Time to Hit the Road-Even if Only for a Week

I’ve been itching to get out for a tour. Normally, at this time of year, I’m getting close to a big trip, or even already gone. While there are some bikepacking trips in the pipeline for this summer, I have nothing of great length (well...what I’m used to anyway) happening. COVID, of course, hasn’t helped matters. But now that I’m fully vaccinated, I’m good with going out for a tour. 

Where could I go that I could leave from my house, would have some new element, and wouldn’t encounter snow? Hey, how about the Olympic Peninsula! I can leave from home, and there’s no Passes with snow. And, I can do the new part of the Olympic Discovery Trail! I’ve done the Olympic Peninsula before (with Christian and Carol) several years ago. Then, we were able to ride the ODT from before Sequim to Port Angeles, but that was it. We had to ride the treacherous (but, it wasn’t that bad) section of Hwy 101 around Crescent Lake. The new part of the ODT, from PA around Crescent Lake, will be new for me. 

Also different is that I will be riding Sly, my gravel bike. I’ve done overnight bikepacking trips with Sly, but never more than the one night. It really shouldn’t be all that different going 7 days...maybe I have an extra pair of underwear, and an extra t-shirt. I do have more food. Really, I wouldn’t need to except, for the bikepacking trip planned for the beginning of July, we have to carry 5 days of food. I’m attempting to carry most all of my food for this trip as practice. It’s fairly heavy, but just like in backpacking, it will get lighter everyday. By the end, the two bags on the front fork should be empty. 

I’m also trying out my new Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2 Bikepacking tent. That’s it on the top of the rear rack. Notice how it’s not sticking way out over the end of the rack? That’s because the pole sections are only 11” (instead of the usual 16”). It would also fit between the drops on my handlebar if I wanted to carry it there (I carry my quilt in a dry bag with the Revelate Pronghorn harness...also a new addition). I don’t have the footprint for the tent yet. It has shipped from Eugene, but unlikely it will arrive tomorrow, or maybe even Wednesday. 

The weather for tomorrow and Wednesday is looking great. Since I hate to waste two good days of weather, sitting around waiting for the footprint, I’m going to go without it. I have a good size piece of Tyvek I can take. I’ll just be extra careful where I’m setting up my tent. After all, it’s only 6 nights. So, I’m going to leave tomorrow morning!

It’s going to be a long day of 69 miles to Dosewallips SP, but I’ve done it before (with Kyle on my first multi-day tour...of 4 days). Another advantage of going tomorrow is that I am hoping to meet a friend who is walking, pushing a jogging stroller, with a blue heeler puppy, across the US. I met her in Baja, and it would be great to see her again. 

I’ll be posting blog posts when I have service (which should be pretty good until I get to the Quinault side of the Peninsula, then kind of iffy).

Let’s hope Sly is up for the challenge of being kinda heavy for the first couple days...