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-Keith Pelczarski
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Day 1: Seattle to Twanoh State Park
Today I loaded up the bike and began riding for real. It was a little scary in a couple of ways. For one thing, riding with the extra weight on the front racks was a new experience. For another, hitting the road by myself on a bike felt quite daunting when it was time to really do it.The closest analog I can think of is when you're diving off the edge of a high cliff. You're pretty sure that it'll be awesome, but a little voice is wondering if it's really a good idea.
The morning was spent doing laundry, assembling the new rack, packing up the panniers and trying to psyche myself up. Mark came by to wish me Bon voyage, then I headed over to Recycled Cycles for some air and encouragement. Here I am with the rig:
I wasn't really prepared for the full weight of it all, so I was a bit nervous making my way the almost seven miles from Mark's to the ferry. Luckily, Seattle is very bike friendly, which helped take the edge off. I was also comforted by some courageous-looking bronze firefighters:Shortly thereafter I found the ferry after a detour through a little tent city near Seahawk Stadium. The ferry was a little bit of a challenge, since they told me to ride up a really steep ramp and I don't have a granny gear. (I'm riding a compact crankset -- maybe a huge mistake. More on that in a moment.) The ferry ride was pleasant, with food and scenery. Here's how my bike made the trip (lower right corner):
And here's the scene upon reaching Bremerton:
Pedaling began in earnest, and I soon met with a detour. Found my way back to the route, and found myself staring up a large hill. I made my own detour, which turned out to have equally large hills. Oy.
I found my way back to the ACA path, which had another really steep hill in store. I ended up getting off and pushing for a bit. Once again I found myself wishing for a granny gear. Hopefully I'll get used to that sort of thing with the extra weight, but part of me is thinking I should call ahead to.a bike shop in Portland to get outfitted with a triple crankset.
After Bremerton, the road smoothed out, and I was able to make decent progress. People were really good about giving me a wide berth, which was encouraging. I picked up sausages and eggs in Belfair, and a kindly Korean shopkeeper gave me some ice to keep them cold.I rolled into Twanoh State Park a little after seven, and had some confusion about where to camp. The hiker/biker site seemed to be all full, but after talking to the awesome almost-ranger Julie I was set with an outstanding site toward the back of the park. I even got some firewood from a kindly stranger. The campsite was quite nice:
Tomorrow I'm hoping to get down near Mt St Helens, but we'll see how that goes. Goodnight, everyone!
[NB: these posts will often appear after I actually write them. I'm tapping them out my iPhone and saving them, since many campsites are out of cellular range.]
:: Keith 15:44 [link] :: ::
