RSVP Day 1: Ride from Seattle to Vancouver & Party!

The Feisty Five

What's the big deal about riding a bike from one state to the next? Pshaw, that's so last year! Nhan and I already did STP two years in a row. This year, we're not stopping until we cross the border into another country! Canada would just have to brace itself for our arrival, because the Feisty Five planned to migrate there en masse like a flock of Canadian geese. This was our first go at RSVP. Nhan and I dared not attempt both rides last year since we were still newbies then. RSVP takes place only one month after STP-- two major rides scheduled too close together for our legs and butt cheeks to be altogether too comfortable with the idea. But this year we were ready to fly north! This time, Nhan and I would be joined by our fearless friends for some international intrigue.

Nhan and I sure do love our destination rides. There's something adventuresome about riding an unfamiliar route to a faraway location with your bike buddies. The promise of discovering new scenery gets us excited about ditching the car and pedaling there instead! None of us had ever biked to Canada before, and it was about to get real........

RSVP Start Line, L to R: Howie, Di, Hai, Chinh, Nhan

Flying Wheels 2013, L to R: Hai, Howie, Di & Nhan

The same happy group that did our first Flying Wheels ride in 2013 came together again for this year's RSVP, making up The Feisty Five: Me, Nhan, Howie, Hai, and Chinh. 

Hai was the one who made the introduction for me to join the Viet Velo Northwest Team back in 2013, so I have to thank him for that! 

As he also pointed out, "You guys all got new bikes since last year, except me!"

On ride day, we pulled ourselves out of bed at an ungodly hour to be down at the start line at UW by 5am-- still pitch dark out. Nhan warned everyone ahead of time not to bitch about our early start time. 

He wanted to roll out early enough to cover the 106 miles to Bellingham with time to spare for dinner and ride recovery. We would not stand for a repeat of the unfortunate circumstances of STP Day 1 when the group rolled in hours late in the dark.

Out of 1,400 registered riders gearing up and readying for the trip, I managed to run into my friend, Stephanie, who was riding RSVP with her husband and a friend. She was the one who originally encouraged me to ride RSVP, and she gave us invaluable advice about what to expect on the ride, which hill climbs to watch for, and where to stop for the best food along the route. 

Stephanie's husband took a quick pic of us together in the dark as a slight drizzle started falling. No one foresaw rain, and we all groaned at the prospect of a wet ride. After we put our overnight luggage in the event trucks, we were ready to roll out under uncertain skies.

Me & Stephanie at the UW parking lot

As we started on the Burke-Gilman Trail, the steady drizzle became more of an alarming downpour. The trail was slick and riddled with puddles. Without fenders, the water splashed up from our rear tires and soiled the back of our jerseys with water and dirt. My jersey was soaked, my arms glistening, water kept dripping over the lip of my helmet, and I had a hard time holding onto my slippery brake handles-- yet, I exulted in the freshness of the rain. 

Chinh, on the other hand, was alarmed by the torrential amounts of water. He kept yelling back at me from his bike, asking if we should stop somewhere until the rain lets up a little. I yelled back asking him exactly where we would stop, if not to stand idly in the rain instead of just biking through it? Since the trail was mostly flat, there were no hill hazards on descents, so we pedaled on as water splashed wildly around us. 

I razzed Chinh, asking him, "What are you? Made of sugar? Why are you so worried about melting in the rain?" I made my point. He laughed and said he'll suck it up. At least that's what his wife, Hong, would tell him to do if she were here with us.

By now, our socks were soaked through, but our spirits weren't dampened. It finally stopped raining, our legs were warmed up, our spirits were fired up, and we basked in the palpable excitement of the surrounding crowd. The day proved to be cloudy and cool overall, but it warmed up just enough for us to start drying ourselves off in the breeze as we biked along. I said to Hai, "We went through the rinse cycle, now we're going through the dry cycle!" ....see what I did there?

Lush greenery and surrounding pastureland signaled our exit out of the suburban neighborhoods and into rural territory. We took a quick water and bio break in the quaint town of Snohomish, situated right next to the river, its streets lined with boutiques and mom-and-pop type restaurants.

Machias Food Stop, L to R: Chinh, Howie, Di, Nhan, Hai

L to R: Hai, Nhan, Howie, Chinh

One thing I noticed about this ride is that it is definitely more intimate in the sense that there are fewer riders, so you don't have the crowded chaos of STP. You meet and greet the same riders again and again at different points along the trail. In fact, we pleasantly ran into Stephanie's riding party several times throughout the day.

