Hopped on the ferry yesterday for some painfully beautiful riding on this jewel of the San Juans. Above, is the well-known shot from the top of Mount Constitution; Bellingham there in the far corner. At 2,409 feet, Constitution is the highest point in the San Juans. She's a bear of a climb to get to the top, that's for sure. The toughest part of the 5.5-mile climb from Cascade Lake to the top being a two-and-a-quarter mile stretch that climbs 1,174 feet. That's 10 percent to you and me, folks. (Click
here for my post about the Mount Constitution Hill Climb bike race from a couple years ago.
Here's the race website; sometimes it's an annual event, sometimes not.)
Thing is, I'm not sure Mount Constitution is the most challenging thing about riding on Orcas.
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| Orcas Island and Mt. Constitution as seen from the ferry. |
Orcas is a lumpy island so you're either always climbing some short crazy-steep pitch or descending the same. Not a flat spot on the island, he wrote a tad hyperbolically. I rode exactly 50 miles--ferry landing to Eastsound (via about four miles of gravel road on Dolphin Bay Road; felt like I was in the Giro D'Italia), up and down Mount Constitution, to Olga and Doe Bay, then turned around back to Eastsound and eventually the ferry landing--and climbed 5,800 feet. Take away Mount Constitution and it still would've been 4,000 feet of ups.
All that said, Orcas is a beautiful island to ride. Not a lot of cars, certainly a lot of variety, and of course just that cool island-hippy-organic-affluent-artistic-nice stuff vibe. Beautiful farms, llama lands, cool weird sculptures, Doe Bay funkiness, and all those spectacular island vistas. It's an incredible one-stop biking spot because it's also one of my favorite places to mountain bike. See
here for a Seattle Times story I wrote that includes a bit about Orcas' fat-tire side.
Coming up: most likely, this Saturday's
Tour de Whidbey century ride. Weather looks promising. Hope to see ya' there!
