The challenge this year was the heat. Like the STP this year, temperatures were in the mid-90's, and for we Northwesters, that is energy-sapping heat. It seems we only get these warm weekends when we are on two-day bike rides, so friends are encouraging us to head out of town more often.
The overnight stop is in Bellingham and we stayed with Brian's mom again this year. A dip in the nearby lake was a special treat after a hot day in the saddle. Other friends were down from Canada so it was a nice large gathering that night. Good food and wine rounded out a perfect evening.
Those same friends from Canada offered up their house for us to stay in the next night. Very kind of them to open their doors to us while they were down in Bellingham. That night we went to dinner at one of the restaurants they own. We all enjoyed a wonderful meal with a view of yet another lake. We clearly don't rough it too much on these rides.
The wife (once again) provided wonderful support to us, bringing us sandwiches and drinks for lunch, and iced towels to cool down. As Cherie said "we have a really good wife". The iced towels were a leftover idea from the Ragnar Relay, and helped us resist the temptation to jump into every river and lake we rode by.
One of the highlights of the ride was the ride up Chuckanut Drive in Bellingham. It is a twisty climb through the woods with occasional spectacular views of Puget Sound. I took off from the group and had my own little Tour de France breakaway. At the top of the climb there is a lemonade stand waiting to reward you with ice-cold pink lemonade. It was so gloriously cold it almost didn't matter how it tasted, but it was quite tasty to boot.
I see from last year's post that I have clicked over the year mark here at the blog. Thanks for continuing to stop by.
wouldn't miss it for the world! thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThat lemonade stand is less than 1/4 mile from my house. If you had stopped by MY house I could have given you homemade cherry-ice-cream-chocolate-dipped drumsticks rolled in toasted almonds.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, you should take a little detour next year. I had 6 RSVP'ers staying with me as well. The homemade pizza and wine was also flowing freely at our house.