We were between rides. The Treasure of the Sierra Highways ride to California was over, and the forthcoming September ride to BC was too far into the future to fully occupy me. It was the middle of August, the weather was fine, and I had the weekend free. I wasn’t about to let a great opportunity to ride  evaporate. I sent a message to Marv to see if he had any plans for the weekend, and found that he was free; his wife was to be out of town. We decided to make two day-rides, and keep them local. 

Click on the map to open the Garmin Track Player page.

Marv rarely worries about where a ride goes, as long as the scenery is nice, the days aren’t uncomfortably long, and the pace is enjoyable. It’s a good match to my likes, so I planned a low-stress ride on local roads, with my house being the finish line. 

We started out from Marv’s Saturday morning on a route I had put together using the best local roads I know that would allow us to make progress toward my house. I filled the day with roads I typically only ride in the winter. Summer rides are for the far-flung roads we can’t get to in the winter; this ride was antithetical. I was pleased to be reminded how nice it is to ride some of our local roads in dry weather. It wasn’t sunny, but it was dry. 

I worked in a lot of roads, and led us through a myriad maze of Snohomish and Skagit County roads. We got to stop at a couple of local Skagit County places that Marv didn’t know, like the Pie Barn near La Conner, the Bread Farm in Edison, and my favorite gelato shop in Fairhaven.

We finished the day off at my house, properly positioned to make our assault on Mount Baker in the morning.