Hillacious

Joel and I biked up Cadillac Mountain last year in Acadia National Park-and I'd have to say that was easier than the ride I did yesterday around Bainbridge Island. The hills were really steep and very long and it was like 3 hours of torture. My bike was not happy and neither were my legs but we made it! I will never do the ride again on a mountain bike but I may be tempted on a road bike.

My day started with a ferry ride-which was really cool. The ferry was huge and holds cars and people-the views of Seattle and the Cascade Mountains were amazing. I met a guy on the boat who has biked on Bainbridge Island for ten years and he offered to ride with me for the first part-he gave me some history of the Island. He actually turned out to be a social worker who runs a local non-profit that fosters international learning-basically he works with Seattle schools and schools all over the world. He said he just finished a project with South African schools. Really interesting guy. Anyway, he took me as far as Fay Bainbridge State Park where I stopped and tooks some pictures. They had a pretty nice beach. (see right) After that the ride got really hilly but it was also really quiet. There really weren't many cars or bikers on the roads. Lots of really big houses and rich people but not so bad! I biked until I got to another State Park-Battle Point where I stopped-it was basically just a big open space with lots of playground equipment. From there-the ride got even hillier-at no point was there any flat stretches. I was either busting my @#$ trying to get up a hill or pedaling furiously trying to get enough speed going downhill that I didn't have to pedal so much to get up the next one. It was really painful-but I managed only to have to stop and walk up a hill one time-which I HATE doing.

After that the ride goes right down to the shore on a small bay on the Southwest side of the island called the Port Orchard Narrows. There was a pebble beach and more really nice houses...That was a nice ride around there. Then came the climb back up and over the hills to get back to Eagle Harbor to catch my ferry. They were brutal-I don't want to think about it anymore. I spent a bit of time in Bainbridge Island "town" or whatever it is, and i was disappointed. There were a few stores-but no sandwich shops, I had to eat at Subway. I caught the 5:30 ferry back to Seattle and on the way back there was an amazing view of Mt. Ranier in the distance-I hope you can see it in this picture. I think I could live here 20 years and still that mountain would be breathtaking. It looks like it's floating. Click on the picture to make it bigger. The mountain is on the left side of the picture and if you don't look closely it blends into the clouds.