Day 21: Bike & Boat

To Langley

8/26/22

Distance: 30.32mi

Elevation: 1,842ft

This was a pretty chill day!

We woke up at a dark 5:30am to the peppy tunes of a young Taylor Swift resounding through the cathedral ceilings, packed our bags into the van, packed the coolers into the truck (bulkier today with the addition of leftover host dinners and a yummy alumni-made orzo salad), ate a delicious host breakfast of muesli with peaches, and a small group of us ran down the road before route meeting to grab some famous Seattle coffee (spoiler alert–Starbs tastes the same everywhere).

It was overcast and lightly drizzling the way the PNW is famously known for, but spirits were high and legs refreshed after yesterday's build day, and today we would only be riding 30ish miles (basically half of a typical ride day!) Plus today we would take a ferry!

We assembled our riding groups (I rode with Bria, Em, and Andre!) and took off up the peninsula headed for Langley, a coastal town on an island called Whidbey located in the middle of the Puget Sound.

Our group only got sorta lost once on the cue sheet, but we made it smoothly to the ferry terminal with only minor googly assistance. The red truck was parked outside (with the smiley faces of Maddy and Skyfire!) ready to hand off ferry tickets to each rider. Since it was a short day lunch was unofficial, pb&js were still packed away in coolers in the bed of the truck, but technically available if needed. (In retrospect I would have benefited from a snack right then but I didn’t know what terrain awaited ahead on the island...)

We rode behind a long line of cars onto a massive 4-storey ferry, the M/V Suquamish, and affixed our bikes to the railing. We took selfies and did a bit of dancing.

Among others, I was under the (mis)impression this ferry ride would be about an hour long. We leaped up the stairs, joined our other teammates, ordered food, ran around the decks, or enjoyed the amenities of flushing toilets and soap all in the first 15 minutes– which turned out to be the entire length of the ferry ride!

In a mild panic we chugged soup and scrambled downstairs back to the bikes. Somehow during that disembarkment of the ferry, I managed to decapitate the valve from my water bladder as it got caught in my wheel and Josh broke his chain?? Luckily for Josh, Danny D and his skillz were there to fix the chain, and my riding crew helped me untangle my bladder tube by removing my wheel (I’ll just have to buy a new valve eventually).

Then we were on the island of Whidbey. We had less than three? miles to go before the host, and we were all eager to get there. But first, the hills (of which there were many, very suddenly). This is where I realized that between traveling and being sick for a month, I was not conditioned for these circumstances. But my ridemates were pretty awesome about it, we regrouped quickly and sang songs until we arrived in Langley and arrived at the host, the Island Church of Whidbey,.

The church had a pretty sick setup that included a basketball court that many folks did not hesitate to enjoy!

After putting our beds out, the next order of business is always booty hygiene, and by that I mean showering as soon as possible. Today that involved hiking a few blocks away to a seemingly empty fairground, where we were quickly greeted by the local feral residents: adorable rabbits who have overtaken the island. Many folks quickly became friends!

Then it was a free for all as folks moseyed in and out of the host and about the town. Apparently there was a whale museum among the boutiques in downtown Langley, but they closed before Casey and I got there, but it sounded like cool facts and keepsake t shirts were involved.

Realizing we were ravenous since we hadn’t eaten since 6am breakfast, we managed to acquire chicken nuggets (Casey’s sustaining life source) and I got some fishy chips (someone tell the British that they’re called fries). In a moment of blatant agism, they did not let us order off the kids menu (but we did get to color!)

Then when we got home we all did a debrief of yesterday’s build day, were given details about the LOVE NOTES we were to write to each other, and instructed to pack the van THAT NIGHT with the most minimal of all our belongings we would need for the next 2 rides AND a build day because up next is CAMPING on San Juan Island and we would only have the truck! It’s a good thing we are experienced minimalists by now!

To be continued…

-Cee Gould, DW ‘22