Colony Road

August 17, 2025

So finally we're getting back to that out and back to Colony Road that was aborted when I got a flat tire. All systems are go today though - excellent weather, Rachael's over the food poisoning that prevented our second attempt, and we have no time commitments at the end of the day other than to get home before sundown.

Since we have the time and the weather is best in the afternoon, we stay around the house all morning and leave as soon after lunch that sufficient digestive actions have occurred.

This is Rachael's first bike ride since our ride east from Lynden last week, and there's much more climbing on this one - in particular, the climb over the 300' divide between Happy Valley and Lake Whatcom that we'll cross in both directions. On the return it's shorter and steeper, but southbound it felt much harder, preceded by a half mile of what feels like a series of four rollers but that are actually steadily up.hill. I was really surprised when we came back to realize that we coasted through this entire stretch.

Other than the climb and a short busy stretch between a pair of freeway accesses, this is a fine ride, one we'll try to fit in again before we go. It was really nice to have a ride we can just take starting from our front door.

And it was great having Rachael along, and she did great. After 30 miles and nearly 2,000' of climbing she has her aches and pains from the activity, but it's excellent news that she has no real complaints about her ankles and wrists.