( Tour de Whatcom Photos )
Yesterday my mom and I cycled the Tour de Whatcom, an organized ride through Whatcom County in and around Bellingham. It was my first half-century (51.something miles, to be "precise"), which was a wise choice for the length of this ride given the newness of and my inexperience with the gear I have. I don't think I would have been quite ready to do the full 105-mile ride.
I didn't have any major technical problems, but I did discover that my shoes make my feet feel numb after cycling several miles. This is probably a circulation problem-- loosening the laces alleviated it somewhat-- and I think properly positioning the cleats and raising my seat a little will help, too. At one point, I discovered that I hadn't screwed on my cleats tightly enough and my left foot became detached from the pedal with the cleat still stuck in the clip. Whoops. Good thing I had an allen wrench.
The route was scenic rolling countryside with views of the mountains, the ocean, and the San Juan islands. It was hillier than I really expected (and windier as the day went on), but nothing impossible. Overall, a really enjoyable ride with pleasant weather and good company. Thanks mom! There are a handful of photos of cyclists on the road and Whatcom County scenery in the Tour de Whatcom gallery. (Most of these I shot from my bike while moving. Whee!) I even took some (laughably edited) video. :-) Note: The audio track is Summertime Cowboy by Husky Rescue.
Posted on August 05, 2007 @ 7:48 PM | 4 comments
Comments:
Great job doing 50 miles! I did my first century ride in the Tour de Whatcom.
What a beautiful day for a ride, and for a great cause, proceeds going to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Whatcom County.
The 106.4 mile course (actual length via GPS) was a beautiful ride through the foothills South of Bellingham, then around the West side of Lake Samish, then to the South end of Lake Whatcom. After that, up highway 9 through beautiful rural farmland, with snowcapped peaks just to the right in full view, no foothills in the way.
After getting up to Everson, the course started heading West through beautiful Lynden, then over to near Birch Bay. It turned North and went up and around Semiahmoo Peninsula in a counter-clockwise manner, bringing us back down along the waterfront in Birch Bay. After Birch Bay, it was climb Grandview back to Olson road (a big chore when you are way over 80 mile in already), some climbs on Olson, then finally a big downhill on Olson followed by a really big downhill and fast ride on Mountainview down into Ferndale. The bulk of the rest of the course was fairly flat, but of course, with cramping legs, getting up to State street from Holly was a chore, even though it's only a couple of blocks of uphill riding.
Once on State Street, I knew I was past the last of any real climbing, so I pushed it the rest of the way along that beautiful waterfront and back to Fairhaven!
Great job with the video and photos, they do give a sense of the countryside out by Ferndale! Wish I had a camera going to show the Eastern part of the 105 mile course, as it was awesome!
Hope you are feeling great afterwards, I have some stiff and weak muscles, but nothing too severe!
Best wishes in your riding, and how cool is that to do it with your mom? Seems pretty great to me!
Thanks for posting about your experience!
By 
Cyclocrazed, at
12:31 AM, August 06, 2007
Good for you! Looks like a lot of fun! I want to do a bike trip next May here from Boyne to Mackinak, but I think a road bike would be much better than my mountain bike for that. What song is that in your video? I like it.
By 
sometrouble, at
10:28 AM, August 06, 2007
awesome music track to the vid Kat !! Lunch is on u tomorrow !! YUMMY
By espresso...yum, at
8:28 PM, August 08, 2007
Thanks for sharing your experience too, Cyclocrazed! I recovered nicely and I'm looking forward to biking in Glacier National Park next week.
The audio track in the movie is Summertime Cowboy by Husky Rescue. :)
By Kat, at
1:04 AM, August 10, 2007
