Fort 2 Fort in Port Townsend was our third bike tour of 2008; our second metric century, and an opportunity to redeem myself. After a trip to the doctor and a MRI scan to check my knee, I was diagnosed with Illio Tibial Band Syndrome or ITBS as it is referred to in a shorter more pronounceable name. Just to clarify to some of my friends out there reading this I do NOT have IBS. (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) Not that there is anything wrong with people who suffer from that ailment. Moving on... the IT band is a band of connective tissue that runs down the side of your leg that spans from your hip to the bottom of the knee. Of all the problems you can have with your knee this is probably the one you would want to have because all you need to recover from it is to perform specific stretches to the IT band itself.
Ironically, Port Townsend is where this problem started for me and it would become the testing grounds for my freshly stretched IT bands. The weather wasn't as pleasant as our last visit to Port Townsend about a month prior. The morning saw grey clouds with sporadic showers which would eventually improve to clear skies and sunshine as the day rolled on. As the name of the tour states we started from Fort Worden state park, ride to Fort Flagler state park, then to Old Fort Townsend state park and back to Fort Worden. So actually the name of the tour should be Fort 2 Fort 2 Fort, or maybe Fort³. Anyway, it was a lot forts to ride to. The majority of Port Townsend for those who have never been, sits on a high bluff that slopes downward toward the Straight of Juan De Fuca. Fort Worden is situated at one point of the Olympic peninsula and Port Townsend is like on top of a tall box directly behind it. Fort - uneately (he he) the route out of Fort Worden took us out along the Straight and we were able to ease our way into Port Townsend. There are two other ways into town but both are very long steep climbs.
We wound our way through the residential district of Port Townsend to some county roads out of town. This is where the tour basically mimics the same route of the Rhody Tour directing us on to Highway 20 and 19 towards Chimacum. Chimacum would be the first break station point and like the Rhody Tour located at the same park right behind my grandparents old house. From there we would take West Valley road towards State Route 104 except that's where this tour changes. The route takes you about two thirds of the way to 104 and then loops you back towards Port Hadlock via various county roads. This was nice because a replay of the Rhody Tour was going through my brain as I was riding it. Also on my mind was my knee as this was the first tour back from abandoning the Inland Empire Century about two weeks prior. As with any medical condition, once you know you have something you become acutely aware of it mentally. Almost to the point of having phantom pains. But as far as my knee was concerned all systems were go at this point.
One of the odd things that stuck out in my mind about Fort 2 Fort was the distance between break station one and two. For the metric century riders it was close to thirty miles between break stations. Break station one was about fourteen miles from the start so the second break station seemed like forever to get to. During this time we came across the worst weather conditions of the tour in the form of two small rain showers that we were able to ride out of.
Riding through Port Hadlock we descended towards Marrowstone Island which is shaped like a "V". The entire first side of the island is a U.S. naval base which you promptly get directed towards the bottom of the "V" shape and to the residential side where Fort Flagler is located. On the residential side, the island makes a circuit and the first half towards Fort Flagger is riddled with minor climbs and false flats. About five miles from the second break station which was Fort Flagler my left knee was starting to feel a little tight so I stopped at a wide spot off the road and stretched for a few minutes and continued on. At Fort Flagler I took in fruit, bagels, and cookies donated from the local Food Co-OP in Port Townsend. My wife and I wandered around some of the old gun emplacements and did more stretching.
Leaving Fort Flagler the second half of the circuit around Marrowstone Island was more downhill and enjoyable. Back on the peninsula we had two nice climbs getting back to Port Hadlock where we then rode into and out of Irondale and back onto Highway 19. From Highway 19 onto 20 briefly where we turned off to go to Old Fort Townsend which involved another minor climb.
Old Fort Townsend was break station three where we did more stretching and refueled on fruit and granola bars. We didn't spend a lot of time here as it wasn't that far from Fort Flagler and we were less than 15 miles from the finish at Fort Worden. The route back to Fort Worden took us to the iconic Port Townsend paper mill like on the Rhody Tour and onto the same dirt road along the water. I wasn't quite as freaked out this time having gone this way before. In fact I rode it quite a bit faster. Having two fully functioning knees this time helped I think.
Back at Fort Worden, the route stated to go all the way to the Point Wilson lighthouse which is located at the far end of the park and return to the blimp hanger, the finish point. My wife and I are lighthouse enthusiasts and Point Wilson in particular is my personal favorite. So when she saw most of the riders blowing off the final leg of the route, concluding their respective rides at the parking lot next to the blimp hanger she was disgusted.
One of the unique perks the Fort 2 Fort tour has to offer is live music with beer and hot dogs for a small donation at the end of the ride. By the time we finished the weather was perfect the music sounded good, the Port Townsend micro brew tasted awesome and the hot dogs were good too! I think Fort 2 Fort is easier than the Rhody Tour and one of my favorite bike tours of all time.
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