Starting tour ride in rain

[shootingstar]

And the killer in all this, was my water repellant bike shoe booties were in my pannier. I just couldn't be bothered to stop in rain and put in them on... choice of warm, already wet feet in booties.

[Grog]

Surely you know this already, having lived in Vancouver longer than, me, but just in case:

Packing shoes with newspaper makes them dry overnight. It's unbelievable.

I lived for 25 years in Quebec and endured never-drying boots in the winter only to find out about this trick when I moved here!!!

Wishing you better weather for today!!!

[Dog]

Hi Shooting Star,

I'm not sure of your final destination in Washington, but there are much more peaceful roads to ride than Old Pacific Hwy (aka Hwy 99). A nice route would have been to head from Anacortes onto Hwy 20 and across Deception Pass onto Whidbey Island and then the ferry to Mukilteo (then you are back on the mainland).
I know you have had better weather the past two days!

Stay safe,

-Dog

[shootingstar]

Hi Shooting Star,

I'm not sure of your final destination in Washington, but there are much more peaceful roads to ride than Old Pacific Hwy (aka Hwy 99). A nice route would have been to head from Anacortes onto Hwy 20 and across Deception Pass onto Whidbey Island and then the ferry to Mukilteo (then you are back on the mainland).
I know you have had better weather the past two days!

Stay safe,

-Dog

Thanks for the thoughtful advice. Coincidentally, we did head along Hwy 20, then we cut onto Best Rd. eastward...I need a map here, went up a highway bridge that cut through an Indian reserve that started with "Se"...when suddenly the heavens unleased alot of rain. No choice but just chug up that road overpass in haze of downpour...which wasn't bad to do but not uplifting in crappy weather while wearing shorts..

We did end up Old Pacific Hwy. parallel to the fast, splashy I-5. We got to it after cycling up curving hilly service road parallel to I-5. Stayed on Old Pacific hwy. as long as we could...as mentioned earlier, was peaceful ride there with the old growth coniferous trees soaring above and ...absolutely dead as a doornail except for 1 car passing every 15 min. or more.

And Grog, yea instead I used lots of paper towels to do initial soak-up of water....and many asphalt bits in shoes and socks. We did ride in the rain through some highway construction zones.

[mimitabby]

The weather was much better today and hopefully will be tomorrow too.