Cassandra: (Thurs July 5) Mom and I did our last long training ride today. Kelsey was at dad’s house but headed to Bellingham, so we knew our window to bike would be in the morning. Last night we got to bed late because of the 4th of July fireworks, so we slept in a touch before hitting the road around 8:45 am. We didn’t have to follow a cue sheet, since mom knew the roads well enough to direct us from memory. After jumping on Lakeway Drive and taking Yew Street, we wound through Bellingham the back way, trying to avoid traffic. It seemed like it took us forever to get out of town and towards Ferndale, which is where we wanted to ride. We hit light after light after light. And road construction, which was a first for me. We had to wait while a girl in an orange vest flashed us the ‘stop’ sign and finally, when we were allowed to go, we led a single-file line of cars through the construction area.

Finally we broke free of the city streets and settled into a better pace on roads that didn’t have lights every 100 feet. We biked north, past a berry farm, into fields that were full of raspberries and horses. Mom wanted to stop and pick berries, but it seemed like field workers appeared every time we wanted to slow down and eat, so we continued on to Wiser Lake.

Although we were riding on nice country roads, we almost didn’t make good time because I had to pee so darn much. I don’t know what my body had going on, but I had to pee every 15 minutes or so. We counted that I peed 5 times in the first 2 hours of riding: twice at gas stations/stores and three times in various fields. Honestly, at this point I prefer peeing in fields because it is so much faster. You don’t have to wait in line or waste time flushing. You just drop your pants, pee, and then pull your pants back up. And then you get back on the road.

We turned back at Wiser Lake, on the fringe of Lynden, to head back to Bellingham. But a couple of stops were in order, first to eat a Lara bar on the side of the road and then to eat berries and our sandwiches at the berry farm. The fresh strawberries we picked out tasted so good! It was warm out and the sun was shining so brightly on us ... all we both wanted to do was stretch out on the grass and take a nap!

The way back to Bellingham was pretty uneventful, except for the hills we hit on the way home. Yew Street and Lakeway don’t look terrible from a car, but on a bike they can be painful. I remember when I was living in Bellingham after coming home from Guatemala. I decided I wanted to bike commute to the gym, in downtown, but gave that idea up after my first bike ride back up the hill to go home. Although I am in better bike shape now, the hills still hurt.

We might do another ride this weekend ...

Our ride in numbers:

Total miles: 45.97 miles
Average speed: 13.6 mph
Max speed: 25.6 mph
Total time: 3:21:52