Sunshine on Mt. Baker

The low winter light on Mt. Baker this afternoon was as nice as I’ve ever seen it as I bicycled east on Slater Road.  There’s lots of fresh snow on the mountain, and the Black Buttes cast long shadows on the side of the peak, accentuating the volcano’s shape and texture.  It would have been picture perfect except for the uninteresting strip of clouds hanging over the summit.

I wasn’t in a position to do any photography anyway.  I’d been working furiously preparing high-res files for a stock agency and just had to get out of the office and burn off some energy, so I went for a brisk but relatively short bike ride in the afternoon sun. I only rode a little under 17 miles today, cruising along the flatlands near the Nooksack in a loop that took me out Marine Drive, up Ferndale Road, east on Slater, and then back to town on Northwest.

Wednesday afternoon I also took off for a ride, but with more hills and an inevitably slower pace. It’s nice to be able to get out and ride during the winter months to keep my blood circulating and general fitness level up.

I’ve also put in a couple of days of kayaking since Thanksgiving.  The first was about 10 miles on Lake Shannon near Concrete, with glorious views of both Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan. It was a gloriously sunny day with heavy frost on the ground when we launched. The second kayak outing was on Saturday on the Samish River, paddling upstream from the mouth at Edison. It was a cold and snowy day, although we didn’t get snowed on as heavily as we thought we would.  There were numerous bald eagles and other raptors perched in the bare trees along the river and several blue herons at the water’s edge.  We also saw lots of coots and smaller numbers of other waterfowl.  Upstream of the tidal influence the current was about 1 mph, just enough to notice but not enough to cause a lot of extra work.

The Mt. Baker ski area opened on November 27 and I went up for opening day.  The snow was cold, the sky blue, and the skiing great.  I ran out of legs before I ran out of daylight.

We’ve got so many recreational opportunities around here that it’s sometime hard to decide just how to go out and play. That’s a blessing.

December 06 2007 | Bicycling and Fitness and Kayaking | No Comments »

Great Day for a Bike Ride

We don’t get a lot of nice sunny days in November around here, but today was glorious with temps in the low 40s.  So I took off early afternoon for a 31-mile bike ride around Lummi Peninsula.  It’s a nice loop on roads that mostly have a good shoulder and not too much traffic mid-day.

One of the challenges of biking this time of year is figuring out how to dress.  I’ve decided that long underwear under my bike shorts on the bottom, and a long underwear shirt under a lightweight cycling jacket on top works fine. I think I want to invest in a pair of bike tights, but haven’t found any I like at a price I’m willing to pay. My fingers get a little cool in regular fingerless bike gloves, and my feet got a bit chilly in lightweight bike shoes and cotton socks.

I started out strong, averaging about 17.8 mph for the first 1o miles.  At 17 miles I was up to 18.3 mph. Then I started to tire as I rode along the gently undulating Lummi Shore road, enjoying the view across Bellingham Bay to Bellingham, Mt. Baker, and the near-full moon a few degrees above the mountain. By the time I got to Marine Drive, about 27 miles in, my energy level was really sagging. I kept going, but riding slower and slower, and made it home. My overall speed was 16.7 mph, about one mph and 7 minutes slower than the last time I’d done the same ride.

I’m wondering if I just ride slower when it’s cold.  I decided I hadn’t eaten enough for breakfast and lunch today, so simply running out of fuel was part of the problem.  I tanked up on a cup of hot chocolate, an energy bar, and a bowl of raisins and nuts when I got home.

In any case, vigorous exercise for a couple of hours is a great antidote for sitting at the computer captioning photos.

November 20 2007 | Bicycling and Fitness | No Comments »