Skagit Valley Tulip festival by bike

[Wasp]

With the nice stretch of weather heading our way for the next 5 or 6 days that happily coincide with my days off, I've talked the hubby into heading south to La Conner WA to check out the tulip fields by bike. I have a map of the fields that show street names, but it doesn't show distance. I'm wondering just how far it is if we cycled around the fields starting from Whitney rd/McLean rd down to Kamb rd and then circle back using Calhoun rd. that's roughly the route using the map I have.
If anyone has done this ride, I would love some advise. Thanks:)

[smilingcat]

If you don't have a mapping software use Google map and get directions. Set points "A" and "B" and it will tell you the distance. You can also create and drag way-points so it follows your intended route. Their are other free mapping software available.

Ooo tulip festival. Sounds fun. We really liked Whidby Island and Coupville but ended up near Portland. Its gorgeous up there!! The other festival I want to go are the Lavender festival and Anacortes summer festival... Think I might need to make a short trip for all of those...

[ny biker]

I would map out the route on ridewithgps.com. I find their interface easy to use, and you have google satellite and street view available if necessary.

[OakLeaf]

+1 on RideWithGPS. Besides the total distance, you can zoom in on the aerial images to get an idea of the condition of the roads and the general traffic level. I've got a paid subscription, which you need to print maps and cue sheets, but I'm pretty sure that if you have a GPS, you can still download a .gpx of your route for free.

[rebeccaC]

With the nice stretch of weather heading our way for the next 5 or 6 days that happily coincide with my days off, I've talked the hubby into heading south to La Conner WA to check out the tulip fields by bike. I have a map of the fields that show street names, but it doesn't show distance. I'm wondering just how far it is if we cycled around the fields starting from Whitney rd/McLean rd down to Kamb rd and then circle back using Calhoun rd. that's roughly the route using the map I have.
If anyone has done this ride, I would love some advise. Thanks:)

according to mapmyride starting and ending at Whitney/Mclean on the route you described it's 13 miles...according to mapmyrides Calhoun turns into Chilberg to get back to Whitney and then north to Mclean.......taking a right on Best rd from Calhoun back up to Mclean and a left to Whitney is 11 miles......SHARE TULIP PHOTOS!!!!!!

When I went up to the San Juan Islands we went to La Conner and then took a road up to Bellingham that had beautiful mountain, island and water views. The La Conner area was flat with lots of farm fields....mapmyrides shows the highest elevation gain as 20 feet on your ride :)

just looked up the road to Bellingham, it's called Chuckanut Drive

[Eden]

I didn't bike the route…. but I did go up and visit the tulips

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the whole set can be seen here - https://flic.kr/s/aHsjWM2txy

[rebeccaC]

that's a lot of tulips!!!! great images Eden!!!.....making me miss the festival canadien des tulipes

[Wasp]

Thanks for all the advise ladies.
Eden, very nice pictures!. Sadly we never made it down, our passports need renewing and we are now awaiting the new ones. We had less than 6 months left before the passports expired, and I know if you travel internationally with a passport that expires within 6 months you can end up with issues at borders. Not sure how that works with USA and Canadian border, but didn't want to find out. I never thought to check the passport expiry date, but once I did notice I decided to check my drivers license and yep needed to renew that as well. $425.00 for 2 passports (10 yr) and one (5 yr) drivers license. Now I'm checking the expiry date on everything I can think of...
Sigh.....hopefully I get down there next year, I've been trying for 4-5 yrs now and always something comes up preventing the trip.

[MarieV]

We did the ~40-mile Tulip Pedal ride on April 19th. We had beautiful views of the tulip and daffodil fields and could ride past all the heavy car traffic, but it rained for 1/3 of the ride. What made the ride really challenging was the wind. While we had 15-20 mph tailwind for half the ride, that meant we had 15-20 mph headwind for the other half. Too bad it wasn't scheduled for the weekend before or even the day after when the weather was dry and sunny.

http://www.drmariev.com/Cycling2014/TulipPedal2014-MV.jpg

[BikeDutchess]

I know if you travel internationally with a passport that expires within 6 months you can end up with issues at borders. Not sure how that works with USA and Canadian border

For Canadians traveling to the USA, passports only need to be valid through the expected date of departure from the USA back to Canada.
http://travel.gc.ca/destinations/united-states


Eden, wonderful photos! I'm going to have to travel to Skagit Valley one of these years, it'll be a lot less expensive than traveling back to my homeland to see the tulips there!

[Wasp]

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Pic of Seabird Island tulip festival (near Chilliwack BC)

[Wasp]

Thanks for the link, it has some great information.

[salsabike]

We did the ~40-mile Tulip Pedal ride on April 19th. We had beautiful views of the tulip and daffodil fields and could ride past all the heavy car traffic, but it rained for 1/3 of the ride. What made the ride really challenging was the wind. While we had 15-20 mph tailwind for half the ride, that meant we had 15-20 mph headwind for the other half. Too bad it wasn't scheduled for the weekend before or even the day after when the weather was dry and sunny.

http://www.drmariev.com/Cycling2014/TulipPedal2014-MV.jpg

Marie, that's been my experience with many rides through the Skagit flats---lots of headwind (nothing much to get in its way, and the valley channels the winds nicely. :)).