Friday, November 27, 2015

To Index…With Friction Shifting! (2015-11-21)

On a chilly morning only a week after two major storms and floods, I headed into the Skykomish River Valley. In the end, my only problem was the saddle position, which was too low and far back.

Neil & Beyond the Horizon at Index
Geotagged Album

Related albums:

Skykomish (Album)

More after the break…

Part 1: To Bus

Part 1: To Bus

I started at about 05:15 and headed east to the NE 45th St freeway station to catch the first ST 510. I had to stop to adjust my bags along the way, as something was making an odd noise. The adjustment removed it.

Part 2: Outbound

Part 2: Outbound

Once in Everett, I ate some food in the station because it was still rather cold out. It wasn't fun spending much time in there at that hour, though, as there were guys doing some sort of injection drug in the bathroom.

Once out of the station, I headed over to the trail across the US 2 bridge.

Snohomish River
US 2 Bridges Over the Snohomish River

And then followed the roads along the northern side of the Snohomish River. It was rather cold, and I ended up with a case of frostbeard.

Frostbeard

And then I stopped at the (now) Proper Joe Coffeehouse for some water and coffee.

After leaving, I headed out along the old road toward Monroe…which was flooded.

Flooded: Old Snohomish–Monroe Rd: When I got to the lowest point on the road here, I saw some other cyclists trying to use the grassy ridge on the left to get around probably 1-2 feet of water on the road. All of us decided that US 2 was probably a safer bet.
Flooded: Stocker Fields: When I got to the lowest point on the road here, I saw some other cyclists trying to use the grassy ridge on the left to get around probably 1-2 feet of water on the road. All of us decided that US 2 was probably a safer bet.

So I turned around and headed toward US 2.

Cyclists on Brevet Choosing Another Route: When I got to the lowest point on the road here, I saw some other cyclists trying to use the grassy ridge on the left to get around probably 1-2 feet of water on the road. All of us decided that US 2 was probably a safer bet.

US 2 was on a berm, so it wasn't impacted by any flooding. There was a nice shoulder the whole way, too!

Once in Monroe, I stopped by the park by where SR-203 crosses the Snoqualmie River to use the restroom. Those cyclists from earlier ended up rolling in after I'd taken care of business, despite the fact they left Snohomish before me.

As it turns out, they were on a brevet that had started in Arlington and was ending in Issaquah. I was worried that the farm roads (the calmest route) would be flooded, but they said they were using the western edge of the valley, whose roads are higher up.

Al Borlin Park: Closed Due to Flooding
Al Borlin Park: Closed Due to Flooding

After crossing the bridge, I had the sheer luck of being able to make the left onto Ben Howard Road without having to go past it, turn around in a driveway, and make a right turn instead. I barely made it, too!

Ben Howard Rd
Ben Howard Rd
Rural Skykomish Valley
Beyond the Horizon

The road was fairly easy and calm for a while, but then I ended up nearly bottoming out up a steep hill.

Ben Howard Rd: Steep Climb: I was unable to get all the way up this because my saddle was too far back. I tried spinning up it, but gave up in my second-lowest gear.
Ben Howard Rd: Steep Climb: I was unable to get all the way up this because my saddle was too far back. I tried spinning up it, but gave up in my second-lowest gear.

After going down a long, steep descent, the road just followed the edge of the valley. It was a definite improvement over US 2, with very little traffic. However, the road was "CLOSED TO THRU TRAFFIC" at the end in Sultan, so I'm guessing that was the cause of the lack of traffic.

Ben Howard Rd
Beyond the Horizon
Rural Skykomish Valley: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

When I got to Sultan, I continued along US 2.

Mann Rd Over Skykomish River
Sultan
Railroad Maintenance Equipment

I took it through Startup.

US 2
Rural Skykomish Valley

But then stopped in Gold Bar.

At the restaurant, I heard stories about past events involving locals and disasters. I also learned that the Spada Lake reservoir was partially released during the floods to prevent damage, which caused the flooding at and below Startup, including the flooded roads from earlier on my ride. Something brought up a number of times was the dangerous intersection that provides Index access to US 2: a lot of folks would try to jump quickly into traffic when doing a right turn in bad conditions, only to end up in a ditch adjacent to the highway. They had to get hauled out by locals with tow hitches.

Once done at the restaurant, I left the highway corridor and headed along May Creek Road.

May Creek Rd
May Creek Rd
May Creek Rd: One Lane Bridge
Exposed Stone

Then I made a left onto Reiter Road itself, which involved a lot of climbing. The climbing was really hard until I thought to scoot up on the saddle by at least an inch. With that, I'm going to talk to the guy who fit it so he can get the seat a little higher and further forward.

Reiter Rd
Reiter Rd
Reiter Rd
PB210112
Reiter Rd Descent
Rural Water Management
Reiter Rd Descent
Reiter Rd
Exposed Rock Faces

Shortly after crossing the BNSF mainline, I finally ended up in Index.

Index
North Fork Skykomish River Bridges
North Fork Skykomish River
North Fork Skykomish River Bridges
Neil & Beyond the Horizon at Index
Beyond the Horizon at the North Fork Skykomish River

And a BNSF train passed through while I was there.

BNSF Train
BNSF Bridge over North Fork Skykomish River

After the train had passed, I went into 'downtown' (whatever that means here).

Index Post Office & General Store
Index General Store & Town Hall
Index
Bush House
Pickett Historical Museum
Doolittle Pioneer Park
North Fork Skykomish River Bridge
Index Fire Station & Mountains

Part 3: Inbound

Part 3: Inbound

After drinking a Powerade from the general store/post office, I headed back the way I came. It was a lot easier this way, as I knew to scoot up on the saddle!

Reiter Rd Switchback: There were a number of these wide switchbacks on the road.
Mt Index
Mountain

While stopping at a meadow on Reiter Road, I came across some broken beer bottles at what was obviously a place for hanging out.

Broken Beer Bottles: Found out in a meadow off the side of the road.

Shortly after where I got onto Reiter Road from May Creek Road, there was a fast descent to US 2. On it, I had to do an emergency stop due to poor road design.

Once on the highway, I had a continuous shoulder, but had to contend with flood debris. Thankfully, the 2.15" tires didn't care.

I passed through Gold Bar and Startup, heading down the highway.

Garden Shop
Startup
Old Startup Gym: There was a sign on the road telling folks to 'save' it.

Once back in Sultan, I stopped at the coffee shop from earlier, which was pretty cool.

After some coffee, I continued along the highway through Monroe, where I stopped at what was a Safeway last time I was in the area to use the restroom.

When I got to the US 2 & SR-522 interchange, I ended up walking across the crosswalk because the traffic was pretty bad, and it was starting to get dark. The Sun finally set shortly before I hit Snohomish again.

The last part of this section of the ride, between Snohomish and Everett, was pretty hard due to the saddle position being suboptimal and my legs being worn from riding like that all day. Thankfully, I got to Everett Station just in time to unload my bags and stuff from the bike.

The bus ride back to Seattle was nice.

Part 4: Return Home

Part 4: Return Home

Once back in Seattle, I zipped down to the Burke-Gilman Trail, then rode that home like usual. I was really cold when I started then, but warmed up when I got home. However, I really needed a hot shower anyway.

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