I'll cop to being tough, but not crazy

So, here I find myself riding RSVP for the 7th time. Through a series of things, I was riding solo. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I do prefer the company of people I know.

Sent out an email foraging for a place to sleep the night before. Everyone came through (thank you all!), and I chose to stay with Ross, because he was also riding. Plus I'd get to see the killer view of the Sound from his house.



Icky long drive, with a pause in Centralia for dinner. Upon arrival, we visited while Ross organized medical supplies for the ride. I asked Ross which was the best way to the start (UW this year due to the Burke-Gilman construction detour). The best way was to follow him, so that's what I did.

After I had gotten relatively organized at the start (Ross had gone off to find his posse), and was standing around, a woman came by and admired Sweetpea, and we got to chatting and eventually I introduced myself. Except I only got to my first name and she filled in the rest :-) it was Joan O., a fellow denizen of the Google Rivendell group. Of course, neither of us were riding our Rivs for this ride. She came all the way from the East Coast and was on her Bike Friday.

And so, off to the ride. They did promise a bit of a climb right at first, and there it was, but it didn't last very long. I will say that I much prefer riding on the surface streets to the Burke-Gilman Trail. At least at that hour of the morning.

It was cooler than I thought it might be, but I was sufficiently prepared. And very misty. I ran ALL my lights until later in the afternoon. Saw a few other Rando bikes (and Randonneurs!), but not ones that were known to me.

So, wandering north, eventually picking up the BG Trail, up the Woodinville Hill, surfing the rollers on the other side, dropping into Snohomish (one of my favorite bits, breaking out of the edge cities), on to the Centennial Trail and... "Hey Sweetpea!" It was Ross and his friends. So I got to meet Rick and Diana S, and some others. I was introduced as "Lynne who rode that 600k, she's a randonneur." So, of course, the standard "you people are crazy", followed by the "you must be pretty tough." Mind you, Rick was having knee surgery on Monday and had just done RAMROD on that disintegrating knee. I think he wins the crazy contest. We rode on to Arlington together, then they split off to avoid the nasty hill climb, and I went off to find some food. Headed right to the Mirkwood Cafe. It was 10:40am; they weren't yet open. Coasted back though the main drag looking for something else. Didn't want the Bluebird Cafe. Not that anything is wrong with it, but my stomach was wanting something else. The Thai restaurant was open, and I inhaled a bowl of green curry with tofu and a glass of Thai iced tea.

Quick stops at the water stop and the Mt Vernon stop - ate. left. did not sit down.

We were detoured in Burlington past the WalMart and other big box stores. A car ahead of me (we were on a nice wide shoulder) had stopped to let the cyclist ahead of me go straight, the car behind it stopped, the car towing a trailer even with me... didn't. Slamming of brakes, watching the front end of the car turning my way... crunch into the stopped car. We stealthily proceeded on, and stuck together as a group until we got out of Burlington!

No headwinds to speak of across the Skagit flats. A rider was wondering where we were headed; I pointed at the headlands away in the distance.

We did the whole way to the former Bow Hill store (now a deli) on Chuckanut Drive. Evil, evil rumble strips, partway into the shoulder. Evil.

A rider at the store was admiring my bike. " With that steel frame, generator hub and fenders, it gives it a nice Rando look" Duh. Out of my mouth: "thank you. That's because it is a Rando bike".

Chuckanut Drive along Samish Bay was gorgeous as usual. Stopped at a pullout, where the awesome Scott offered to take a picture of me for evidence of participation. It seemed shorter this year. Got to the Famous Lemonade Stand. Michaiah has an apprentice now, her younger sister.





Into Bellingham proper, and UP Ferry St - 15%, Rode the whole way up, yay me!



Hoofed it into town to Boundary Bay - joined a table in the tap room. Turned out to be sitting with a Timbers Army member, so dinner table conversation was assured. He likes Kenny Cooper, go figure. So, after a yummy dinner and bottle of Spire apple cide, it took only 37 minutes to walk BACK from the Boundary Bay Brewery to Buchanan Towers (quit whining Jason!)



