Wow. It’s our final day of the 2024 Bike the US for MS Olympic Peninsula ride already. Meeting everyone a week ago and building my bike seems more like a month ago, yet, also only a couple of days. Time is very strange on these trips.
I’m writing this as I sit in the airport at Dulles waiting for my sister to very kindly pick me up on Sunday morning (June 30). I’m groggy and my brain is foggy from the hour I slept on the plane. Leaving Seattle feels like a week ago already.
Let’s go back to the last day of the ride, yesterday. It’s Saturday morning, so everything about the day and ride would involve more people on the roads and sidewalks. Unlike how I usually ride on these trips (which is solo), for the most part, I rode with other people all week. This day was no exception. Part of the reason is that I still use the paper maps, while everyone else uses the GPX files on a bike computer. I haven’t been ready to spend the money on a bike computer, but it does change/hamper things for me if I need to stop and look at the map. I’m a little old school in that way and enjoy reading the map, though.
I stayed in the gym with the oldest cyclists in the group who didn’t want to bother setting up our tents. The lights only came on a few times, so I slept some, but not as well as the day I had taken off from riding, hmm.
We enjoyed our last camp breakfast together before everyone headed out on the clear, sunny day that would surely get warm. On this trip, warm means anything above 70°F, since it’s typically been in the 50s/60s and rainy. I’ve discovered that partly sunny temps in the 60s is my preferred Goldie Locks weather for riding – not too hot, not too cold.
Leaving Olympic Middle School around 8:30am, Route Leader Cove led the way. We had a big group and we had nearly everyone in our group, except for the Davies family and Todd B., who had left a bit earlier. We worked our way out of Shelton, and, thankfully, not down the curvy road with the angry motorists. We eventually got back out onto rural roads and stopped right away at a road side coffee shack (we need more of these on the East Coast!!) and for scenic photos whenever I shouted that I wanted a photo – by Mason Lake, Oakland Bay, or with views of what seemed to logically be Mount Baker, across Puget Sound. We bombed down an incredibly steep road that almost scared me enough to use my brakes, which I did need at the bottom, thanks to an abrupt Stop sign to turn onto busy State Route 106. A number of trucks passed and one even “coal rolled” one of our cyclists for no reason other than to be mean. It's amazing how mean people can be to cyclists, but we make sure to never retaliate in order to protect the organization and avoid any sort of escalation. We ride defensively and obey the signs, but I know there are cyclists out there that don’t ride that way and make the cycling community look bad.
At the first and only rest stop for the day, we were 25 miles in, but it was only 10am and I was hankering for a burger already. I was the first customer in the Dairy Queen in the bustling town of Belfair to get cheeseburgers, fried cheese curds, and an Oreo Blizzard for Cove and I to split. We were all young once, so it makes me happy to be able to treat the young route leaders now and then. They are so incredibly grateful, too. I also got to meet the DQ owner, who was an old man that gave me a hug, not for any real reason, it seemed, though. He was just very nice and glad to have me as a customer.
With only 40 miles to ride for the day before the 1:30pm ferry back to Seattle, we took plenty of time to hang out together at the Rest Stop. Once back on the bikes, we only had 15 miles to Bremerton where we’d catch the ferry. This part of the ride wasn’t very memorable for me, other than the very busy highway we had to ride on (thank goodness for a WIDE shoulder, despite plenty of debris to avoid a flat tire) to get to Bremerton. Route Leader Drew found a coffee shop and noticed the Admiral Theater was showcasing two of my favorite bands that night – The Ataris and MXPX!! I had been talking about MXPX’s song, “Move to Bremerton” all week, so it was super fun to see that they were playing! It was sold out and I’d be back in Seattle that evening anyway, but I would have loved to have seen MXPX play in their hometown. Before heading to the ferry, I spent $7.50 on a bubble tea that I promptly spilled, so my bike and my gloves were thoroughly sticky for the rest of the day. Ugh.
The ferry ride made me sleepy, but it seemed like a faster hour than the original ride across when we didn’t yet know much about each other. Instead, we enjoyed the views of Mt Rainier and savored each other’s company while we were all still together. Arriving in Seattle, we had to go through the extremely high traffic waterfront downtown pedestrian area and mostly had to walk our bikes. Eventually, it opened up to the Elliott Bay Trail before our very, very long and steep climb back to the church in Magnolia where we had started from a week ago. This was the climb I most dreaded all week, recalling how steep it was. My breathing was labored, but I didn’t have to stop at all, thankfully.
