Road Closed!

35

 (Road Closed! The road to the mid-way parking lot isn’t open yet)

June 15, 2013 – 450km. That was our distance today. It was supposed to be farther, but we got a late start. In the end, it was probably just as well it wasn’t farther since the seat on my new bike is far from broken in and after three or four hundred kilometres, my butt really hurts!

We rode out to Sumas via some back roads and then rode up to Mount Baker. This will be the Kawi’s first trip up there, and it’s a challenging road near the top. The new bike is a much bigger animal than my old bike, but I figured with 2500km on it now that it was time for a bigger challenge. Baker is always a good one. The ride up was good, I wasn’t sure what to expect by way of snow at the sides or sand on the road. The snow didn’t manifest until fairly high up. Not really surprising since the snowpack was less this year than last. And there was a bit of gravel in some of the tighter corners. Always adds to the excitement.

 (The Kawasaki gets its introduction to the road up Mount Baker)

There are a few places I always like to stop. It’s just nice to take a break from pushing into corners and get off and breathe the fresh mountain air. It got cooler and cooler as we got higher, but it was never uncomfortably cool. We certainly did our fair share of bug killing, and both had to do a full visor clean at the top. Too bad no one makes a bug repellant visor.

(almost at the top of Mount Baker)

I didn’t really expect to make it to the midway parking lot, and I wasn’t surprised when we reached the gate closed off. But the fact that the road is plowed beyond tells me that it will be open soon. It will probably be a couple of months yet before the road to Artist Point is open yet. Last year it was open in August for the first time in two years. I hope it will open again this year, it’s a neat ride to the top.

(best buddies)

On the way back down, at one of the worst corners and one that was littered with gravel on the inside upwards corner, we encountered three bikes and a sports car. The car was parked facing downhill. Two of the bikes were parked facing uphill. The third bike, a red sportbike, was in the ditch. All three riders and the driver were working to get the bike out of the ditch and all riders were up and apparently uninjured. My best guess, having ridden that corner a fair number of times, is that the rider overestimated his abilities and didn’t slow enough on the curve. That probably sent him over the centre line and into the path of an oncoming sports car and his only option at that point would have been to bin it. At least everyone had full gear on. Saved a whole lot more hurt I’d imagine.

(cool old items on the fence at the Blue Mountain Grill)

Back down through Glacier and then a turn South to head towards Acme and the Blue Mountain Grill for an early dinner/late lunch of one of the messiest pulled pork sandwiches ever. And darned yummy too! Once our bellies were happy again, we headed West around the bottom of Whatcom Lake and towards Chuckanut for a bit of twisty bit of fun. The blooming flowers perfumed the air and on three occasions we rapidly decreased our speed as we came around corners and encountered deer crossing the road. The best was a doe with a tiny little spotted fawn that seemed to be encountering pavement for the first time and dropped into the grass the second it was across. Absolutely adorable.

(cool old items on the fence at the Blue Mountain Grill)

At one point we passed a man walking two bull mastiffs. Kirk passed and one of the dogs turned its eyes to me and started moving on a slow intercept trajectory. Big dogs take a bit more to get up to speed and I figured I was probably OK and just moved over and readied a throttle burst. What I did wonder was what would happen to the owner if both dogs decided to go after me. Pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to hold them back. In the end it was just a solid lunge and I was by.

As we headed up towards Chuckanut I waved Kirk in front. He’d been following since we crossed the border and it’s always more fun in front on that road. Traffic was light and in an unusual twist we ended up making it all the way through to the residential area without a vehicle in front of us. That was a nice treat. Once in Bellingham Kirk asked if I wanted to lead again. I told him he could do it, he’d followed me on the route enough that he should be able to reverse it/ TUrns out I was overly optimistic 😉

After a few missed turns I got him back on track, but we still were thwarted twice on good bits of road. Once through Lummi, where the road was closed because the band had set up a fair, complete with ferris wheel and mid-way rides in the middle of the road. So that required a backtrack. Then, along Red River Road just as we were getting into the good curves, we rounded a corner and encountered more emergency vehicles than either of us could count. The officer told Kirk they should have it cleared in 15 or 20 minutes if we wanted to wait. We decided to backtrack and go around. As I pulled up to turn around the officer smiled and said “Sorry girl, hate to interrupt your ride.” Nice guy. He said it was a rollover but no one was badly injured. Glad to hear that.

(sunset over Birch Bay)

A leisurely ride through Birch Bay State Park and a rest stop in Birch Bay itself. So many people enjoying BBQs, swimming, playing on the beaches. I think this would be a great place to come for a picnic.

The rest of the ride back to the border was relatively uneventful and we got home before dark, but too late to wash the bikes down. Tomorrow morning’s task.

Shorter than I intended, but a good 450km overall. Except my butt really hurts.

Anyone know how long it takes to break in a motorcycle seat? I can’t remember when the last bike started to feel comfortable.

Here’s the track from my gps logger, viewable on Google Earth, if you are interested.

113 in 2013 – #69 – White