ngateguy

The PNW branch of the BF cycling club got together this weekend for another pedal. This time it was an organized ride called the Tulip Pedal near Mt Vernon Washington. xythen and khuon showed up first thing saturday morning we loaded my bike then headed to MV, first to the bike store where khuon needed to pick up a chain and while there I showed xythen some road bike to look at since she is thinking about buying one. Then it was off to the beginning ot the ride. khuon had to install his chain then we were ready to go but then my brakes were squeaking. Turned out my rear tire was out of true but not enough to worry about I just baked the brakes of a bit and off we went.

It was a beautiful day in the Skagit River Delta sunny and 70f. My greatest blunder of the day happened as we were riding past all the other riders getting ready to head out. We had been talking about bike racks and SUV (khuon owns a jeep) and I saw one that swung away so you could access the back without having to unload the bikes. I commented to Jake "No thats a nice rack" xythen looked at me and laughed and thats when I noticed that there were to woman standing there staring at me all the sudden realizing that what I said could possibly be interpreted another way I ducked behind xythen and hid from view (I guess you had to be there) we carried on and stop at a couple of the tulip fields to ride around and check out all the blooms and do some picture taking.

Then we headed out again. We decided to make a small detour from the route and visit a llama farm that Jake and I had been to on our last ride through the area. The first time the owners weren't in so we only could check them out from a distance. Bu this time since the Tulip festival was going one they had an open house. Well after checking out some of the smaller llamas they had out front I walked to the gate to check out the heard in the back fields. We were checking out these llamas when all the sudden one of them took a liking to me and made a b line straight toward me. It was funny he just kept starring at me. Turns out the owner thinks he was fascinated by my Orange (Santa Fe if you talk to Performance) wind breaker. So after petting a few we left. Headed into the wind.

We had a pretty decent head wind to pedal through. we stoped for a quick break at Bay View State park where I finished off a bagel (I was getting really hungry didn't want to bonk even though we were 5 miles from lunch) then off to Edison, WA for lunch. Historical footnote is that Edison's most famous son was Edward R Murrow and the writer Tom Robins hails from the area. Edison is a small hamlet just up the Samish river from the Puget Sound. It is a quirky little place with a mix of art studios and antique stores. And of course the farmers and fisherman have an influence in town. We were trying to decide where to have lunch when we smelled the place. I said we are having lunch wherever that smell came form. It was the local tavern where we wolfed down burgers and fries and xythen told us stories of her recent trip to Ecuador.

Then it was time to get serious about riding we had taken almost 4 hours to do the first 20 miles because we took our time. So we started our 20 mile trip back to the starting point. I have to say xythen has come along way in here riding skills and she was setting a nice pace back. We did hit one real big hill but at least we got out of the wind. We sped by all the cars that were lined up to tour the tulip fields. We followed the route back to the road that we started at and discovered the the ride continued farther. But because it was late and we had already done 40 miles we decided to cut the ride short and headed back to the starting point. I took the lead and was making good time I turned down the road the car was on turned back and saw xythen and thought I saw Jake. Xythen chased me down to tell me Jake wasn't behind us anymore so we turned back. Another ride told us he saw him back a bit doing something to his bike. SO we pedal back and found he had a flat tire. I of course had to make th most of this because of all the pictures of me changing flats. Jake was kind enough to give me his camera and I took several shots of him changing his tire (that and gave him a lot of ribbing). We then headed back to the car then back to my house where we had an appointment with my hot tub. Ahhh life is good! The sad thing is that I am going to be out of town the next two weekends so I am going to miss out on our rides. Jake and Marniy are two very fun people to hang out with!

OOOh I am at work I was going to post a link to the pictures of our ride but either Jake will when and if he sees this or I will when I get home.

Zin

You folks are so lucky. I keep searching for friends to ride with here to no avail. I have been thinking of joining the local bike club, but have concerns about fitting in.

Anyway, I look forward to the photos. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us!

Bob

Once again, great pics!

khuon

Actually I sorta posted a link to the pictures in another thread. Pictures can be found in my gallery webpages.

I feel this picture is appropriate given the title of the thread...



And here's one I'm sure ngateguy would love you all to see...

AdrianB

Those tulips are mighty pweety... do the llamas like eating them?

khuon

Hmmm... that's one question I didn't ask the llama handlers. OTOH, all the llama roaming areas were well segregated by fences from the tulip fields so maybe that already tells us something.

Litespeed

We have fields of flowers like that in our north county of San Diego. You use to be able to walk through them for free, but now they charge. I have lived here for over 50 years and believe it or not I have never once gone up to those flowers fields, you can see them from the freeway though.

ngateguy

I have been luck so far hooking up with Jake and Marniy they are very fun people to ride with

Zin

Why yes, yes you have.