Pig War

Yesterday was my first real day of riding for this trip. I picked up some food in Friday Harbor and headed out for a ride around the island. I went south first, towards American Camp, half of San Juan National Historic Park, which commemorates what is now known as the Pig War.


Right before the Civil War, the US and Britain had an ongoing disagreement about where to draw the border with the US and Canada. There were those on the US side who advocated for the 54th parallel (54-40 or fight) while others were for the 49th parallel. The 49th was settled on but the Islands of Puget Sound didn't work since the 49th parallel goes through Vancouver Island and nobody wanted to divide the island.

So, they swung the border south but the San Juan Islands were still disputed. There were a handful of Brits and Americans living harmoniously on the disputed San Juan Island until an American got fed up with a British pig getting into his potato patch and shot it. Well, the British pig owner was not happy about this and things began to escalate. The pig murderer was arrested by the Brits and the Americans got upset about a US citizen getting arrested by foreigners. The American army was called in and ended up fortifying the south end of the Island with numerous cannon. This is what is left of the redoubt, the cannon battery.


Of course, the Brits came in with their own army and ships and hunkered down on the North end of the Island at what is now known as British Camp.





Pickett of Pickett's Charge fame was here too, helping build the US garrison. Everyone was armed and itching for a fight. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed as both US and British leaders were appalled at the idea of going to war over a pig. Things cooled off though an amicable standoff remained for 12 years until the dispute over the islands was finally resolved in the 1870s with the San Juan Islands going to the US. The final deal was arbitrated over by the German Kaiser, of all people. The best part of the story is that if you look up 'Pig War' on Wikipedia there are two hits. There was a non-violent 'Pig War' between Serbia and The Austo-Hungarians over a tariff on pork.

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Sunshine Alley,Friday Harbor,United States

Finally on my way

Well, after some delay, I'm finally on my way. I took the train to Bellingham yesterday, two days later than I had planned because there wasn't room on the train for my bike before Saturday. So, I had a few extra days of relaxing at home before starting my ride.

I got a bunch of work done to prepare for school in the fall. I re-wrote all the advanced bio experiments and the protein modeling project. Now, I get to put school out of my mind for the rest of the summer because the open road calls.

The train ride to Bellingham was really pleasant with a good part of the trip right running right next to Puget Sound. Amtrak sure beats flying! Everyone is much calmer and friendlier. Yeah, it takes longer but it's so much more humane.

I got into Bellingham and called Tom Caldwell, someone I had contacted through an on line networking site called Warm Showers, which is a group of bicyclists all over the world who sign up to host cyclists traveling through their towns. Tom met me at the train station and we road the mile or so to his house where I met his wife Laurel and their kids Dana and Noah.


Here is Tom and Laurel. Thanks for the hospitality!

I'm now riding a ferry to San Juan Island.


It's cloudy and cool, good cycling weather. I'll spend the day on the island and then will take the Anacortes ferry and begin heading east. Weeeeee!
-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Boat to SanJuan Island

Uphill forever and ever...

After a breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt, I headed out from Amboy, heading north and passed the dead shoe tree where people hung hundreds of shoes over the years.



After about five miles, the road began to climb pretty relentlessly. I wasn't in my lowest gear so the road wasn't overly steep but it just wouldn't stop climbing. And it went straight up with no curves. I could see the interstate with tiny cars and trucks moving on it from over ten miles away and the dang thing didn't want to get closer.





I finally passed under the freeway and entered the Mojave Preserve.





The road kept climbing for another five or so miles making the day at over 4000 feet of elevation gain. Finally, there was a long, chilly downhill to the ghost town of Kelso where the park service runs a diner in the old train depot.





Unfortunately, they closed the diner on Christmas Eve so I had camp food for dinner with a couple from San Francisco and then made camp behind the post office.

My Route for the Summer

Here is my planned route for the summer! You have to zoom out to see the whole thing.

View Bike Trip 2010 in a larger map
It's a long trip and my success or failure will largely depend on the winds in the Great Plains. If I hit a headwind, I doubt I can make the daily mileage necessary to get to Maine. From what I've read, the wind can blow either way so maybe I'll get a headwind!

Pi'ilani Highway kicked my butt!

I set off from the campground at the Y after a late, lazy start because of sitting around talking with a family from Calgary.

I continued riding up and down all day past nice water falls.


There were some right by the road that I stood under to cool off.

I passed some taro fields.


Taro is a plant that the Hawaiians brought from Fiji. They cook the tuberous root and mash it into this stuff they eat like potatoes called poi.

I got to Hana and called ahead to reserve a B and B for the following night in Kula.

I rode a few more ridiculously steep hills to Kipahulu campground in Haleakala National Park. This part of the park reaches all the way down to the ocean and is a legacy, in part, of Charles Lindburg, who lived the rest of his life in Maui and is buried here.

