I started my day with breakfast at Denny's beginning at 5:15AM then proceeded to Tacoma Community College and the start of RAPSody. I was on the bike and on my way by 6:30AM. The route this year had been modified since last year in several locations, including the beginning to run us over the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge as opposed to taking a ferry like we did last year. I saw the new bridge to my left....
...continued to follow the "Dan Henry" pavement markers as they zigged and zagged their way from TCC. I noted that they turned generally away from the bridge but was only mildly concerned as I knew we were to cross on a dedicated bike lane as opposed to regular traffic lanes. I reasoned that our approach ramp must be in a different alignment. I was in a group of several riders and we just kept pedaling along following the Dan Henry's. As we got farther away from the bridge it was reasoned that we must be taking a little loop around to come in from the north, or perhaps gaining some elevation for a view. We couldn't be off course, we were following Dan Henry's!
All those reasons evaporated when we arrived at the Point Defiance ferry terminal.
We came to the conclusion that we had been following LAST YEAR'S Dan Henry's!
Our little band of lost souls scattered with most backtracking to TCC to start over, I opted to see if I could route find my way to the bridge, after all, it "had to be just over there". ;-)
I did manage to find the bridge and, after a construction crew sent me in error to a park at the foot of the bridge, I made my way back UP to the on ramps rejoining the stream of bikes now in progress on the Scott Pierson Trail.
I stopped to take in the view about midspan.
A very scenic ride, there were beautiful vistas at almost every turn. Picture postcard worthy little fishing villages made it worthwhile to make a photo stop from time to time. Here I stopped to take a photo as I rode through Gig Harbor:
In Oregon listening to an MP3 player via earphones while riding is frowned on by most ride organizers, in Washington wearing earphones while riding is illegal. It is presumed that you can't hear approaching traffic. No argument that wearing earphones impairs you hearing approaching traffic, but so does sound of wind rushing past ears and helmets when traveling at 18-20+ mph! The helmet cam does not discriminate, it picks up wind noise too!
RAPSody is sponsored by 5 Puget Sound area bicycle clubs with each manning a different rest stop. Before long I arrived at the West Sound Bicycle Club sponsored Manchester Rest Stop.
The weather was nice. The temperature was comfortable and winds were light. There was a bit of light fog or haze in the air making the longer views a bit obscured. Here's the view of downtown Seattle across the water from the Manchester rest stop.
The route continued along the edges of Puget Sound. Last year the route brought us on two passages on ferries, this year we rode over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, leaving us to experience ferries only in the distance.
I arrived at the Allyn rest stop and had a Calzone, a trademark of the stop! The weather was sunny and warm, in stark contrast to last year where beginning at this stop it was raining HARD!
Here's one of the colorful characters found at the Allyn rest stop.
Beware of lycra clad folks with pterodactyls attached to their helmets!
(as opposed to the benign folks who have pink haired trolls attached to their helmets!) ;-)
And a look at some of the good food that this ride is famous for!
I arrived at Shelton High School, our overnight location at 2PM. I set up my tent and proceeded to the showers (ah...nice warm water and all cleaned up!) I took this photo of the growing encampment after showering. There were probably double the tents by evening!
With my early day riding off course to Pt Defiance I had a day total of 98 miles. I decided that was too close to a full century to not finish it out, so I made a few laps around the parking lot to bring me to 100 miles. I then milled around and visited with my fellow bike adventurers until dinner was served beginning shortly before 5PM.
A couple of pieces of chocolate cake joined the setting before it was all over with!
The ride was a benefit for the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, similar to the Bicycle Transportation Alliance here in Oregon. Here the BAW is thanking us for our support.
The weather forecast for tomorrow predicted rain by noon so we planned an early start in hopes of beating it, or at least minimizing the amount of time having to ride in it. It was early though, and a group of us thought a tour of Shelton sounded good.
A few of us decided to take advantage of the opportunity to take a free shuttle bus into thriving downtown Shelton in search of a dark beer. Our jovial bus driver dropped us off near Ernies, where we were assured of an interesting time.
Though we all had showered and changed into our "civies" as opposed to our lycra of earlier in the day..... we still stood out in this blue collar watering hole frequented by locals. Some of us distinctly heard a banjo in the distance playing the theme from Deliverance as we walked up to the bar!
As we were asking the barmaid about the dark beer choices I heard the folks at the table behind me saying, "are they marathoners or triathlon people or something?". I didn't know we looked that much out of place! ;-)
The beers on tap were Pabst, Coors Light, Budweiser, and Blonde Top Amber. When asked about darker beers the girl behind the counter said "Blonde Top Amber is a dark beer". We scoffed a bit at that description so she poured a sample in a small glass and held it to the light saying "oh it's dark, see?". :-)
We admired her chutzpah, and ordered a pint of "dark beer" for each of us. We moved a few chairs around and retired to a corner table with about 10 of us.
We planned on a short evening since we'd be riding early in the morning. Most of us had preplanned a one beer maximum.
We sat around, sipped our beer slowly and discussed the day. About an hour into our stay we noted a change in the crowd. The after work blue collar crowd had sifted out and the hard core local drinkers filtered in.........followed rather quickly by paramedics and police who whisked one particular troubling looking guy right back out! We decided that was too much excitement for us and we headed out the door to where the shuttle bus would pick us up and return us to Shelton High School.
Maxi, our waitress, thanked us for coming in and asked us to come back next year! I guess they don't get many "outsiders" there. ;-)
I was in my tent tucked tightly in my sleeping bag by 9PM.
My Edge 305 said I had 4912 ft of climbing today.
It didn't tell me how much of that was on the infamous chip seal of the area!
I'll just have to take my bottom's word for it that it was "substantial"!
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...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today...........100...............0................100
Jan total.......98.....+........402....=..........500
Feb total.....385.....+.......220....=...........605
Mar total.....659.....+........41.....=...........700
April total...629.....+........57.....=...........676
May total.....642.....+........23.....=...........665
June total....804.....+.........0.....=...........804
July total....933.....+.........0.....=...........933
YTD...........4527....+.......766....=.........5297
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