Tour de Vancouver: Fleeing the Tyranny of King George

This is the third report. It'll only make sense if you've already read this and this.

July 3: Vancouver Rest Day

Although we took the day off, it was just "off the bike" off. We still walked a ton.

A few of us went to Tim Horton's (a.k.a., "Timmie's" -- think McDonald's in Canada) for breakfast, and then we bundled into the van to drive to Stanley Park.

After walking around there a bit, RandoGirl's knee started to hurt, which made my hip hurt in sympathy. So we sat in a shady spot while seaplanes took off above our heads.

We then went shopping in search of bike jerseys with "Vancouver" on them. We didn't find any, but we visited some cool shops and met a lot of nice folks.

One fellow in this shop gave us a tip on an easier way out of town the next day -- one that didn't have us biking on a rusty catwalk that would've had a Flying Wallenda puking in fear. (Okay, that may be an exaggeration. Sue me.)

We went out for excellent pizza that night and found another really cool bike shop called "The Tandem Cafe." The shop owner had just won the local cargo bike race, and he and I discussed next weekend's Seattle-to-Portland ride.

We made it back to the room in time to catch the sunset from our balcony.

July 4: Bellingham Again

That evening, I modified our return route based on the advice from some other bike shop patrons and RideWithGPS.com. Thus, after loading up the van with our gear once again, we headed back into central Vancouver.

Now THIS is the way that the bike lane on a bridge should be.

About two miles from our hotel was the first destination: The Musette Cafe.

This place was really neat, with all kinds of cycling memorabilia. And they had the best coffee that I have yet to find in Vancouver.

From here, we biked another mile to the subway station. After spending far too much time figuring out how to get tickets and then bundling our bikes into the elevator, we got on the train.

The end of the line was the King George Station. Jeff said that it was ironic that we were fleeing the tyranny of Canada via the King George Station on the Fourth of July. But then later that day the Canadians almost didn't let us go.

The new route had us on a couple of busy roads, but they all either had bike lanes or a good shoulder. Soon, we were back into the countryside via our inbound path. As we approached the bump that we had "enjoyed" on our way in, I mentioned that it was a little steeper from this side.

Nobody had to dismount on the climb and cross-train, however, and we descended down the other side, took an illegal left, and returned to the border. U.S. Customs spent a little more time looking us over than the Canadians had, but eventually they let us re-enter our so-called home.

As we passed through Blaine, however, we got a call from Tom and Judy in the van telling us that U.S. Customs was being tougher on them since they had all of our luggage. We decided it would be prudent to stay closer to the border for a while in case they needed us to come back, and headed back into town in search of lunch. Although it was probably not everyone's first choice, we ended up with the randonneur's friend -- and the only place open on Independence Day -- Subway. And thusly did we eat fresh and pay homage to King George and his lovely station back in Vancouver, while Customs dumped our tea bags into the harbor.

We finished our lunch about the time that Customs let Tom and Judy back in. Once we got past the park near Blaine, which was gearing up for evening fireworks and where the afternoon drinking had apparently already begun, we were able to once again enjoy a ride through fairly flat farmland.

At one point, we ran into another couple on a tandem and they paced in with us all the way to Ferndale. A really weird coincidence.

Most things in Ferndale were closed, but both of the cannabis shops on the road between Ferndale and Bellingham were open.

Because who doesn't like to light their bottle-rocket using a joint?

Since we had shortened the route by using the subway, we actually got into the hotel fairly early. A few of us did some laundry while others soaked in the hot tub, took a nap, or hung out at happy hour, and then we ferried folks into town for dinner at the Bellingham Cider Company. We were done and back at the hotel before the evening's fireworks started.

Hooray for the red, white, and blue.

Tour de Vancouver: Maybe It Does Need to be Said

Here's the second part of the trip report. If you want to see the first part, go here.

July 1: Bellingham

They say that the best weather in Seattle runs from July 4 almost to Halloween. I had thought that we might have an early start to the good stuff ... but that didn't quite work out.

