Thursday, February 14, 2019

Bainbridge Island Circuit (2019-02-02)

A little celebration of Bainbridge Island's lesser hills.

More after the break…

Part 1: To Ferry

I started at a little before 5 AM and headed straight for the ferry terminal. This ended up being too early, so I had to wait in the car line for a while.


Part 2: Bainbridge Island

Rather than winching all the way up to High School Road, my route took me on a right turn not long after leaving the ferry terminal. The roads were quiet and dark, which is exactly how I like them.

I ended up with a couple of wrong turns: once because I wasn't paying attention while descending, and once because RideWithGPS said that the road went through when it really ended at someone's driveway. The latter was mainly from the site's tendency of staying away from major roads.

The ride continued to be on quiet, rural roads for quite some time, with minor climbs and descents alternating. A few were pretty tough, but nothing to write home about.

Not long after crossing SR-305, I got a big surprise: Lynwood. It featured a lot of German-style buildings and much more development than a lot of the island. There were even some nice little shops!

A little further on, I finally reached Fort Ward Park, where I stopped to eat.

I left the park via a small trail that connected it to one of the local neighborhoods.

And then the real hill climbing started! I was hit with a longer 6+% grade for a bit, followed by constant rolling hills. Thankfully, the traffic on that part of the island was pretty light. I also recognized some sites from back when I did the Chilly Hilly years ago.

The next biggest hills were toward the end of the route as I approached Winslow. I spent a few blocks trying to find something notable to take a photo in front of, but gave up and just went to the "bike barn" near the ferry terminal.

I almost missed boarding the ferry before the cars, but thankfully didn't

Part 3: Return Home

It was pretty tough getting through downtown because of the big bicycle ride that celebrated the closing of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and opening of its replacement tunnel. I wonder if I would've had even more fun if I'd done that with folks I knew…

On the way home, I stopped by FreeRange Cycles for a quick chat. Other than that, it was pretty routine.

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