Now I Remember

By the middle of winter every year I often wonder why in the heck we live in the Pacific Northwest. Today I remembered one of the reasons I like it so much here. Cycling on back roads in the middle of the forest.

Today we rode from Machias over to Granite Falls and back again. The roads on this route are some of the greatest cycling roads I’ve ever ridden on. The ride actually seems to fly by because I spend most of my time looking around at all of the sights.

This ride is filled with small to medium hills but they aren’t too bad to ride because they seem like a series of small battles that are rewarded by a series of downhill sections where you can recover. It’s actually quite the fun challenge.

The midway point of the route is Granite Falls. If you remember the TV show Northern Exposure from the early 90s, Granite Falls looks a lot like the fictitious town of Cecily Alaska. Check out this picture. Doesn’t it look like the Brick?

Once we arrived in Granite Falls we stopped at a diner named Ike’s. They serve great breakfasts. I had two eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage links, and toast. So much for cycling to lose weight. It was really good though. Here’s a shot of our meals.

The rest of the route heads up some more hills then all of the sudden you get to reap the rewards of all of your climbing by coasting down some long down hill sections.

The ride today was one of my all time favorites because of the scenery, the challenge, and no dogs chased after us. Good times.

Jenny pulling out the pepper spray just in case

Stats
Distance: 29.5 Miles
Ascent: 1428 feet
Avg MPH: 13.1
Dogs chased by: 0