Saddle Sores, I Want More!
So here we are...day 2 of the journey is complete and I'm nice and cozy in my tent waiting for the bike fairies to pedal me to sleep (too cheesy?). We've gone a total of 110 miles so far; 45 of which were completed today. My initial reaction to the trip so far is one of excitement and appreciation. I can't believe I'm doing this! Bo and I are biking from Canada to Mexico. Who does that!? Although I'm sore, the sense of surrealism and positivity keep my spirits high.
We left SLC Wednesday morning and traveled to Huntington, Oregon for a night in a cheap motel. The drive and night was pretty uneventful outside of us watching Terminator Genesys in the town's only movie theater. We woke up Thursday and headed to Bellingham, Washington where we were able to stay with Bo's sister. We went to a local Thai restaurant, made some last minute adjustments to our gear and headed to bed anticipating the start of our adventure.
Friday, July 10
Since we were biking from Vancouver to Bellingham the first day, we had the luxury of leaving most of our gear at Bo's sister's house since we'd be spending another night there. I'm glad we did this sense we didn't anticipate how challenging day 1 would be. Once we unloaded our bikes in Vancouver, we ran into our first issue: my tires were flat. I had pumped them up and had forgot to screw closed the valves so...they were airless. Additionally, the pump I had been using was not working very well with the now airless tire. I couldn't get the nozzle to stay on while I pumped it! Luckily Bo had his pump which was much easier to use. We put some air in my tires, made final preparations and took a short video clip to introduce the documentary we plan on making for the trip. And then we were off...
We ran into multiple hurdles on the first 65 mile day: Bo had not trained for hill climbs, our seats and brakes were not aligned properly after being on the bike rack for 15 hours, and I hadn't been on my bike for the past 8 days. On our first climb over Alex Fraser bridge, Bo realized this trip might be a little harder than he had anticipated. Luckily, I have been training in higher altitude with lots of bike ascents and descents under my belt. Living in Flatville, Illinois, Bo did not have that chance. After a few hours of riding, the misalignment of my seat starting to wear on my knees. I tried stretching them out, but the new placement of my joints was working against me. Additionally, as round lunchtime we both starting to feel saddle sore which is somewhat inevitable when riding 5 hours a day on a bike. Despite all our shortcomings, we pressed on and ended the day intact back at his sister's place. We showered, got our bikes tuned up at the local REI*, ate a bunch of pizza and headed to bed.
Saturday, July 11
We woke up today we the aches and pains of a stunt double. My knees were and still are tender as well as my saddle. Pushing those thoughts away, we made our bike gear preparations, shot a few video clips of us taking off and headed out with all of our gear. Although I've ridden my bike fully loaded before, I was hesitant of what was in store. There were a number of decent hills on our ride from Vancouver and they were hard enough without our 40-50 lbs of gear!
After a few hours I found myself not over exerting myself and realized my heart rate was a little less than it was yesterday, which meant that I wasn't working as hard today. I think the combination of 5 hours of riding yesterday, adjusting my seat so that it wasn't hurting my knees and butt so much and the appropriate tire pressure all did wonders for making today's ride easier. Oh and we also used this stuff called Chamois Butt'r which basically keeps your ass from chafing. You rub it in like lotion all over yourself down...there (ahem) and it smooths out your skin and prevents chafing. It seemed to work today so l be using it going forward! Anyways I digress...
Camp food
The ride today was beautiful. We rode through Larabee State Park; a lush forest that overlooks the Puget Sound. We rode through the small farming community of Bow, WA and enjoyed a peaceful (and pretty) stint along a few country roads. We rode through the town of Bay View and got some amazing footage riding along the Padilla Bay Shore Trail. The Puget Sound was on our right and gorgeous fields and town houses were on our left. We ended the day by riding through Anacortes and into Desolation Pass State Park where we crossed the (you guessed it) Desolation Pass bridge and found our campsite. The forest preserves in the northwest are gorgeous and I can't wait to see more of them.
Deception Pass
My body's sore, my gear is slightly wet, but my resolve is strong. I'm excited to drift off to sleep with the trickle of rain bouncing off my tent and let my body recover before putting in another 65 miles of riding. We plan on crossing a ferry into Port Townsend and staying in the town of Silverdale.
Until next time,
Michael
*As a funny aside, we found out the next morning that my tires were only pumped to 20 psi while riding from Vancouver and they should be inflated to about 70 psi, so I was definitely not maximizing the efficiency of my pedal stroke!