On the road by 7, stopped for breakfast at Old Town Cafe, and finally underway at 7:45. Came upon Joan O, we rode together and visited until Lynden. She's retired and plans fun bike trips for herself and her friends. Very cool.

After Lynden, I rode to the border with a couple on a red Cannondale tandem. As the former ace stoker of Clifford, I had to visit :-) Their tandem is the Millenium Falcon. Love it.

At the border - "off with you now! have a nice ride!"

I was starting to get hungry again and the Fort Langley rest stop was getting close. Ate, applied sunscreen, departed. Rode out of town on their version of the Urban Growth Boundary - neighborhood on one side of the road, farms on the other side. It was humid heading over to the Golden Ears Bridge. As I am on the Fanno Creek Crossing committee, did some research on the incline on the twirly ramp up and the straight ramp down. 3% in both cases, and I could get going really fast just coasting down. Not good for small children. Maybe a surface crossing would be, on the whole, safer.



I love riding over the Golden Ears Bridge.

So, riding along through neighborhoods and edge cities, not checking the cue sheet much, spending more time in the big ring than I EVER have... And craving watermelon. Must be coming up on Rocky Point Park. Got there before they started rationing the watermelon, and ate four pieces. The woman slicing the watermelon and I got to talking. She goes to Portland to shop, and asked if I felt used. No, we like people to come and spend money. Walked over to the ice cream shop for an espresso flake waffle cone, and had to fend off many cyclists on the way back to my bike.



The Barnet Highway had a nice cooling breeze and felt much shorter and flatter this time. Up to the Frances-Union bike route. I was trailing a group of cyclists, and did not see who entered the roundabout first, but the motorist definitely misplaced his Canadian card, and got out of his car and started yelling. Quietly slithered by and distanced myself from that group!

More bike route, then Chinatown, Gastown, a blessedly less-trafficked part of downtown Vancouver, and done! Finished a little before 3, and, for the first time ever, the bike racks were not yet full!

Upstairs, got my finisher patch, and found myself in posession of a few more food and drink tickets. Got my burger and juice, and helped Ross hand out patches and one Ibuprofen packet per customer. You'd think folks would bring their OWN Ibuprofen.





More visiting, plotting a RAPSody meet-up, a beer, then off to the hostel. Had dinner with former coworker and now SFU grad student and friend Evan. We ate at Beaver and Mullet. The name alone made it enticing.

Waited for the bus with Rick and Diana. I finally said I'd cop to being tough, but not crazy.

Lots of knitting on the bus trip back, helped unload the bicycle trucks, and then drove home. I did stop in Centralia, where my chicken soup savior of the 600k was working. He remembered that night, too. I thanked him again :-)

The Sweetpeas Invade Canada

ooh!  August!  Must be time to ride to Canada!

Best Enabler Cyclist Friend and I signed up for this one the day signups opened in January.  Dorm room and hostel reservations procured several months later; place to sleep in Seattle (her brother's house) arranged.

Day 0

NEW BICYCLE was ready.  Well, it was ready after I tossed the garage looking for the Acorn Bag stiffener piece; the bag was getting floppy.

Procured vegan-friendly road snacks, stopped by daughter's house to retrieve my Thermarest mattress, collected Cecil and HER Sweetpea, and off we went.  The drive was long, because traffic stops in Tacoma.

Day 1

Got ourselves to the start before the ride started (this is a first, for me, anyway).  No coffee stand.  Not good.



Did find Ross; hugs were exchanged.