At the top of the climb, about two blocks from the Magnolia United Methodist Church, we regrouped to ride in together. A few church members were there, as well as a couple of Bike the US for MS alumni, a few family members, and representatives from the Swedish MS Center in Seattle. We were welcomed with cheers and cowbells and hugs. After a few minutes of hooraying ourselves, we headed into the church for the nice post-ride celebration that the Swedish MS Center and the church provided for us. We enjoyed sandwiches, chips, salad, cookies, and beer. A few of us got choked up and tried to hold back our welling tears. I felt so happy and proud for 18-year-old Jordyn to have ridden so strongly all week with her dad and also her 78-year-old grandfather. Time is precious and I’m so glad for their experience together.
At 4pm, Alumni Lina kicked off the speeches with some history of Bike the US for MS, as well as her own journey of being diagnosed with MS in her 20s when she was competing in triathlons at Virginia Tech. She introduced the doctor at the Swedish MS Center, who explained what the Center does and where all of your donations go. In addition to research, the $20,000 we donated yesterday to the Swedish MS Center will primarily go to rehabilitation programs – both social and occupational – that will help local MS patients regain some normalcy in their lives. It was really nice to hear the impact that the funds make, everything from basic living skills and reintegrating into society by gaining confidence to go outside again, to improving relationships with family and friends that get severely disrupted by the disease, to music, yoga, or other kinds of classes, and even the chance for a quadriplegic to skydive – a life-changing experience for the man who got to do it. Your donations truly change lives. The donation to the Swedish MS Center is just one of the many places your donations go, but we have donated modified vans to families before, do multiple home projects on the longer trips, and donate to other MS centers around the country. I cannot express the gratitude I have experienced from the recipients of the funds and for simply raising awareness about MS, as well.
After the check donation ceremony, we made moves to start cleaning out the vans and trailer and to get packed for our journeys home. Ted and Todd W. were the first goodbyes. While we sorted our messes, the Route Leaders got to work cleaning up the trailer for the next group that arrived tomorrow (Sunday) for the Pacific Coast tour from Seattle to San Diego over the next 6 weeks. Packing seemed impossible, as if my belongings hd multiplied, even though I had consumed nearly all of my food. I broke down my filthy bike and had a much better time packing it than the panicked pre-trip pack. It was fairly easy this time, to be honest, thanks to my friend Pete helping me figure it out before the trip. As with all things in life, practice makes perfect.
The church didn’t have an indoor shower and our outdoor tent shower’s propane set-up wasn’t working properly, so I opted for an indoor sink washing. I managed to wash my hair and destroyed my washcloth with bike grease on my hands and legs, oops.
By 7pm, I was all packed and clean. The remaining cyclists headed to a brewery with some of the local alumni, so I sat in the church quietly to reflect for a few minutes before asking my friend Rob for a ride to the airport. I am so thankful for all my friends and family that have helped me out on this trip. Schlepping my bike and camping gear is no easy feat, and I felt so exhausted by the end of the trip. The airport experience was quite easy, thankfully, and I used one of my United Club passes to access the United Club Lounge to have dinner before my 11:30pm flight. I also got bumped up to First Class, which meant a second full meal on the flight! I didn’t sleep as much as I had hoped, but I was thankful for the slightly roomier seat.
Arriving at Dulles Airport at 7:30am on Sunday, I was so tired and so thankful that my sister picked me up. Getting my luggage and getting back to her house was easy, and my animals (well, at least my dog Mya, since Willow the cat was fairly indifferent) were happy to see me. Mya could hardly contain her excitement! I loaded them up and was home, unloaded, and into my bed for a 5-hour nap by 10:30am. I managed to shower, get coffee creamer, and pick-up a pizza before I went back to bed, but I’ve slept for 17 hours of the last 24 hours! I was so tired today (Monday, now, as I finished writing this) that I opted for instant camp coffee over real, brewed coffee. Now that’s desperation and fatigue! I’ve also made an appointment with a cardiologist for next week to discuss the weird issues I’ve been experiencing. Even if it turns out to be nothing serious, I know I need to be proactive and get checked out.
I think I’ll write just one more wrap-up post after this with some fun trip stats – stay tuned. Thanks for your support and if you’d like to donate to help people that will directly benefit from Bike the US for MS’s cause, please use this link:
