after about an hour. We enjoyed the sun and the warmth. Along the way, we met another bike traveler, Charlie, who was riding a recumbent bike and was very talkative. We politely said we needed to push on and left Charlie. Next, we rode through Sequim, known for its commercial cultivation of Lavender. We left the ODT in Port Townsend and continued south through Port Ludlow and completed our 61 mile day crossing the largest floating bridge in the world! We met Lise a mile or so away at Port Gamble.

Kirsten’ Notes:

First ferry across the border to Port Angeles was at 10:30am so we had a late start to the day at 12:30. Our first 30 miles or so were along the protected Olympic Discovery Trail, a peaceful alternative to the major throughways we had been on the past 2 riding days. All senses were stimulated on this part with the fragrant roses and forest filling our noses; unobstructed Salish Sea views, peeking sun through dewy foliage, a gnome village, a prancing mule deer; rustling leaves dripping with rain, wet tires swishing through asphalt and crumbling over gravel; sweet and satisfying almond butter, raspberry sandwiches; cold, wet feet, precarious drifting when braking on steep declines, lingering swamp ass.

We had a few long hills that the GPS called out specifically and identified as ‘climbs’ that were surprisingly quite enjoyable. I pedaled to the beat of Run Through The Jungle by Creedence Clearwater Revival that was bumping through my handheld speaker and actively noticed the burning in my glutes. The GPS didn’t think the 16% grade hill was worth calling out though and that one was a doozy – switchbacking for a few turns was my only chance at keeping a pace to stop me from tipping over. All of these climbs came with either gorgeous bay views or long, fun descents. I used to be scared of going too fast descending but I had a lot of fun flying down on the well paved roads today.
Upper back and neck is where I’ve been holding the most pain and yesterday I saw someone on TV stretching their back by sitting upright riding with no hands. Some may say I’m too old to just be learning this now but WOW what a game-changer…I can’t wait until I can confidently stretch like this while riding for more than 10 seconds!