Five miles into the ride we came upon a rider who had apparently hit one of the bollards on the Burke Gilman Trail.  He wasn't looking so good.  Cecil took up traffic control at one end and I took it up at the other - between a very large number of RSVP cyclists heading north, and daily bike commute traffic heading south, it could have been very ugly otherwise.  Nat (fellow rando) came by, and visited a bit.  I admired his pretty new bike.  He admired my pretty new bike.  Eventually emergency services arrived and took him off to the hospital and Cecil and I continued on.  The Burke Gilman is considerably less claustrophobic when one is not stoking a tandem.  Just saying.

Off the trail, north to Woodinville, up the Woodinville hill, where I was to find Cecil at the convenience store.  Got to the store.  No Cecil.  Hmm.  Took care of business, and found a can of iced mocha.  Also found Cecil, who was looking for me.  Consumed the iced mocha (yum!  and so handy!)



She had been waiting at the OTHER convenience store.  Enjoyed the rollers, not so much the stretch on 522, then onto Springhetti Road and out into the country.  Passed through Snohomish, but did not get onto the Centennial Trail until it was required, thus skipping the Bollards of Death.



Arrived in Lake Stevens with plenty of time, ate, refilled water bottles, applied sunscreen, stood in line :-) and headed off again to Arlington.  Used my mad STP-in-a-day skilz, and performed most of the above while standing in line.

The descent into Arlington was even more fun - have I mentioned that I really like riding that Sweetpea down hills?

Lunch was at the Shire Cafe/Mirkwood.  Right by Mordor Tattoo.  Bill A found us there. You can't make this up.







Off again on Hwy 9 (much nicer shoulder for longer, now), then the climb on Finn Settlement/Lake Cavanaugh Rd.  I could have done without the double log truck passing, otherwise all fine.  I even passed people while climbing.

Stopped at the water stop.  The Sweetpeas got much love there, as did the Acorn Bag.

Off to Mt Vernon - more drinks and snacks.  It was hot.  There had been a steady headwind all day, and as we got onto the Skagit Flats, it turned into a stronger, gusty quartering headwind/crosswind.  Pick you up and drop you in the ditch type of wind.  Relentless Forward Motion was called for.  Passed the Bow Cemetery, several pretty farms, and finally arrived at the NO LONGER DEFUNCT Bow Store (now The Pizza Shack).  Bought a cold Sobe, drank most of it while waiting in line to pay.



More crosswind/headwind, but we were soon climbing up Chuckanut Drive, with lovely shade and no headwind.  Always pretty.  Brief stop at one pullout, and another to turn on the rear blinkie, continued on to the Famous Pink Lemonade Stand.  My last descent was a bit hampered by a slower rider taking up the whole road.  Found Cecil at the lemonade stand, drank two big glasses of pink lemonade, and then proceeded into Fairhaven and Bellingham.





Some very, very warped route designer had us climbing up Ferry Ave, rather than continuing over to Elwood and 32nd to pick up Bill McDonald Parkway there.  I providentially threw the chain at the bottom and walked it.  My bike computer has 21% for parts of that hill; nothing less than 13%.

Checked into the dorms.  Not much to say, except the mattresses were pretty thin, and on plywood (students are encouraged to bring an egg-crate or memory foam mattress topper), and I seemed to be in a co-ed suite.  Fortunately, no (single) bathroom congestion.  Oh, and no elevators.  I was only on the second floor; Cecil was on the third floor.  Could have been worse - we could have been in the dorms on the very, very top of Sehome Hill.

Chatted with Nat again before heading off to Boundary Bay Brewery for dinner.

Excellent band (Cecil call them a Trad Band) - besides their own stuff, they did some Pogues.  Lots of little kids playing with hula hoops.  They had no clue how.  It was with EXTREME restraint that I did not get up and show them (superpower - I can hula hoop forever).  Dinner was yummy, but as we snacked walking to the Brewery and had fries in the beer garden, I couldn't really do it justice.



The church meeting was going full tilt when we started back.  Altar call.

Day 2


Breakfast in Bellingham before heading out.  Cecil acquired a new friend who wanted to know all about vegan nutrition for cycling.  I quietly ate my non-vegan breakfast.



