Rhody Tour 2008

The 16th annual Rhody Tour 2008 in Port Townsend, Washington was our first bike tour of 2008 and our first ever metric century ride. Port Townsend is one of my favorite locations in Washington state for several reasons. For one thing I consider it one of the prettiest places in the state being part of the Olympic peninsula and having a predominately Victorian theme with it's homes. It also holds a dear place in my heart for the many summers I spent as a young boy with my grandparents who lived in neighboring Chimacum. From the green farm lands of the Chimacum valley to the tree lined highways leading to Port Townsend where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets the Admiralty Inlet is truly spectacular.


The ride started with two minor climbs from the park and ride near the Safeway in Port Townsend. The climbs were not overwhelming but quickly warmed up our legs. The route wound it's way through lightly traveled residential city streets to lightly traveled county roads heading south down the Quimper peninsula which is part of the larger Olympic peninsula. The weather was perfect for cycling that day; sunny with scattered clouds, warm and virtually no wind. I overheard one of the other cyclists state the day's weather was the best of all the previous Rhody Tours.

The first break station was located in Chimacum at a park located directly behind the house where my grandparents lived. I refueled on bagels, orange slices, bananas, and water. At the park I couldn't help but reminisce about my grandparents and the times I spend in this park riding my BMX bike on the dirt trails throughout its confines. The volunteers at this break station and all the others were all very friendly.

About fifteen minutes after departing the first break station I both heard and felt a loud pop in my neck. It occurred on a steep decent down a long hill in the Chimacum valley and caused immediate pain. I was disappointed that I couldn't enjoy the quick, long decent because the pain radiated down my right shoulder all the way down my arm. To make matters worse the pain did not go away and the further I rode the more the pain built up. The pain was so intense at one point my vision was getting blurry. I knew there was a solitary gas station between the two rest stops on this stretch of the tour and decided to go all out and ride as fast as I could to buy some ibuprofen. I made it to the gas station and took four ibuprofen. My wife gave me a brief neck massage and we were on our way after a five minute pit stop.

Being about a quarter of the way into the bike tour I was hoping my metabolism was sped up enough to get the ibuprofen into my system quickly. From the gas station we cycled a gradual incline up Beaver Valley road to State Route 104 where we turned west. My hopes of a sped up metabolism came true, by the time we reached 104 my upper body pain was dulling considerably. S.R. 104 was an even longer and steeper incline that Beaver Valley road. I was annoyed with the numerous chunks of tree bark scattered throughout the shoulder of the highway. The bark had to be from all the logging trucks that travel in the area. The last thing we needed was a flat tire from a wood chip.

On SR 104 my legs felt fresh and I decided to attack the incline. I passed every rider that was ahead of me on that drawn out hill. One group of riders I passed were off the road working on flat no doubt from one of the wood chips on the shoulder. I waited for my wife to catch up at the top of the hill and she gave me the look she usually does when I sprint up an incline. We enjoyed our long decent down the hill which took us to the second rest station back on a county road just off the highway. There I took in some Gatorade, bananas, orange slices, and a few rice krispy treats. After about a fifteen minute rest we continued on to Quilicene which would be the turnaround point for the metric century riders.

The ride from the second break station to Quilicene had a bit of a surprise in store for us in the form of a significant climb. We had experienced several hills already in various lengths but this was the biggest of the tour. My wife commented that it almost reminded her of our annual Bluewood training climb that we do at least once a year that takes us from Dayton, Washington up to the Bluewood ski resort. The reason she was reminded of that was every time we came to a turn in the road we had to climb. Fortunately like the saying goes, "what goes up must come down," we reached the summit of this climb and had a steep fast descent into Quilicene. The descent was straight forward, literally and while I was trying to enjoy it I couldn't help but think that I was going to have to turn around and climb this too on our way back.

