Ride to Hurricane Ridge and Back
Hurricane Ridge; makes you think of soft valleys and gentle slopes... NOT! WHY were we planning on riding our bikes up Hurricane Ridge? I asked myself this, because seriously, it seemed like a genuine breach of sanity to me. I was doing it because Donald and Ruth were doing it. Donald, my dear husband, and Ruth, a wise, sensible person that I really like to be around. And Donald said that he thought I'd do just fine. We got up before 5am, and by 615 we had Ruth's bike on the top of the car and we were heading towards the ferry. We really had a nice slow start.
I was fed a lot. Even though I had a BIG breakfast, Donald bought me a huge muffin. Next he gave me 1/2 of a banana. I think we started riding at about 9:30.
Since it's usually chilly on the peninsula, I was dressed in wool kneesocks, wool knickers, top base was a wool jersey topped with a wool 3/4 sleeve undershirt. I had a lightweight wind shell on top of that and carried goretex rain pants, booties, a wool hat and my Rainy Pass raincoat. I carried two pairs of gloves and should have had 3. Remember, going up you are fairly warm, but going down it gets COLD!
The ride started in Sequim (pronounced SQUIM) right off Kitchen Dick Road. We passed Ain't No Way, and turned onto a busy hilly highway between Sequim and Port Angeles. Once we got to Port Angeles, we started ascending. at first it was easy and gradual, but once we passed the Forest Service Ranger Station, we began an 8% grade that continued for 5 miles. At the 5 mile point, was a campground. After that, I was told, it was going to get a lot easier. Yeah, right. We stopped at the campground and Donald gave me MORE FOOD. I drank an Ensure and a half of a fruit bar. We filled our water bottles and continued up the mountain.



There were 3 scary tunnels. They were kind of scary on the way up, but VERY scary on the way down.



All along the way, it was beautiful. One thing about going up a mountain at 6 miles an hour (I think that was a high average speed) is that you see every beautiful wildflower, of every color, and all the incredible scenery. Ruth, who was way ahead of us from the start, saw two deer. By the time I got there, they had prudently vanished. Donald, who was at his best, accompanied me all the way up the mountain. This means he did a lot of circling and so he got more elevation gain and more miles than me. Going at my speed instead of his also meant that he didn't get quite the workout that Ruth and I did, we were going as fast (haha) as we could. It also meant he took an alarming number of photos of me. I will only include a few here, because his scenery pictures are much more fetching.
At first I was convinced that it was easier past the campground, but that notion was dashed from my brain often, because my inclinometer was still hovering at about 7-8%



During the first third of the climb, I struggled with breathing in a good rhythm. I also stopped 3 times in the first 4 miles. A few things seem to help, like standing in your pedals for a while, and moving your legs differently. But you always come back to that slow hard grind. And I kept checking to see if there might be another gear below granny.
But there wasn't.



You can see a tiny me, slowly climbing that ramp in this picture.
Remember, this IS a part of the Olympic Rainforest. One of the things we expected was rain. The weather forecast was great though, they suggested that the rain wouldn't start before 5pm; at which time of course, we figured we'd be on the ferry already. The rain clouds were circling us like hungry buzzards, but they didn't let loose till we got to the top.

The first time I decided to get off and walk for a while, Donald seemed alarmed.
He told me I couldn't walk five miles up that hill. I really didn't care. It felt good to take a few walking breaks. I also took a spread eagle on the side of the road break, but since Donald made a movie of it instead of taking a sensible photograph, you'll just have to imagine it. This was a very good break, I think we stopped for 5 minutes. I stretched my back and my legs and enjoyed the feeling of warm pavement (the sun was out!) for a little while.


We were starting to pass snow. Donald poses here among the wildflowers. It was at about this point that I was feeling the lowest. We had between 3 and 5 miles to go, and we could see the road zig-zagging up. There was no longer even an illusion of a downhill trend, it was clearly, sharply, relentlessly UP.


and there, we could see what looked like the top! (but alas, it was not) When we got to the top of this rise, we could see yet another.


We were finally on the ridge itself. and, hm, what's that? Rain?



and it was truly gorgeous. Note the deer in this picture. I hope they are smiling.



I finally feel like I made it!


At the top we used the "bicyclist clothes dryers" in the bathroom and dried our clothes as best as we could, and ate a hasty snack. Ruth had been waiting for us for 45 minutes. Such was my delusion that I was surprised she hadn't been waiting for 2 hours! We put on our rain pants, our coats, hats, warmer gloves, and headed back down.


Downhill isn't as easy as you might think it is. And what was falling now? Some sleet? Fortunately the sleet was temporary, it was followed by rain that actually got harder as we descended. On a winding, windy mountain pass, you can't just roll down the hill. You have lots of curves and bad pavement, so a person like myself tends to use their brakes a bit. 6 miles down, who was waiting for me, but Donald and Ruth! My fingers were almost numb from the cold, oops, I should have had another pair of gloves over my long fingered ones. Off we went again. All muscles tired, hands sore and cold, brake, coast, brake, coast. We got to the ranger station/camp ground... at 20 mph, we cruised by it. Then the steep part. Okay, the first 5 miles really IS the steep part. It's straight. and my speed was now between 28 and 31 mph. And it was wet! We finally got to the bottom, where again, my intrepid leaders were waiting for me. As we rode into Port Angeles, I saw the Jack in the box restaurant with the friendly bathroom, and I said; you two go on ahead. I'm only going to slow you down! And they did. I spent the next hour sitting in a beautiful Chinese restaurant (sorry, the Jack in the Box menu wasn't near as inviting as their bathroom) where I had tea and eggdrop soup. How did I feel? Nothing was hurting, except my hands a little bit. And I was very tired. Donald and Ruth picked me up, they were soaked to the bone. (I guess it was raining between Port Angeles and Sequim) We stopped in a nice restaurant and had steaks and baked potatoes, all three of us. I finally did a "grown up ride"

Ruth and Mimi relax on the ferry ride home.
Ride information: