Today I felt like doing a 50 or so mile loop around the county. Since I hadn't been up to Birch Bay for a while I decided that would be a good direction to go. I was also craving a chocolate eclair the other night, and figured the Lynden Dutch Bakery would be a good place to stop and get one. The calories burned might even justify eating it. Temperatures in the upper 50s and a little sun (which eventually disappeared) made a very pleasant day.

I headed out of town on Marine Drive, took Kwina to the end, jogged north to North Red River Rd, west to Lake Terrell Rd, west on Mountainview to Rainbow, around a couple of corners to Kickerville, then west on Grandview to Birch Bay Drive. I followed another cyclist for a ways on Grandview, eventually catching him and passing him. There were lots of people out along the beach at Birch Bay and pedestrians to watch out for in the bike lane near the resorts. I stopped across from the waterslides for a snack and some water, having done about 25 miles at an average 18 mph. Bless the tailwind on the northbound run.

From Birch Bay east on Birch Bay-Lynden Road, again with the wind mostly at my back. It's about 14 miles to downtown Lynden, where I stopped for my eclair and a bottle of iced tea. The eclair was delicious, but much too big and I felt bloated when I finished eating it. If I'd had a pannier instead of a fanny pack I would have brought at least half of it home. But I'm frugal, so I ate the whole thing. That was a mistake.

I got back on my bike and headed south on Hannegan Road, now with a bit of a quartering headwind. My legs were getting tired and my stomach was complaining about the big load. I kept pedaling, but stopped more often for 60-sec water breaks than I had in the first 40 miles. The Twin Sisters were just visible through the haze to the east and Mt. Baker peeked out of the clouds a couple of times. Along the road the most common things in bloom were red-twig dogwood and cow parsnip, along with the weedy creeping buttercups that paint some of the fields bright yellow and mix in with the grasses.

I made it home feeling a little better in my gut, but still very full. After a shower I relaxed on the couch with a magazine and promptly fell into a nap. I don't usually nap, so I guess I got a bit of a workout. Total distance a bit over 54 miles, average speed 17.4 mph. That's pretty good for me on my fairly heavy Novara Randonee. There were a few other cyclists out, all sharing a friendly little wave as we passed.

From Birch Bay east on Birch Bay-Lynden Road, ...
I got back on my bike and headed south on Hannegan Road, ...

Short of going on Meridian or I-5, you chose two of the most accident-prone roads in the entire county.

Where did you get your accident statistics for Whatcom County roads? I spent some time this evening in a web search and didn't turn up anything. Neither road shows up on the sheriff's department list of fatal/critical accidents in 2007 more than any other road. Even though there's a fair amount of traffic, both roads have good wide shoulders, certainly better than Chuckanut which is also a popular place to ride.

Where did you get your accident statistics for Whatcom County roads? I spent some time this evening in a web search and didn't turn up anything. Neither road shows up on the sheriff's department list of fatal/critical accidents in 2007 more than any other road. Even though there's a fair amount of traffic, both roads have good wide shoulders, certainly better than Chuckanut which is also a popular place to ride.

You are likely correct in that the volume-to-accident ratio on BBL or Hannegan is probably lower than other roads. They are 50MPH roads in several areas, not what I would consider suitable for riding my bike along. The shoulders on BBL are great excepting the bridge (I hate driving over that bridge - there's frequently a semi going the opposite direction mere inches away at 50mph...but, I digress). Hannegan's shoulders south of Smith Rd were non-existent, if my memory serves me; I didn't drive on it north of Smith.

Chuckanut has shoulder in some of the more wooded, staighter areas where speeds pick up, which is nice. Once it hits the curvier bits, flow slows down and it's less dangerous to go without shoulders.

They are 50MPH roads in several areas, not what I would consider suitable for riding my bike along.

If you use that criteria for choosing roads you eliminate a lot of places to ride. I've never worried much about riding on 55mph highways, with or without shoulders. I grew up riding crooked narrow WVa roads with coal and well service trucks and no shoulders so I guess I got comfortable with sharing the road with big trucks before I was old enough to drive. My only car-bike accidents have been on city streets, where I've had cars turn across my path or back out of a parking space into me. That just doesn't happen when riding with traffic on rural roads.