The turnaround in Quilicene was a bit of a disappointment since it was not an official break station but rather a small grocery store. Having already spent the limited cash on me for the ibuprofen earlier, the turnaround just ended up being a place to take a breather. It was about noon when we reached Quilicene and was quickly becoming the hottest time of the day. With an immediate climb looming before us to leave Quilicene we decided to continue. One nice thing about the climb out of Quilicene is that it was long and straight, so what you saw was what you got. No curves in heavily forested roads that concealed more climbing. At the beginning of the climb I could hear my wife calling my name. I looked back to see that she had stopped for a problem with her bike. The first thing I thought of was that she had a flat but was quickly relieved to find that her chain derailed. A quick fix and we were back in business.

By the time we made it to the third break station which doubled as the second we were quite tired and hungry. We took in a lot of fluids and food and enjoyed a good 15 to 20 minute rest. The sun was still shining bright and it was still very warm. We headed out to the fourth leg of tour to the next break station back in Chimacum.

About four miles from the third break station I felt a sharp and very strong pain in my left knee. The pain was so significant that I had to momentarily stop ridding. It was a unique pain not in the severity but when it would occur. If I stopped pedaling the pain went away almost immediately. But when my left knee would come to maximum flex at the top of the pedal stroke that's when it would hit me. I was hoping the pain would be temporary and popped three or four more ibuprofen in what turned out to be the most pain riddled bike tour I've experienced even to this day. The ibuprofen kicked in about twenty minutes later but it was hard to tell because unlike the neck injury the medicine only took some of the pain away.

With knee pain that did not go away, I decided to go on and not abandon the tour. I made this decision mainly out of pride, my love of the Port Townsend area, and the memory of my grandparents. I had mentally dedicated this ride to their memory. Both are buried in the Chimacum cemetery and I was not going to quit. With the decision made I had to cycle the remaining 20 miles back to Port Townsend pretty much with my right leg doing almost all of the work. This caused me to be the slow rider between my wife and I. This was a position new to me and one that I did not like.

I was now being passed by riders that we had over taken earlier in the day and my pace was about that of a turtle. It was slow going back to Chimacum and by the time we made it the fourth break station it had already packed up! I took a good ten minute break at the park in Chimacum to rest my aching left knee. During that time I also mentally prepared myself for the remaining nine to eleven miles back to Port Townsend. I could tell my wife was getting concerned about my welfare and I sternly rebuffed any suggestion to abandon the tour. I'm sure I came across as irate but it was the pain talking and not the real me. Most of the final leg back was pretty direct in the form of a good six mile stretch of state highway. I don't like riding on busy state highways but in retrospect it was a blessing in disguise. I needed to end this bike tour quickly and the shortest distance between two locations is a straight line.

After climbing a long gradual hill on S.R. 19 with one leg I was looking forward to some downhill time. We came to a point on the highway where it narrows and would be dangerous for cyclists to continue. The tour planners thought the same way and diverted the route off the highway. Descending down the county roads was fun and a relief to my knee. I almost crashed on an s-curve as my bike started to oscillate a bit. I was biking in an upright position due to knee pain and should have been crouched down using the drops of my handlebar. I touched the brakes to drop some speed and quickly regained control, but my heart was still racing down the hill.

Less than two miles to the finish line the Rhody Tour threw me another curve ball I did not expect. As we got closer to the water of Port Townsend, the route took us from highway to county road to bike path and now to a dirt path that started from the iconic paper mill on the outskirts of town! I had reservations about this to say the least with 23mm road tires I thought this was a crash waiting to happen. Fortunately the dirt path was very compact, no doubt from the annual rain fall that area gets.

The route on the dirt path was scenic to say the least. It was almost too distracting with the beautiful water of Port Townsend and Marrowstone island in the short distance it was a beautiful sight. The dirt path concluded at the dry dock shipyard area in downtown Port Townsend. The ride share/starting point for the tour was right across the street where we finished the Rhody Tour. To my surprise tour personnel were still stationed in the parking lot. My wife and I had a brief conversation with them and expressed our fondness for the event. I noticed as I was loading our bikes onto our vehicle there were some other riders who had passed us earlier doing the same. It made me feel a little better about myself. I guess even though I was riding with one leg I wasn't that slow after all.

I would grade the overall route of the tour an A for two reasons. The routes had light traffic for the most part and really highlighted the beauty of the area. I'm looking forward to this event in 2009!