North through the scenic flats (farms, Wizer Lake, more farms, Lynden, Double Ditch Rd), singing selections from the Pogues, and then into the border crossing.  The Sweetpeas made it across the border with no undue suspicion other than querying our rider numbers and checking them on a list.  Brief pause to document, and then onward.





It was getting hot.  Approached "The Wall", having Sweetpea geared down well in advance to ward off a chain throwing mishap, and climbed on up.  Still hot.  We stopped for popsicles.  Mmmmmmmmmmm.





Ft Langley - rest stop; ate a pbj and some grapes, topped up the liquids.  Exiting town, we saw what I thought was a cool play structure.  It was.  A play structure for goats.  I can't believe the number of riders that missed it.  More pictures.



Big route change - with the completion of the Golden Ears Bridge, the ferry ride, with accompanying long wait and unpleasant stretches of 132nd and Lougheed Hwy were completely eliminated.  No more riding through Maple Ridge.

Peaceful ride on the south side of the water to the bridge, a totally cool spiral ramp up, and an amazing bridge.  The stretch on the other side was pretty nice, too.  The Pitt River Bridge has also been replaced, with a miniature version of the Golden Ears Bridge.



Coast Meridian hasn't gotten much better.  One of my cycling nightmares is to be caught and crushed between a double dump truck.  Guess what passed me, in my (not really wide enough) lane?  Ack.

A stretch of neighborhoods, one with a nice man watering any cyclists who wanted it (do me! do me!).  Getting hotter.  Coquitlam and Port Moody - downtown with highrises, but providentially, not as much traffic as previous years.  Fantasizing about Rocky Point Park by now - watermelon, ice cream, shady green grass.  The watermelon was running low, so I had just a bit, but compensated with an ice cream cone.  Cecil got a Diet Coke and we found a shady spot to sit.  Then more sunscreen, and off to the Barnet Hwy.

It seemed shorter this year, and easier.  Of course, this was the first time in many years that I had ridden it on a single.  Crosswind/headwind, which were cooling.  Hot.  Very Hot.  The last pitch on the Barnet, which really isn't much - the air went still.  My bike computer chose to read out 120deg F.  Maybe a little high, but when I reached the shaded bus stop, I had to stop and recompose.  After awhile, Cecil noted that my face wasn't quite as red as it had been initially.  Woof.

Then down and up to the Frances-Union bike route through Burnaby (stupid riding behavior by Mr. Yellow Jersey at the corner of Hastings), and the Adanac bike route through outer Vancouver (another kind person spraying bicyclists), lots of up down up down up down with a few serious, but short ups, and then, passing the Cathay Villa Old Folks Home, we found ourselves in Vancouver proper.  First, through Chinatown, where traffic lights, signs, and directional instructions all seem to be mere suggestions (sure.  YOU hit someone's 95 year old grandmother and deal with it!), then Gastown (ditto) where Mr. Mahadev and his yellow taxi seemed intent in offing some cyclists, and finally, exiting Gastown, where it became much, much more sane.

Finally, left on Cardero, up to Comox, and done.  Whew!  Cecil went off to find some vegan food to bring to the party; I went on up, and immediately drank three glasses of icewater.  Went to collect my finisher patch... "name?"  "Hi Ross!" :-)  whereupon I heard about the squirrel bite to the face of an unfortunate rider.



After cooling my feet in the fountain, we hiked off to the hostel.  Wonderful shower, then a tour of English Bay, Granville Island (water bus!), and Yaletown.







Dinner at the Yaletown Pub, where we witnessed an interesting  pre-wedding bride's party.  Or rather, Cecil got to see it.  They were sitting behind me.  Probably something that is best not  described in a relatively family-friendly blog.  It is possible that Cecil is still washing her brain.  Usually one has to go to a special store and pay money to watch this in a private room.

