VeloCity: Clipless in Seattle: Collect moments not things

It’s been a while since our last blog; certainly it wasn't because we didn't have anything blog-worthy. Since our last post, we met new friends and saw a lot of cool things on the road. However, as social media especially Facebook and Instagram made information sharing a lot quicker and easier for us, blogging unfortunately has taken a backseat due to its reflective nature and time investment.

Well, I’m back and I have a cool story to share. For a while now, I bought a bicycle trailer and have been wanting to take it camping. I was inspired by a cyclist’s presentation at REI a few years ago. This guy rode self-supported all over the world; last trip he took at the time was in Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. Later on, I read an article of a Canadian who rode from Vancouver BC down to California and accidentally became a well-known road racer. As a teenager, he used to throw a sack of potatoes and some supplies into his bike trailer and disappeared into the mountains for days. These people obviously shared a love for bicycling but also the love for the freedom of a self-supported trip made possible by a bike trailer or panniers.

Di and I have been discussing about a trip from Seattle to San Francisco (S2SF). A couple of my friends from grad school had a lot of fun doing it. They spent a month right after graduation exploring beaches and national parks along the way. They must have used the trip as therapy trying to forget about tuition debt for a while :). We wanted to complete the trip within a much shorter time frame, 10 – 14 days, but wondered about the logistics of carrying supplies and whether we can pull it off. So I was like “Hey the only way to find out is to give it a try.” So I bought a bike trailer.

Good thing I wasn’t dreaming about going to the moon – wouldn’t know where to buy a rocket :).

Good friend Phal helped me purchased a Made-in-Tennessee Lynskey titanium bike a while back. I put on fenders, kickstand, a flask holder (yes, for stuff to numb the pain), and a Brooks leather saddle. Do you know that Brooks only use the thickest part of the cow’s hide (which is around its butt) to make their famously comfortable saddle? Wonder if stranded and run out of food, how long would it take for me to cook that saddle? Anyway, isn’t she the most gorgeous thang? If it wasn’t for me threatening him with Jesus, Tuan would have stolen this beauty long ago.

Too late for a long intro short, I’m ready to talk about the ride. I decided to take a Friday off (May 19) for a ride up Mount Rainier and camp along the way. A weekday is best because of light traffic on roads. The crew couldn’t come with for good reasons: Work, race & church (in no particular order). They were worried that I couldn’t pull it off. Tuan tried to entice me to turn back early for bun mam; Van threw in a wild hungry bear. Yeah, that bear kept me up all night, you a**hole. I’ll get to that part later.

From Enumclaw, the puny mountain doesn’t look intimidating at all. Or was it just the earth curvature playing trick on me? Anyway, my cheery eyes told my legs not to worry. We got this!

Saddle up and ready to go! I was hauling around 60 pounds I would say. The trailer itself weighs about 25 pounds, topped off with a 3 person tent, sleeping bag, mat, food, water, hiking shoes and gears (flash light, tire, tubes, repair tools, etc.).

Off I go!

Early in the season, most services are still closed.

The distance from the park entrance to the Stevens’ Pass gate is 22 miles; then from there to Paradise Visitor Center would be another 20 miles or so. The bike felt wobbly at first. Any sharp turn would easily tip the bike over. Felt a bit iffy riding on the narrow shoulder. Didn’t quite feel comfortable until a few miles in. On the flip side, the big orange bag was like a safety feature – people couldn’t NOT see me. And they seemed to give me even more space. Sweet!

Whereas there’s deer poops you know you’re in the wild. Glad I had fenders :).

Riding alone was nice! Jonathan Franzen said: “If you don’t know how to be alone, you don’t know who you are.” Some dude said: “The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude.” All’s true! It’s refreshing to be in the midst of nature, no cellphone/internet signal - just me, my bike, occasional piles of deer poop and a whole lot of thinking.

The great Yogi Berra said: “When it comes to a fork in the road, take it.”

In this case, I got to choose between Sunrise or Paradise. Paradise it is!

Turned out to be a great ride-up temperature-wise. Snow still being plowed to the side of the road. A pass was still closed.

The descent down the canyon wasn’t so fun though. The bike became very wobbly because the load was adding to the weight thus destabilizing my balance. I had to use the drop bar and applied brake the entire time travelling no more than 18 miles down the canyon. I pulled over a few times as my hands and shoulders hurt and stiffened up from applying the brake and controlling the balance. In a sense this first descent was just as hard as the ascent.

As I turned into Paradise’s park entrance, my heart sank when I see it closed.

There was about 10-15 vehicles in the parking lot right outside this gate. People was disappointed that Paradise lost. Haha get it? Well, I didn’t come this far just to come this far. I got a little resourceful :)

Let’s say just I got the whole mountain, a stretch of 20 miles, for myself. No money can buy this moment of beautiful stillness! Riding underneath the tree shades, nothing around except for the sound of bird songs and cascading waterfalls. Not long before I got hungry. Kicked up the bike stand and helped myself to bagels, turkey breast and string cheese….yummm!

The sun was up high but the air was chill. I had to wear a jacket still. Lugging the heavy trailer was a grind at times

I sweated a lot; before long, I ran out of water. Melting snow by the side of the road anyone?

I got to a big lake, Reflection Lake (?), around 4:30 or so. At this point I could go up another 3 miles or so and camp near the Visitor Center or come down the Pass and camp by a dried river I saw earlier. Selecting the second option, I hurried down. Stopped on the way for another bite.

Strangely I wasn’t worried that it was getting late. Normally on any other ride, I would have thought about getting back before dark. In this case, I thought: “Heck I could keep on riding because I could pitch a tent anywhere and spend the night.” Hey I still have two bagels and plenty of snow-melt water left. It was such a liberating feeling! At this very moment was when I realized “Hey I like bike camping!”

The camping site that I saw earlier was a great one. Level ground right by a river, fairly secluded from the road, and places to hike to.

So I went for a little hike along a creek

Looking for a place for a bio break, then I saw some dried poops.

I was thinking to myself these don’t belong to a bear, aren’t they? Hell with it, I was going to do one better right next to that. Who’s the king of the jungle now, punk?!

Then I saw foot prints and suddenly thought of what Van said earlier.

I forgot my trusted sling slot. And toilet paper. Good thing a water bottle came to the rescue. Nice!

After stopping by the creek to thoroughly wash my hand and refill the water bottle, I checked in for the night around 8. I barely slept at all thinking of that damn bear. He wouldn’t be too happy seeing that I violated the sanctity of his bathroom. In those Charming commercials, didn’t the bears always get the best TP? I guess they had the last laugh. Shoot!

Early in the morning, the woods became alive with this cacophonous symphony of birds. One “base” bird kept going “whosh whosh whosh,” the “treble” one went “beeeh beeeh beeeh,” and the “vocalist” geese sounded like a crying baby. I guess some birds are better than others at singing. These were so terrible that they drove me right up. I folded camp around 6:00.

Remember the canyon that I had such a hairy time descending earlier? Grinding out of it was another story. It was so slow and painful in the morning. Again I had to fill up water at one of the waterfalls again and powered up with bagels and string cheese. The bagels became hard over the cold night. Tossed back a couple gel shots, I slowly grinded back up. It was a cold morning. Foggy and wet at some places.