So it was Saturday June 5, 2010; The weather was nice, Kevin was in Vermont working on a solid 4th place finish in the Bennington Monument stair race, Jordan was in Bellingham gearing up for finals week, and I found myself in a very unusual place… I had an entire day with nothing to do…Holy Shit!!! “Well I will put an end to that in a hurry,” I thought.
I had in the back of my mind this century ride (any ride 100+ miles), where I start at my house go north up Hwy 9 then work my way West to LaConner, then to Hwy 20, and down Whidbey Island back to the Mukilteo/Clinton ferry, from there it is just a quick 17 miles home. In total this ride would be 128 miles. However, I was still up in the air as to whether or not I wanted to take the time to do that long of a ride. Then at about 10:15am I got a call from my mother, she informed me that she was going to be eating dinner at Ivars in Mukilteo at 6:30pm. Well, I thought to myself, I may as well do the ride now since I could bum a ride off the parents when I got into Mukilteo. Then I could avoid the worthless mileage through Everett, but I would have to hurry to make it in time. This phone call pretty much solidified my plans. So I cooked up some power bars for the ride.
Bars: Buckwheat, Quinoa Flakes, Hemp Protein, Dates, Banana puree, raspberry puree, Raisins, cinnamon, honey and coconut.
By 11:18 I was geared up and moving.
Mike rode with me for the first 17 miles, or I should say I rode with him, as he pulled me at a really nice 19mph to the end of the centennial trail where I continued on and he rode back home.
I made only a handful of stops the remainder of the day, two stops for food and bathroom breaks, and a couple quick stops for photo-ops. I got to the ferry at 6:03 just missing the 6:00, but no worries I still made it to Mukilteo in time to catch my ride.
I felt good upon completion of the ride, and considered riding the remainder of the way home, but after the wonderful scenery on the island, riding through Everett seemed unpleasant by comparison.
Ride Stats: 111 Miles, 6h:32m in the saddle, 6h:45m total including stops. 17mph Average not including stoppage time.
Mike. After providing me with a nice draft up Centennial trail.
Deception pass, a pretty gnarly bridge.
Views from Deception Pass
Greenbank... over 90 miles into my ride I was very tempted to stop at the winery down the road to do a little tasting.
As I rode up to the Ferry Landing I discover I missed it by under 5 minutes, there it goes. Oh well the next ferry is only 30 minutes and I ran into a group of ladies from Kathmandu, Nepal who were all very cool.
Views from on the ferry, hungry for some food on the other side.