It was raining when six of us left the hotel Sunday morning. Steve and Joyce took the van and RandoGirl back to our house, where they would cannibalize our tandem to get a replacement rear wheel for their bike and a replacement front wheel for Tom and Judy's bike. The plan was for them to then meet us halfway and swap out driving duties with Tom and Judy, since this was our longest day.

The road out of Everett was fairly calm and easy, but wet. The climb up towards Lake Stevens was also wet, but busy. Fortunately, it had a good shoulder.

Once on top, we passed through Lake Stevens. I would have gotten more pictures, but it was still raining and/or we were getting a lot of spray from the road. Suffice it to say that the lake is very pretty.

Soon we were cruising north on the Centennial Trail, making very good time. As we approached the railroad tracks crossing the trail just before Arlington, I had just said something about "It goes without saying that these will be slippery," when the tracks caught the front wheel of Tom and Judy's tandem and they went down. Cathie was riding right next to them, and she crashed as well.

Fortunately, although everyone was banged up and scraped up, they were still functional. We got off route for a bit and went to the Bartell Drug Store in town, where we bandaged folks' scrapes and cuts. Tom had banged his head hard enough to break his helmet and give himself a mild concussion, so we stopped at the bike shop in town and bought him a new helmet. They would not sell him a new head.

I had alerted the van folks about the incident, so they re-routed to the trailhead near Lake McMurray. When we got there, we put Tom and Judy in the van (after Tom assured us he was okay to drive), and RandoGirl and Steve and Joyce got on their bikes. The sun then came out as we headed west on Hwy 534 through Conway and towards the coast.

The wind had come up as the rain ended, and we all welcomed a break for ice cream on the flat roads here.

Then we continued north to the other payoff road on this route: Chuckanut Drive.

This gorgeous road brings you almost into Bellingham. When we got into town, everyone else turned off towards their hotel while RandoGirl and Jeff and I took a nice gravel trail down towards a hotel closer to the shore. Jeff headed off north from there, and RandoGirl and I locked up our bikes, checked into our room, and turned on the fire in the fireplace. Our group was among the last of the patrons at the restaurant we visited that night, but we had made it.

July 2: Vancouver

Although the day began with sun, the night had been rough for some. To top off his scrapes and bruises, Tom had gotten food poisoning during the night. Judy and Cathie went with him to the hospital, to help Tom and to have their own scrapes and cuts tended to, and Jeff drove them and managed the process. None had gotten a good night’s sleep.

We decided to give Tom and Judy a few days off, so they stowed their bike at Jeff's hotel (making the best use of his frequent-stay status) and took over driving duties into and out of Canada. The rest of us had a late breakfast in town and rolled out about 10 am.

The rain wasn't done with us yet, and we had about 10 wet miles as we headed north and then west through Ferndale. Once up on the ridge out of town, however, the sun finally came out to stay.

We wound our way through the farm country, which got a little busy near some of the state parks, and then through Blaine to the border.

The line was shorter for us since we were on bicycles. The Canadians customs officers asked us a few questions, looked at our passports, and sent us on our way. A few miles later, we were doing the tough climb in to the suburbs of Vancouver.

We stopped soon afterwards for lunch.

Then we got on a few multi-use trails.

These would end at weird places, double back, or narrow and turn in ways that were definitely not tandem-friendly. At one point, we found ourselves under the bridge that we needed to be on.

RandoGirl got directions, however, and we made it up and over. As someone who is very afraid of heights, I must admit that this part of the trip scared the crap out of me. Although the bridge has a narrow catwalk of a trail tacked onto the side for bicycles and pedestrians, the way that the plates popped under the wheels of the tandem in front of me while we rode did not inspire confidence.

After more shifts and jumps from trails to sidewalks to roads, we crossed the river again.

Then we got to the payoff on River Road.

This was a great way to work our way further west, rolling along the river and admiring the views of Vancouver across the way. At this point, we didn't mind a nice flat road

There were a few more tricks at the end of River Road before we could enter downtown. It was rush hour then, and we got lost a couple of times before finding the quiet road into the old section of Vancouver. Soon we were rolling past crowds of slow cyclists and even slower walkers down by Granville Island before we at last got to our hotel. Although the trip had been fun, at this point we were all looking forward to a day off the bike seeing the sights of Vancouver.