Day 1: Blaine to Mount Vernon, WA

Blog by bike enthusiast/author: Steve


Day 1: July 31, 2013 - Blaine to Mt Vernon, WA

53.3 miles, 14.7 mph


We left Mercer Island at 6:30AM heading up to Bellingham. We needed to pick up Mike at the Bellingham airport and put together his bike before starting our journey at the Canadian border. Mike took the redeye from Oahu the previous evening. We expected him to be an interesting mixture of adrenaline (excited about the trip) and intense fatigue. We were not disappointed.

Mike is the quintessential bike nerd. He was packing a well-used bike case carrying his bike and a wide array of bike doodads that attached perfectly to his ride. These included some fancy-schmancy aero bars (with extensions to raise them to his perferred height) and an impressive iphone carrying gadget. As he assembled his bike on Amy's front lawn, Mark was visibly impressed (in fact, I was visibly impressed).

After scarfing down some savory pastries from a nearby bakery (Mark opting for a questionable Boston cream donut), we headed off for Blaine, WA, the border, and destiny... (insert suitable climactic musical phrase, here).

We started the trip from the Peace Park --essentially no-man's land between Canada and the US. However, it is a picturesque no-man's-land, hosting the Peace Arch, some nice gardens, etc. It's chief function is to serve as visual stimulation for the tourists who often have to wait hours in order to cross the border. A giant TV with NetFlix probably would have served that function more effectively.

We headed south thru Blaine's downtown (which took about 30 seconds) and rode down Peace Portal drive paralleling the freeway for some distance (note--"Peace Portal" seems like a somewhat trite phrase. Couldn't they have come up with something having a bit more pizzaz?).

The weather was cloudy with sun breaks, temperature in the low 60's (this would turn out to be a common theme). The scenery was pastoral--farm land and country lanes. We were headed, first, back to Bellingham, and from there onward to the town of Mt Vernon. Our plan was to try and do 50 - 55 miles the first day, given all the work with flying, driving, assembling bikes, etc.

We rode thru the town of Ferndale (note--TV show town name), crossed under the I5 and doglegged right (i.e. south) heading towards Bellingham. It should be noted that Mike was distinguished not only by his bike gear, but by the fact that his bags weighed at least 10 lb more than any of ours. This included an iPad and a big-ass bike lock weighing at least 2 lbs. Coupled with jet lag and a lack of hill-climbing practice, Mike did amazingly well. Note-Mike and the bike lock parted company two days later.

Riding along the country roads, the sun came out and we got some beautiful views of Mt Baker, only softly visible thru the haze. Approaching Bellingham via Northwest Ave, we let Amy take the lead and guide us to one of her favorite lunch spots (actually, maybe that was Mark's favorite lunch spot)--Avenue Bread. I had a killer Cobb salad. Love the Cobb.

About 3/4 of a mile after leaving our lunch stop, near disaster struck. Mike broke a spoke (actually, a spoke nipple). We were incredibly lucky. We were about 1/2 mile from a bike shop, which had the requisite spoke and was able to make the repair in about 30 min. Outstanding.  But, Mike was freaked out by the experience. 

A broken spoke is simply one of the things you absolutely don't want to happen to you on the road. You can't ride far with a broken spoke, and truing a wheel is something best left to professionals (besides, you need specialized equipment). So, Mike first negotiated to have Dan, Mark's mechanic, rebuild his rear wheel with stronger, brass nipples when he got to Mercer Island. Later, he got on the phone and spoke with the shop that originally sold him the bike, getting them to agree to ship him new wheels with a higher spoke count to a town in Oregon that we'd be visiting early the next week. Mike then contacted the bike shop in that town to complete these dealings. What was particularly impressive was that Mike conducted most of these dealings while doing the second half of the day's ride. At least he wasn't texting...

We had a nice ride along Chuckanut drive which hugs the coast along the sound south of Bellingham. The road has a lot of rolling hills (some not soooo rolling...) through heavily forested areas and opens up with some beautiful vistas of the Sound. Chuckanut eventually drops down into farm land and a (relatively) smooth, level road. This second half of the ride from Bellingham to Mt Vernon was uneventful. The scenery was pleasant, although certainly not breathtaking.

After an annoying detour through the remarkably busy streets of Burlington and Mt Vernon, we arrived at our destination--the Best Western, notable for the fresh baked chocolate chip cookies in the lobby. Mt Vernon itself, is probably best known for the 2013 bridge disaster in which a semi, driven by a Canadian, clipped the top truss of one of the bridge frames, thereby causing the entire span to plummet into the river below. This effectively shut down I-5 (the main north-south thouroughfare), requiring all traffic to be routed through the lobby of the Best Western--I mean, through town. The temporary bridge span which the Army Corp installed a month after the accident was visible from our hotel window--at no extra charge, I might add.

I'm afraid that whatever else may happen to the town of Mt Vernon--whether the next president is born there, aliens are discovered writing messages in corn fields--it doesn't matter. Mt Vernon will be known for their bridge collapse. Sometimes, that's the way the chips fall... so to speak.

For Bike-a-palooza 2013, Mt Vernon will be remembered for an excellent Chinese meal that we enjoyed at the Dragon Inn (next to the bowling alley). We were too tired to throw down 10 frames. But, if we hadn't been, bowling and Chinese would have been an excellent combo.