Day 1: Seattle, WA to Rockport WA
Distance: 95 miles
Route: Left Seattle via 15th St, continued to Everett via rte 99, got a little lost, took a few back roads to get back to 99, met up with 530 NE, continued on 530 NE for about 50 miles, took route 20 E (North Cascades highway) into Rockport/Marblemount
Obvious Route Question: Why am I going north when I ultimately will be going South and East? Good question! Initially, I knew I wanted to go through the north cascades because they are famous for their beauty, not to mention that Tim and Rebecca said I should definitely explore it. Then I booked a hotel. Then I started really questioning why I was voluntarily going into mountains, with lots of ups and downs. I almost changed my route, but decided what the hell, this trip is supposed to be fun, not just getting across the country as quickly as possible.
Lodging: Skagit River Resort, (www.northcascades.com), $79 for the night (realized whenI started trying to make a reservation that it was the day before, I wanted to stay on a Friday in a gorgeous mountain town. This was the only place I could find with availability.
I woke up around 5:45am today to, shockingly, a pretty busy house. Rebecca has to leave the house at 6:30 to get to the hospital, Tim was away because he had an overnight shift, and Tim's mom, Mary, is yoga woman extraordinaire, so wakes up super early. Rebecca left, I made some coffee for Mary and I, and started packing up my bike. This took me longer than I had expected. I wanted to leave the house by 6:45am to return my rental car to the rental car place, which opens up at 7am, and take off from there. I didn't leave the house until 7:15 or so, which was starting to make me stressed out. When I loaded up my bike, it was a lot heavier than I thought it would be. I had never ridden with panniers and I was surprised my bike was so heavy. I decided to leave some of the bars that I bought the day before at Trader Joe's. For the record, here is what I'm carrying on my bike:
Running shoes
Flip Flops
2 t shirts
pair of running/hang out shorts
Pajama shorts
Pair of jeans
Polo shirt
Casual shirt I can wear in public
2 spare pairs of underwear
1 spare sports bra
1 spare pair of socks
My mini laptop
Camera
Various chargers: blackberry, camera, ipod
Bike lock (not a super heavy one, but sort of heavy)
Toiletries: contact stuff, glasses, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, advil/meds
Jacket
Fleece
Long underwear
Snacks: one of every variety of bar from Trader Joe's
Copy of Atlas Shrugged that I stole from Kristys bookshelf before I left
Bike stuff: 2 spare bike tubes, bike tools, grease, tire patch kit
Stuff on my bike/on me:
Biking shorts (the hott kind with the ass pads)
Biking jersey
Helmet
Biking shoes
Air pump
2 water bottles
Cycling gloves
Speedometer
GPS
Cell phone
So, I guess looking at it now it looks like quite a bit. I guess I could have done without the jeans and shirts I can wear in public, but I felt like I might want to head into town somewhere in something other than athletic gear. Atlas Shrugged seems clearly like a packing error, I may ship it from somewhere. Otherwise, the rest of it is pretty necessary.
Back to the ride. Getting out of Seattle/Everett was a pain in the ass. Lots of turns, very up and down hilly, lots of lights and stop/go, lots of cars. It took longer to get to open road than I thought – like 35-40 miles. A big chunk was on one of those almost-highways with crappy strip malls. The one gem I took away was the brilliant business idea of: Bikini Barristas. That's right. You go to a little hut, you order your latte, and the two girls inside are wearing Bikinis. I thought it was a one-off shop, but I saw several. Someone is taking Hooters to the coffee market. I like it.
It finally got pretty whenI hit 530NE. The scenery was stunning – ice-capped mountains, open fields, streams. Around 50-60 miles in, I decided to take a break. There was a river and a little road that went down to it. I pulled off , unclipped my left food, and immediately fell over. It hurt. I mean, I wasn't moving, but my bike is all heavy and I wasn't used to it. I recovered quickly and walked down the path that was littered with signs that said 'No trespassing' and 'Private Property'. Eh, whatever.
I took a rest in the shade and put on sunscreen – something I forgot to do in the morning. That was really, really stupid. By mid-day the sun was hot and bright and killing my arms and shoulders. I sat by the river for a bit – it was gorgeous. I had a snack.
The next 25 miles were gorgeous. I took a few pictures, but mainly stayed on the road. The road was pretty smooth, lots of ups and downs. I felt pretty good, but the sun started hurting my shoulders and my ass was starting to hurt. I took another break in Darrington, got some water, a diet coke, and some string cheese. I met a woman who was on a bike ride and talked to her. My phone had lost signal.
The rest of the ride just got more and more gorgeous, and my ass was hurting more and more. And my shoulders, too. I rolled into Rockport and got to my little motel around 4PM. With my 1 hour break, getting lost, and my ass, I made pretty good time.
Showered, washed my clothes, and went to the restaurant at the RV/campground I am staying at. I had a salad and a veggie burger. It was like 5:30 when I ate dinner. I talked to some guy and he said that the road through the park to my next destination is pretty hilly, so I figured I should start early. Plus, the heat won't be as bad then. I'm hoping to start riding around 6am. Sun rises here at likd 4:30 and sets at like 10PM. It's crazy since it's so North.
At dinner, I grabbed some maps since there is no internet or cell service for me to map tomorrow. It was weird to sit in a restaurant and eat alone. I know the roads I'm going on, but I'm a little nervous that I don't have a place to stay. I'm assuming I will be able to find one in either Winthrop or Twisp, WA. Twisp is about 10 miles farther, so if I feel good, I will shoot to make it there. I'm not sure how I will feel or how hard the inclines will be.
Some thoughts on day 1: not wearing sunscreen is stupid. I need to make sure I have enough water – I went through 3 bottles and I'm still drinking. I'm hardly peeing at all. Breaks are good to take. I need to figure out a way to make my ass hurt less. Staying somewhere without internet sucks. I can't download more NPR podcasts, can't map the next day, can't get a hotel for the next day, etc. I should snack more during the ride. I still need to figure out how to work my handheld GPS.
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