Tour de Whidbey 2021

After babysitting my grandson for most of the day on Friday, I drove north to Anacortes and onto Whidbey Island. The drive was horrible…first traffic was backed up for miles because of an accident. It no sooner cleared up and we lost a lane due to construction, so another backup. What usually would take me 1.5 hours to drive (from south Everett) too me over three hours!

I arrived at the home of someone listed on Warmshowers.org who was offering up his “shed” for me to sleep in for the night. Robert and his wife fed me well before I turned in for the night. I was asleep by 9pm.

6am came too early and I was glad I set an alarm, otherwise I would have overslept. After I changed, I loaded everything up in my car and headed to the Coupeville high school, where the ride would start.

Once I arrived, I tried to eat a little cereal, but my stomach wasn’t having it! So, I gave up and grabbed my registration packet and some coffee.

I was just pinning my number on my cycling jacket when I got a text from Jessica that she would be arriving in about 15 minutes. Once she arrived and was ready, we took off on the 50-mile route.

The weather was a bit cool, so I was glad I wore a long-sleeved jersey and bike leggings along with my jacket! I was pleasantly comfortable the entire ride.

The ride itself was beautiful! I got to see parts of Whidbey Island that I might have never seen if not on a bike (I usually am on the main highway going to or from Cape Disappointment State Park, Ebey’s Landing, or Fort Casey State Park). I even saw deer at two different spots. There were three food stops on the route and I made sure to eat some fruit and chuck a Power-ade.

Jennifer joined us at the 2nd food stop. A few miles further after some grueling hills back to back, I pushed ahead and ended up finishing the ride about 40 miles before they did (one of them got a flat and had to stop and repair it, so that took some time).

Next year, I may do the half century (62 miles).

Relive ‘Tour de Whidbey’