Dinner was good - I had a bowl of Singapore Noodles and a beer and consumed it all, to no ill aftereffects.  Cecil had a pizza and beer.  Walking back to the hostel, we bought food for the next day, and she bought some frites.  I passed on those.

Hot night.  I think I finally fell asleep, but didn't sleep well.

Day After

Breakfast at the hostel.  Hiked back to the Coast Plaza, retrieved our bikes, went to load them on the truck.  "Rider number?" "Hi Ross!"  He finally got to see my new bike :-)  Then loading onto the truck, where I really did not want to let go until both wheels were on the truck.  The guy loading just didn't get it.  But "hey, did you know there is another Sweetpea on this ride?" :-)  Yes.  They are friends.



Bill found us sitting on the steps waiting to load the bus.  I knitted.  Deb from Tacoma came over to chat, because I was knitting.  Eventually we relocated to another spot.  I finished the sock, and started casting on the second one.



Busses weren't loading until 10:30; lots of knitting accomplished.  (Yarn Harlot: "I find that I am so much more patient now that I have something to knit")



Loaded, headed out.  It occurred to me that perhaps we couldn't take our cherries and plums across the border, so we ate them.  Long wait at the border.  Knit, knit, knit.  Eventually had to get off the bus and go through Immigration.  Cecil: "want to make faces at the one-way mirror?".  No.  I don't want to do the secondary interview thing again.  Been there, done that, an hour of my life I will never get back.

Immigration officer: "what is your profession?"  Human Factors Engineer.  "Welcome back".
Customs officer: "any fruit?" A banana.  Some cherry pits.  "that's it?  ok"

More bus to Seattle, with a slight detour through the NOAA facility.  Our bike were waiting for us, and we were the first bus.  The next bus was still back at the border.  Those poor people.

Long drive back, with a pause in Kent for food and in Centralia for gas.  Good thing we were not going the other way - traffic was backed up from Tacoma to before Olympia.

Dropped Cecil off; joined husband and son at HUB for dinner.  Got to bed too late.  Started my new job the next day.

rest of the pics here

Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party!

I think this was my 5th year doing this ride. It is still lots of fun!




Cecil was going to ride, along with Jason and me, but she had an unfortunate encounter with Delta Airlines, and ran out of vacation, so could not join us :-( We were planning to spend Thursday night at her brother's, and he would have let us stay anyway, but out of the blue, friend Claire offered up her house, even though she and her husband were not doing the ride this year either :-(

On the plus side, Richard and Nance, and Bill A were doing the ride; maybe we'd see them.

Delightful evening with Claire and David, once Rose got through that there was going to be company and She Hadn't Been Told ("ok, Rose, let's have a do-over on this conversation").







Up early (Claire: "I'm not going to make you breakfast, but here are eggs and such. Help yourselves"); Claire joined us for breakfast conversation.

Farewells all around (ok, to Claire, everyone else was still asleep), then off to Magnuson Park. I know how to get there from Claire's pretty much by heart now, but we still just follow the other cars with bicycles on them. Picked up our swag (passport holder this year), jerseys, t-shirts, etc, dumped out bags in the proper pile, and "hey, Jason, let's take the tandem for a loop around the parking lot to make sure everything is set properly and the computer is working". And a good thing we did - my seat needed arrangement and my computer was, as usual, not registering - it gets bashed around getting in and out of the van.



Off onto the Burke-Gilman, where Jason revealed that he would try to not stress out the stoker this year. We went less fast, stopped at stops, and didn't try to bomb down the trail passing everyone. It worked somewhat - the trail has lots of root bumps and is very claustrophobic, especially when I can't see what is in front of me. Once it opened up, I relaxed.

The route changed through Woodinville - we went through a nice park with amenities and then came in at the bottom of the Woodinville Hill - more trail, less road.



Fun on the rollers after the summit, through some outer crowdedness (I don't know what that one road is where it gets narrow and there is a lot of traffic, but the drivers are reasonably patient), then onto Springhetti Rd and swooping down into Snohomish.