At this point, we had conquered the hills in Woodinville, passed the smaller cities of Lake Stevens and Marysville, and found ourselves on the famous Centennial Trail in Snohomish County. We made it to the first Cascade food stop in Machias! 

Alpaca Selfie

It was at this stop that Nhan learned a valuable lesson in not messing with an alpaca. These creatures are South American camelids that resemble a smaller version of a llama. Unlike llamas, alpacas are raised for their fibers to be used in textiles, and not as beasts of burden. 

This local farmer clearly had a "No Trespassing" sign up on his fence. But Nhan just could not resist a photo op with these three curious creatures. As he snuck up along the fence to surreptitiously snap a selfie, the alpacas eyeballed him something fierce and mean-mugged him the entire time. 

Suddenly, the alpacas made a nasty grunting sound and SPAT on him!!! 

The rest of us were in hysterics as Nhan yelled and ran, flailing wildly, trying to fling the stinky, phlegmy gobs of alpaca spit off his head and arms. Good thing he shaved his head to be more aero. Otherwise, we'd be combing nasty alpaca spit out of his hair too. Honestly, there was very little empathy for Nhan, "The Alpaca Stalkerazzi". That's what you get for messing with his pet! 

After that oddball show, we hopped back on our bikes and rolled on for many miles more, through hill and dale, scenic rural landscapes, pretty tree-lined trail ways, past streams, quaint "rurban" neighborhoods, and across wooden bridges.

L to R: Hai, Di, Howie, Chinh

We stopped in Arlington, the halfway point to Bellingham, where we snapped some fun photos. 
We made crazy faces and flashed the ever popular "Viet V".

Chinh was not feeling very well on this trip, but he was a real trooper! We didn't find out until later that he had developed food poisoning before the ride. Yeah, not so glamorous when you're riding a bike, and it's not as if he could turn around and go home. But he had his game face on the entire time despite his total discomfort. I have a lot of respect for a guy who can finish a 106-mile bike ride under those conditions. I felt bad for Chinh, so I stopped calling him "Sugar"....for now.

Chinh & Hai representing

Howie, as usual, is totally chill. He's the quietest one in our group, but he's got a big booming laugh if you can get him joking. We still don't know where this guy gets his power reserves from. I'm not sure I've ever seen him sweat, and I'm certain I've never even heard heavy breathing from him. He's almost always way ahead of us. One time, he napped at a food stop for 20 minutes before we all finally caught up to him. If he didn't have to wait for us slowpokes in Canada, he might have biked all the way up to Alaska and back just for the hell of it.

Hai is our social butterfly. He's the kind of guy who walks up to total strangers, introduces himself, asks people's names (and actually remembers them later), and offers to be the best man at their weddings. Hai and I did stretches at the stop to keep our muscles loose, and to prevent lactic acid from building up. Nhan laughed at our odd little gyrations, so Hai and I busted a little Riverdance routine to keep our friends entertained. 

It never looks weird when two Viet people break out into Irish folk dancing in bike gear, right?

Riverdance, yo!

As we biked through some hilly roads in Skagit County, we noticed a longboarder along for the ride event, bib number on helmet, water bottle and snacks in hand! WTH?! Several times, we passed him, pushing along the route using a longboard (a large, long version of a skateboard with wide wheels), and thought, this guy can't be for real!! 


We were completely amazed that he was able to get up and down some of these very strenuous hill climbs and descents since we were having a hard enough time on our bikes! We've seen recumbent bikes, tandem bikes, elliptical bikes, even unicycles-- but I've never seen anyone with the cojones to actually try a 200-mile ride into a foreign country on a longboard! 

The Showboater and The Longboarder

Hai, who is never shy, asked for a photo with this guy, who willingly obliged. By the end of the ride in Canada, everyone was talking about that crazy longboarder!

By now, we had pedaled about 80 miles or so and reached Whatcom County, I think. Some small, one-bar town called Big Lake. There was literally one bar/restaurant. All I know is that the guys smelled cheeseburgers and beers! They veered into this parking lot as if they were on auto-pilot. It was a crusty old bar with the local drunks bellying-up to the bar before noon, drinking beers and watching sports on a tiny TV. Walls adorned with classic car memorabilia and Americana artifacts, tables with pastel vinyl tablecloths. They had probably never seen so many Asian people walk in at the same time. 

