San Juan Loop, day 2

August 4, 2024

Starting from Fort Ebey, it was 155km of riding to Andrew’s place. As it was looking like a very long day and I got a bit of a slow start, I didn’t stop for as many photos. Plus, it was less scenic than the first day.

There was a lot more riding on busier roads this day, although I still managed to stay to the side roads for 75% of it. Unfortunately there are some pretty unavoidable sections where there’s only one route if you don’t have time for a long detour. Given the distance over the two days (275km) I felt surprisingly good so I think I have prepared physically and dialled-in the bike ergonomics sufficiently well.

Deception Pass is beautiful, and the ride over the bridge was fine. When it’s so narrow that there’s no chance for a car to pass you it feels better than when you think they might try.

Deception Pass is a lot more spectacular than this picture shows. I didn’t take the time to find a better angle. Definitely a highlight of this day’s ride.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the town of Edison which is quite off the beaten track but had a really nice small-town feel and was really alive with people and activity.

It was also nice to see that Bellingham’s bike infrastructure has also improved dramatically since I was last there.

The border crossing was smooth. Just like boarding ferries, riding across the border is great as you generally skip the car line-up.

At Andrew’s we caught up on some Olympic events before turning in. In the morning we did some maintenance on Andrew’s bike and found some good options for extra water bottle cages. We also sorted out tool choices for our trip so it was good that we managed to get together one more time before we leave in two weeks.

I took advantage of a ride to the ferry and should be home mid-afternoon.

Summary

The San Juan loop is definitely not an off-road wilderness route, and has some unpleasant sections of road, but it’s still pretty amazing to be able to do a trip like this from home and see some great sights. Just doing the Olympic Discovery Trail as an out-and-back from Port Angeles and returning to Victoria on the same ferry would cut out most of the unpleasantness.

A short list of tweaks now remains for the next two weeks and then it will be time to box up the bike and get on a plane to Calgary.

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Andrew RichardGreat posts about your shakedown trip. I've been on that bridge many times by car and stayed at Deception Pass several times. It's a beautiful place!
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