In the center of the lane, signaling a left turn to get to the Buzz Inn at the airport. "CAR BACK!" "we are turning" "CAR BACK!!!" "we are turning". They all finally got it.

The $2.99 breakfast is the best deal ever. We ate out on the patio, with all the other cyclists. Nice morning!



Then through Snohomish and onto the Centennial Trail, with the Bollards of Death. We dismounted and walked them all this year.





Into Lake Stevens to catch the last seconds of the rest stop (gosh, were we THAT slow?) then headed off to Arlington, where lunch awaited at the Blue Bird Cafe. Yes, creatures of habit, that's us.

Off again, but to the wonderful surprise of new pavement and shoulders! Nice! The route changed this year, rather than heading for Lake McMurray, we turned off Hwy 9 onto Finn Settlement Rd, bypassing the lake and store. A climb, but not a bad one. It was getting warm; we started seeing cyclists sitting under trees and any other available shade. We just kept drinking and pedaling.



Then into Mt Vernon and the rest stop. Melon! Cookies! Water! Shade for Jason to crash under! A nifty Rivendell Atlantis visiting the mechanic, too.



A new route out of Burlington, this time to the west of town. It had good parts and slightly trafficked parts, but in general, a plus. After crossing Sam Bell Rd, we were pretty much back on the old route, but much less riding through the flats with the accompanying headwind. Jason had to stop and eat RIGHT THEN, so we pulled over for a brief stop.







Another stop at the defunct Bow Store, where the WWU cyclists were providing Gatorade. There I encountered the Rivendell Atlantis and rider, and we chatted. At which point, a wonderful person came up and asked: "Are you the famous Lynne Fitz....". Uhhhhhhh. How did he know? The Team Bag Balm jersey and the Riv conversation. So, like, yes, my day was made! Thank you Fred and Ellen! And thank you Robert (rider of the Atlantis).





You've got to understand. My own family does not read this blog, except my wonderful uncle in New Jersey, who also rides. It is entirely his fault that I ride, too. So, kind readers, I appreciate each and every one of you!

Right. Back to the narrative. Up and onto the most scenic part of the ride, Chuckanut Drive. It did not seem at all difficult this year.

We stopped at the pull-outs and took pictures, then headed on, looking for the lemonade stand signs. I was starting to worry, because they weren't there, but then I finally saw one.

Up the last climb to the Pink Lemonade Stand, with the best pink lemonade ever. Yum.

Then a screaming descent into Fairhaven and navigating through Bellingham. We were staying at the north end of the WWU campus this year - my room was in Rebecca's old dorm. However, I misremembered which street to go up, and we attempted Liberty which is whacking steep (can you say walk?). Found a kind person and asked directions, and were soon back on the way.



There was a nice Rivendell Bleriot (brand new) parked by the door - it belonged to Andy. Nice bike!

Checked in, shower, then a considerably shorter hike than last year to the Boundary Bay Brewery. Other than they left us sitting in the beer garden for 1.5 hours after leaving the impression on both of us that they'd get us when our table was ready, it was tasty. But a pint of beer in a slightly-dehydrated Lynne... Oh, way too much. I won't go there next year.

Up the next morning, ate some substantial snacks, then headed off to Lynden. Again, the route varied from last year - rather than heading out on Hannegan Road, we followed Aldritch Road for most of it, ending up on Hannegan Rd, and into Lynden.



Substantial breakfast at the Dutch Mother's, where we saw Nance, but not Richard. He had to be there somewhere, but we did not see him.




Then, north the border (with a camera-shy immigration agent), and a nice stretch of more rural riding. Jason: "looks just like NW Washington". Me: "no it doesn't. No election signs!" Then into Fort Langley and off to the Albion Ferry, where there was a long wait. I think there will be a bridge in the next year or so, which, while taking away the fun ferry ride, will also remove the long wait for the fun ferry ride.

