Mark and I took our first bicycle tour with our girls this April and May. Although we planned on blogging about the experience extensively, we found that between two small children, camping, and 30-50 mile days in the saddle, blogging was the least of our priorities. On occasions when we had the great fortune of staying with a ‘warm shower’ host with an internet connection, we found that it was much more enjoyable to truly socialize, in person, with our hosts. I digress.
The purpose of this post is to mention that I will be using this blog to share a few stories from our trip. Things we’ve learned, and to (hopefully) convince others to try and tour with their families. It’s not only doable, but life-changing and so, so much fun.
As many of you will know, the Cyclehisers toured Washington’s coast, Olympic Peninsula (the rain shadow side), and the San Juan Islands. Most folks I have chatted with were concerned about riding during the notoriously rainy Pacific northwest spring. We took precautions, like making a new cover for the Chariot (see earlier post), and being equipped with full rain suits for the girls, etc. According to some of our hosts, it was apparently one of the coolest springs on record in the Northwest and the rain+cold made for a few challenging days. Fortunately, the soggy rides typically had a warm surprise at the end of the day. Sometimes a ‘warm showers’ host would surprise us with a warm cup of Irish Breakfast, or a spaghetti dinner and homemade cherry cobbler. When we were on our own, we would locate a cafe with hot chocolate and the girls would be happy for miles to come. On rainy days, the girls spent more time in the trailer, so we had to break more often. They didn’t seem to mind however, it was often our morale, not the girls, that wavered in the wetness. They had their babies, and active imaginations to keep themselves warm.
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