It had been a month since our last bike ride, not counting an aborted short checkout that resulted in a readjustment of our shift cables, and it’s only two weeks before we leave on our second attempt this year to go on a long bicycle tour.  On Friday, the weather report was optimistic for the weekend, after the onset of the fall drizzle and downpours, prelude to November storms common in the Pacific Northwest.  So, we decided to combine some additional bike training with our monthly outing to the Ruby Street art quilting group.

Saturday dawned cloudy as usual, but we hoped it would burn off.  We loaded the trailer with our camping equipment, adding a stove and teapot for some limited cooking ability (our tour has the cooking gear provided by the Adventure Cycling folks).  We chose to start off downhill to make sure we were mechanically sound, and to take advantage of the wide shoulders on US101 to get used to towing the trailer.

Yes, the 100-pound trailer does make a bit of difference uphill.  Think carrying a pair of large loaded suitcases up 25 flights of stairs: several times.  During the bike tuneup, I had also installed our bike computer–recalibrated for the small 20×1.5 tires–as well as map case and headlights.  The readings seemed to be fairly accurate, showing us climbing at 4.7 to 5.0 mph and zooming downhill at 25-30mph, with the rare flat or gently rolling stretches at 11-15mph, which translates into a solid 9mph average speed, about the same as our unloaded average.

As usual, we exit on the frontage roads and bypass the high-speed freeway exchanges, stopping at the Little Creek Casino for rest and water, then on to the Subway at the Steamboat Island exit, where we leave the freeway and head down the rolling Madrona Beach Road.  Climbing out of Mud Bay is a 3-stop challenge, then a fruit stop at the market before winding through West Olympia, uphill past the mall, through a neighborhood and a bike path shortcut to Cooper Point Road, across US101 and along the frontage road, working our way over the shoulder of the hill to the Tumwater Fred Meyer/Costco complex, where we fuel up and refill our water bottles before taking the pedestrian walkway across I-5 to the Tumwater High School complex, then south, winding around the west side of the Olympia Airport and into the countryside to Millersylvania State Park.

The park is in winter season, so there are only 11 tent sites open, right next to the RV sites.  We pick one with a fairly flat and rock-free tent space.  We later find that the primitive sites ($12 as opposed to the $22 car sites) were open, but very close to the group site, occupied this weekend by a troop of Boy Scouts.  The park, like many in western Washington, is dark and damp, in deep forest.

When we first outfitted for this year’s bike tour, we packed our old biking tent, a tiny 1-2 person affair.  However, on our last trip to REI to retool for self-supported touring, we got talked into a new Half-dome 2+ model, on sale.  It isn’t much bigger in the pack, but very roomy inside, extra long, and has two side-opening entrances, with a nice covered vestibule area each side.  Our old 1985 ThermaRest pads have suffered the ravages of time and no longer self-inflate well, and we didn’t use the tire pump to boost them, so the ground is a bit cold and hard.  We had resisted buying a pair of new pads, which are now much thicker but no larger in the pack.  We may rethink this decision in the next couple of weeks…

Darkness falls deep in the woods, and we didn’t bring a hatchet to make kindling, so we pass up the firewood bundles most other campers bought and turn in early, a bit sore from the effort of towing our 100 pounds of camp gear 34 miles in hilly country.  And well we do as the rumble and stink of RVs coming in at 11:00pm and 2:00am disrupt our sleep.  So much for “quiet time” in camp.

In the morning, we have a leisurely breakfast, pack up, and leave about 10:00am, as we only have about nine miles to go for our noon meeting in Tumwater.  We retrace our outbound route, except keeping to the east of I-5 for a short diversion to the quilt shop, which is conveniently located next to a Starbucks, where we refuel and catch up on email.  Part of the modern bike touring load is, of course, at least a netbook computer.

After the meeting, we head toward home, enjoying the long downhill from the Steamboat Island area that was such a long grind up the day before.  Again, we take the exit at WA 108, crossing over to the on-ramp, to avoid the 60+mph merging traffic.  Exiting at WA3, with afternoon shadows lengthening, we turn on our red blinker lights on both the bike and the trailer for the hilly, curvy last few miles home.

A hot shower and a hot meal later, we assess our situation: are we ready for a 400-mile tour?  Maybe: the hills of the Olympic Peninsula are daunting, but the flats are hard after a long day, too.  We need to ride (unloaded) a couple more times, rain or no rain.  A month ago, we were ready for 40-50 mile days, unloaded.  Now, after a month off the bike, we aren’t sure we are ready for 60-75 mile days with the trailer behind.  But, we do have a couple of short or rest days on our tour, and riding often does get one in shape, so we are still looking forward to the trip.