Fort 2 Fort 2008

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.

Inland Empire Century 2008

The Inland Empire Century 2008 in Tri-Cities, Washington was our second bike tour of the year and our first century ride. The weather for the tour that day was unseasonably overcast and cool. Living in the Tri-Cities area most of my life and accustomed to the 200 plus days of sunshine a year I was disappointed to say the least.

The tour started at Howard Amon park in Richland and takes you immediately across the Columbia river into Pasco where you ride on the Sacajawea bike path which also parallels the river. The route took us back over the Columbia into Kennewick where we finished the bike path loop and headed towards West Richland. From West Richland we left the bike path and were on regular surface streets.

The first small climb came between West Richland and Benton City. Nothing major but a climb that I would describe as getting you into the mood for something steeper. It was at this point in the tour I started to feel some soreness in my left knee again. I say again because it was the same knee that gave me absolute pain during the final third stage of the Rhody Tour just a few weeks before. I was starting to worry about it a bit since I never saw a doctor to check it out for me. The reason I didn't go to the doctor is that in the weeks between the tours I had done several training rides in between and my knee felt fine. The problem with that I would later find out was that the training rides were only 10 to 15 miles a ride. More about this later.

Descending into Benton City was fun and fast. Even though the weather wasn't the greatest my spirits were high riding with so many other cyclists. The Benton City break station was busy with volunteers and cyclists refueling for the next stage. From the break station we continued on towards the small town of Prosser. This route took us from neighboring Kiona Benton with gentle rolling hills through apple orchards to the major climb of the tour called Weber Canyon. For local bike club members and cyclists who have ridden the Inland Empire Century before know Weber Canyon well for its steep and long grade. It is the type of climb that tests your fitness level and Weber Canyon's name is often spoken with in dread from cyclists who have climbed it. I however, am not one of them because this day would be the first time ever I would have to abandon a bike tour.

While cycling through the rolling hills of the Kiona Benton area my left knee started to ache much more severely. Four miles from the Benton City break station my left knee felt like it was stabbed with an ice pick. It was the same feeling as before in the Rhody Tour and like then it occurred around the 40 mile mark. The pain went away almost immediately after dismounting my Orbea. Mentally though I was devastated, unlike the Rhody Tour this time I knew I wouldn't be able to finish. As fate would have it a SAG vehicle rolled up behind me just a minute or two after I dismounted. I waved the SAG vehicle over and told him about the pain. He suggested that I call it a day since the Weber Canyon climb started about a half mile from our location. He seriously doubted I would be able to make the climb with an as yet undiagnosed knee problem. I agreed that it wouldn't be the most prudent thing to do so we loaded up my bike into the vehicle and headed back to the Benton City break station. My wife on the other hand was concerned about my knee but wanted to continue the bike tour. I told her I was fine with her wanting to finish and was impressed by her courage to continue on another 60 some odd miles alone.

I had to go back to the Benton City break station because this SAG driver's responsibility was patrolling the Prosser area of the route so I had to wait for another SAG vehicle to take me back to Richland. I had to wait for the second SAG vehicle for about 15 minutes but it seemed like an hour as I was pretty depressed at this point. The drive back to Richland also seemed to take a long time as my concern for my knee started grow more so than the fact that I had to abandon the tour. The SAG driver made some occasional small talk but finding out what was wrong with my knee was ever present on my mind. I kept thinking to myself why did this have to happen now when I just got a new bike and my love for cycling was at its peak. I was determined to get a medical diagnosis and even have surgery if need be as soon as possible so I could get back on the saddle. That's when I knew cycling was like a drug for me as I was willing to go through a hypothetical surgery at this point to keep it in my life.

About five hours later my wife finished the Inalnd Empire Century. I was so proud of her accomplishment and at the same time worried about the unknown condition with my knee.