August 3, 2024
San Juan Loop, day 1
If everything went perfectly it wouldn’t be much of a shakedown ride! Leaving Port Angeles on the Olympic Discovery Trail was very pleasant. The vast majority of the route wasn’t just fully separated from roads and highways, but along completely different routes so it isn’t beside any traffic at all.
I was passing the Sequim (pronounced “Skwim”) and noticed a bike shop. A few minutes later I could tell something wasn’t right with my bike. I was able to diagnose the problem, but without the right tools I could do anything about it. It worked well enough that I considered carrying on but I decided to drop in a lot the bike shop to see if they could fix it or confirm that it would last the trip.
With their help I confirmed that it was indeed a failed or failing bearing and that I should be able to continue. The mechanic did a little work to try to make it run a little more smoothly and was fairly successful. I have a replacement at home.
This trip is also giving me a list of improvements to make. Nothing major fortunately. I also need to get into the mindset of never passing up opportunities to restock on water and food.
Trail Magic
Bikepacker and YouTuber Ryan Van Duzer talks about “trail magic” - random encounters and connection that happen because you’re out on the trail. Sometimes it’s just a nice conversation or important information about the route, sometimes it’s a generous offer of food, company or even accommodation. Andrew and I benefitted from this on one of our previous trips.
Today I ran into couple who pointed out an alternate route to bypass a nasty section of highway, then at lunch at Fat Smitty’s I ran into an older fellow who had done the GDMBR twice and was planning big a third time. He confirmed that bypassing the highway was a good idea.
Fat Smittty’s
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Enough said!
Facilitating Hiking and Biking
Washington State Parks has a “no turn away” policy for people who arrive at campgrounds on food or by bike. When traveling that way you can’t necessarily plan and book months in advance so this is a great policy. It’s practical for the park too - if you arrive and there’s nowhere to stay you’re not going to have much choice other than to try to find a hidden spot in the woods anyway. Not too many other places are on board with yet, including B.C.
Fort Ebey state park was a nice spot to stay and had some interesting WWII coastal defenses.
I’m looking forward to Deception Pass tomorrow and making it to Surrey.
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 2 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |