Mukilteo: worst day of the tour ride

July 31, 2019

We’re at the midpoint of the journey this morning. Looking back, we have enjoyed an especially fine tour so far. The weather has been incredible, with no precipitation at all, moderate winds, and generally mild temperatures. Exceptional scenery, few issues with traffic, and even some fine hospitality and friendship along the way. As good as it gets.

Looking ahead, the weather forecast couldn’t be better for the coming two weeks, even out west on the wet side of the Olympic Peninsula. There is rain just showing up two weeks out, several days after we leave the premises. Far better than we had reason to hope for. I’m starting to resent the fact that I’m carrying this unneeded rain gear. I hate carrying along baggage that I don’t need.

Today’s ride begins well. We enjoy a good breakfast at our B&B, which graciously sets an early table for us so we can get on the road at a reasonable hour. We also enjoy chatting with the new owners, who have just moved here from Indiana this summer to start their new post-retirement life. Surprisingly, the husband has a professional background similar to mine, as an old-timer from the early years of the IT profession. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anyone talking about database design and fifth normal form!

Leaving Katy’s Inn, originally John Peck’s house. John was an early settler here, a sea captain turned mortician. Very nice place, set up above the channel just two blocks from the historical waterfront.

We have one of our longer rides ahead of us, so we set out soon after breakfast. The first ten miles are a continuation of the wonderful riding we enjoyed yesterday. We cross the plane, broad Skagit Delta, not seeing even a ripple in the road for the next hour. I think our GPS registered 15 feet of elevation gain by the time we came to the southern rim of the flats.

Mount Baker rises above the ridges to the east.

Another old beauty - we’re in a vintage vehicle hotbed!

Nature is slowly winning out, as she always will.

Or fifteen feet of elevation gain must have come here, crossing the north fork of the Skagit.

Same old river, different direction. Good both ways.

They call these the Skagit Flats for some reason.

At Conway we cross the other branch of the Skagit, leave the delta, and start seeing some contour in the ride. We also come to the end of the quiet roads. For most of the rest of the day we’ll be on busier roads and minor highways, so we’re glad to forestall that a bit by taking the unpaved dike trail south of Conway for another mile or two. It’s pretty, quiet, and not a bad surface - we’d be happy to bike like this for a good stretch of the day, really.

One of the prettiest miles of the day. Too bad it didn’t continue for longer.

Unfortunately, we only get about a mile and a half of it before the trail ends. It’s a hard stop, at the train line. Across the tracks are a deep culvert and beyond that our highway, separated by a low barrier. It looks like we’ll have to just backtrack and lengthen our already long day, but first I scout around a bit. I find an overgrown path through the blackberries, on the other side of a short train trestle. There’s a walkway on the side of the trestle and it all looks manageable, so we go for it. At the end, we team up to carry our bikes over the brambles to avoid flattening and then heft them over the railings onto the highway.

The coast is clear, for the moment. Remembering the caution from the Burma Shave signs yesterday, we kick the gas, but don’t kick the bucket!

Tha sign is very faint. I don’t think it really says DANGER, No Trespassing, do you?

So, this ends the good riding for the day. The remaining 42 miles frankly stink. I don’t think there’s any part of this stretch that we’d care to repeat. Most of it is on a shoulderless, narrow two lane road that carries a steady load of traffic. Not dangerous, but hardly relaxing either because you have to stay focused, keep an ear tuned for passing cars, and keep to your lane. The only upside is that it helps us keep up a good pace.

The only photos from this stretch came when we passed through towns and could slow down and look around. This is the Stanwood Cafe, which looks like it would be a good place to stop in if we ever bike through Stanwood again. Which we won’t.

I’m not sure if this is still a hotel, but the saloon is still in business for sure. We could explore this and maybe break a ride with a stop here. But, no.

Marysville is another place you could stay. You could even take in the opera here, if you liked opera (but we don’t); and we’re here about half a century ago, when it still functioned as such; and were coming this way (which we won’t be).

So this was the bad part of the ride. The ugly part came immediately after leaving Marysville, when we came to the Snohomish River. From this direction the only crossing is on very busy Highway 529; and it’s actually four crossings, because the mouth of the Snohomish is braided and broken up by small islands. The last of these is a quite long bridge, fortunately with a separated sidewalk - it would be suicidal to bike with the heavy, racing traffic. But the sidewalk is narrow, the railings on both sides are too low for comfort, and the water is a very long ways down. The scariest bridge crossing we’ve experienced in years.

Finally, we make it across, pass under the Welcome to Everett sign, and turn off the highway onto the bayside road. Much better, and almost nice really; except that I’m almost blinded by a blackberry vine hanging down to helmet level that I didn’t see coming (you can see me flinch from this in the video).

Overall, not the best day of the tour. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Crossing the Snohomish. Looking at it here, it doesn’t look all that bad. Maybe if I was forty years younger and had more nerve.

Another zoomed shot. She’s actually a few hundred yards ahead here.

The rest of the ride was OK, following the bay and skirting the city itself. We rode the sidewalk the whole way, stopping a few times to look out across the bay. Everett is a city with a quite grey past (it’s nickname is Mill Town, so there’s a hint), but like so many places they’re working hard at cleaning up their act. There are attractive spots along the way to sit on a bench and look across the broad bay, filled with rotting pilings and other vestiges of the city’s industrial heritage.

It’s a relief to arrive at Mukilteo at the end of the day. We arrive just past 4, as usual. It was a longer ride, but we made good time since there was no reason to stop for most of the way.

This is a new bridge, built to provide access to the waterfront from the neighborhood across the tracks and on top of the bluff. When the time comes, it will be hoisted up by cranes and rotated 90 degrees before dropping it into place. That’s an event I’d be happy to see.

Don’t. Just don’t.

Heart

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Ride stats today: 54 miles, 2,200’; for the tour: 595 miles, 26,500’

Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 595 miles (958 km)

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Jen RahnSorry about this day. Hope you get some good rest to shake it off.

Here's to a better day tomorrow!
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5 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnIt wasn’t all that bad, really. We are just so spoiled. We need to take the rare opportunity to grouse when it comes along.
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5 years ago