Into Maple Ridge, where we hit a bump and dropped the transfer chain. That was exciting. Reinstalled it and proceeded on to the food stop, where I ate my entire day's fruit portions (mmm. plums.), some cookies and other snacks. Jason foraged for some Coke and we drank that too. Many cyclists under trees - it was warming up again.



Through Maple Ridge, onto 128th Way. This year we were bound and determined to take the Dyke Trail, and avoid Dewdney Trunk Rd (two lanes, no shoulder, fast traffic, really big trucks). The trail entrance was subtle, but we found it. 6.5 miles on a crushed gravel trail along the Pitt River. Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice. Jason had to work a little harder on the gravel, but it was a beautiful, peaceful option.

We rejoined the route at the Pitt River Bridge, then headed in through suburbs and busy roads to Port Moody. Port Moody scares me. Busy, crowded streets. Plus I'm at the low point of the day by then. More cyclists under trees, not knowing that the Port Moody fountains and ice cream await! Even better, watermelon! I was eating it as fast as the kind volunteer was slicing it. Then a walk to fountains and some yummy mint ice cream. My spirits lifted. We did a bit of sitting in the shade ourselves, then headed out.



Except the front shifter didn't work... Back to the rest stop, which had a real mechanic. (Jason needed some convincing that there was a real mechanic a few blocks back) His diagnosis was that we would not have our big chainring, but everything else should work. Well, if you have to not have a chainring, that's one you could live without.



Up onto the Barnet Highway for 5 miles of freeway shoulder riding, except it really isn't that bad. Nice views of the sulfur piles at the port, and the Burrard Inlet. We stood on some of the climbs, impressing the heck out of the cyclists sitting in the shade (this is a theme). We finally said we'd been dropped on our heads as children and didn't know any better. Seriously, I don't know about Jason, but the heat was not bothering me much at all.

Up on Hastings and onto the Frances-Union bike trail. Many of the stop signs have been replaced with roundabouts. Nice.

There was that climb up to the corner with the Star Market - very steep. We just bailed and ground it out, singing the Wicked Witch of the West song the whole way. By this point we'd collected a few riders who realized that we knew which way to go (1 Vanilla, 1 Davidson). By the time we got to Vancouver proper, I had the map out and was calling the turns, with a collection of cyclists in our wake. Through downtown, up Cardero, right on Comox. Done.




Parked the bike and went up to the party. Got our burgers and beverage, and we were found by Bill, who we did not see the entire ride. He was starting and finishing later in the day than we were, I think.

Saw Fred and Ellen, too :-) Then celebratory picture of Little Pink Bear, and off to the hotel, where showers and then dinner awaited. Sushi at a close-by sushi place, watching the Olympics coverage (Canadian coverage; wish there had been sound).

Waiting for the bus the next morning, I sat down and started knitting... and had spectators. We talked about knitting (they knit), and how the one woman's mother is teaching her, but in Chinese. Which will make it interesting when she's trying to communicate at the yarn store. Jason was talking to a woman behind me, who turned out to be Leslie from Alaska who rode the SIR 200k in March with Duane on the tandem. Small world. We got into line together and talked randonneuring for awhile. She's just moved to Seattle, so I'll probably see her on some brevets. She knits, too, and checked out my Interweave Favorite Socks book on the bus.

Zipped through Immigration, which is what happens when we buy extra food to compensate for the 3 hour wait. I'm not sure they even looked AT my passport. They looked to see if I had a US passport, but that was it.

Beat the bikes back by just over an hour. As the car keys were on the bike, we took our books and knitting and luggage and sat in one of the few shady spots and waited. There was a truck with bike RACKS, then finally a truck with BICYCLES. Tandems are loaded last and off first, so Clifford was shortly in our possession.

Off to find some food, then an uneventful drive home. Much knitting accomplished :-)

Many, many more pictures here