This was a biker bar alright, but not our kind of biker. We ordered ice-cold beers and split three grill-hot cheeseburgers and fries. Why split, you ask? No one wants to bike another 20-30 miles with a gut full of ground beef, that's why. But we wanted to eat something besides shotbloks, so we shared a hot meal and cold beers like good biking buddies do! That first frosty sip of Blue Moon was just heavenly.....

Big Lake Bar & Grill, L to R: Nhan, Howie, Di, Chinh, Hai

We had The Longboarder take photos of our biker gang. Looking at this photo now, I realize just how much fun we had on that trip and how happy we were to do this major ride together. The smiles on our faces say it all. Five is the perfect number. We all kept track of each other during the ride, we talked and laughed as we biked, our riding skills and speeds were fairly matched. Big groups are fun too, but much harder to ride together cohesively over long distances, especially when there are different skill levels. None of us have ever biked to Canada before, and we were having the time of our lives!!

L to R: Hai, Chinh, Di, Nhan, Howie

Exhibit A

We had one more official Cascade food stop before eventually reaching the dreaded hill climbs of Chuckanut Drive and our Day 1 destination of Bellingham. 

By now, we were starting to feel a bit pooped. Most of our training rides are about 50 miles at the most, so we were really feeling it as we approached the century mark. We only had one square meal today that wasn't sugary or involved opening a wrapper. 

At this grassy stop, Nhan ate THREE fresh plums and then passed out, (See Exhibit A). I love plums too, but wasn't about to invite any fiber issues upon myself for the rest of the ride. Nhan was taking his own chances.

Exhibit Di

Howie napped intermittently, Chinh's illness was catching up to him, and even the ever exuberant Hai seemed a bit deflated. Nhan and I napped on our bellies in the grass, unmindful of the dry stalks poking us in the face and the insects buzzing around our heads. Then it was time to wake up and work out!

We eventually climbed Chuckanut Drive that afternoon. I've never even done it in a car. Stephanie warned me about this. It's the last climb at the end of a long day, there is no shoulder on the road, and the elevation gain is merciless for miles. The payoff is a beautiful vista at the top. This is the point where our gang got slightly separated. 

Hai and I were ahead for quite some time, leading the pack. Howie could have blown us away, but he was just spinning and doing his thing. Nhan had managed to lose a gear somehow, and had to grind up a little more slowly using not much more than his freakish calves to get up. Chinh was hurting by now, mostly because of dehydration. Hai kind of filled the role of Captain on this ride due to his experience with Viet Velo. In a very classy move, he circled back to help pull the exhausted Chinh and motivate him for the last few arduous miles to Bellingham. 

When we finally got past Chuckanut Drive and saw the Bellingham city limits, our power reserves kicked in. We were almost there! We finally cruised into the college town, eagerly looking for our hotel. The Feisty Five managed to re-group as we were rolling, and we had big smiles on our faces at being re-united again. As we pulled into our hotel parking lot, we could see the rows and rows of luggage that were dropped off earlier in the day by the event trucks. The prospect of a clean shower, a change of clothes, and a hot meal won the day. 

Chinh's wife, Hong, showed up with their two little girls to pick him up. They had booked their own hotel in Canada. They planned to spend a family weekend up in Vancouver, so Chinh would not be biking Day 2 with us to the border. Hopefully, we would meet him there instead once we crossed on our bikes. 

So, our Feisty Five became a Fatigued Four that evening. But it worked out well. There was a short line for the shower and the bathroom, we had a spacious hotel room where we could keep our bikes safe, and we all had a soft bed to sleep in at the end of a long day. No one had to sleep on the hard floor this time like at STP, when 6 of us crowded into an even smaller motel room and waited uncomfortably long for a chance to use the bathroom.

We had dinner together at the swanky Thai restaurant next door to the hotel. The guys were in good spirits and teased the wait staff about free re-fills on their alcohol. After dinner, we walked to a gas station and bought a 6-pack of Modelo beer for the "party" in the hotel room. So much for the party-- the guys drank their beers in bed while watching the show "Cops", then passed out with the TV, and their faces, still glowing. Everyone was too tired to care. 

We had another 90 or so miles to do in the morning before reaching Canada. We planned to have breakfast with Nhan's old boss, the current City Administrator in Lynden, another 20 miles from Bellingham. So we had our bike legs cut out for us just to get to breakfast. RSVP Day 1 came to a close when our eyes did.....