My phone battery was dead the next day so I have no photos of the crazy Pi'ilani 'Highway' on my phone.

The road started out right on the ocean with fantastic views. Then, the road turned to dirt, which wasn't too bad. Then came the hills. These things were crazy steep with some around 20%! They were scary to ride down because I felt like I would fall over my handlebars so I hung my butt off behind the seat to put my center of gravity farther back like I've seen them do in cyclocross races. That really helped stabilize the descents. Of course, it was impossible to ride up these monsters so I pushed the bike, which was also really hard. And, When I got to the top, I rolled straight back down again to the ocean. This on a day that finished in Kula at 3500 feet elevation.

Then, things got bad. The road switched back to 'pavement'. This stuff was the most god awful surface I've ever ridden on except for Dempster Highway mud. It was all patches with no original pavent visible. And the patches weren't smoothed out at all so there were little humps and divets about every six inches all over the entire road. It felt like both Sam and I would be shaken to bits. I named it Pele's Pavement, Pele being the Hawaiian fire/ volcano goddess, since the road was about as smooth as a lava flow. And, of course, the ridiculous hills continued, pushing up, and slowly, rattling back down. I rode up some of the less steep (12-14%) ones, but it made my legs and arms scream after a few of them.

Then, it got really hot. This part of the road is back on the leeward side of the island, so the jungle with it's nice shade is gone, replaced by scrubby, brown bushes. By noon, I felt like I was riding in an oven with the heat radiating off the asphalt. Several passing cars gave me water, fruit, and lots of encouragement. Finally, the road became normal pavement as it began the climb up the side of Haleakala to, what they call The Upcountry.

I always find it hard to eat when it's really hot and I made the mistake of not eating sooner. By the time I stopped on a ridge for lunch, I was well on my way to bonking.

Bonking is basically running out of energy during a long distance run or bike ride. It feels like my legs have turned to jello, I can't really catch my breath, and every hill is next to impossible to get up.

I crawled into Ulapalakua Ranch, the first bit of civilization, ate some snack food, and pushed on uphill another 10 miles to Kula. I crawled in after dark, scarfed down a nice sandwich the owner prepared for me, showered, and slept 12 hours straight. I can't remember the last time a road kicked my butt that badly.


-- Post From My iPhone

Hana highway

It took two days to ride the Hana Highway. I started from the hostel in Wailuku and rode along the famous north shore. I stopped in a few spots to watch the surfers, though the break wasn't all that big.


Overall, the road was quite a bit easier riding than West Maui since the hills aren't quite as steep. The road is quite windy, curving in and out of valleys and crossing countless little one lane bridges and lots of water falls. The vegetation is very jungle-like with vines and dense trees and there was a bunch of shade so it was a bit cooler.
I stopped at lots of fruit stands to eat and had apple bananas, passion fruit, guava, starfruit, lychees, pineapple, coconut, and lots of citrus.


They also had lots of home made banana bread and fruit smoothies made with cane juice.

I ended up camping at a YMCA because the state park reservation system here is the most asinine thing I've ever experienced. Youhave to pay for your camping permit in Wailuku, on the other side of the island. Even though there is a full time person working at the campground itself, they will under no circumstances issue permits there. And, the permit place in Wailuku is only open limited hours due to budget cuts.

Besides brutal hills, finding places to stay has been the hardest part of this trip. They don't have little motels either, like they have on the Oregon coast. Instead, they have B&Bs which I have to get reservations for ahead of time. I'm used to being able to pull in to a town and find a room really easily. This place requires way more planning.

-- Post From My iPhone

Climbing Haleakala

After The crazy grind up to Kula, I needed a day off and hung out at Sandlewood B and B for an entire day, sitting in the sun and napping. My body really needed a break after four straight days of near constant hills in the tropical heat.

The owners of the B and B gave me a ride to a grocery store to stock up for the two day climb up Haleakala, the big shield volcano that dominates East Maui. It is substantially cooler in the Upcountry, which was a nice break from the heat down by the coast.





The next day, Christmas Eve, I headed up to 7000 ft to camp inside the National Park at Hosmer Grove.




It was quite windy and cool so most of the folks in the campground congregated around a nice campfire for most of the evening. It was a rather eclectic group with some locals from Paia and Makawao, including a semi-homeless Vietnam vet, and a big group of Canadians.

The next morning, I left most of my gear and headed for the summit. The climb was a nice gradual grade and, riding light with only a bit of food and warm clothes, I was able to comfortably climb several gears above Granny gear. The road switchbacked up and the views became more and more spectacular with some views towards the Big Island and Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in the distance.




The 1000 ft markers slowly passed by and after about three hours of steady climbing, I got to the summit at a bit over 10,000 ft. The Haleakala climb is supposedly the shortest road to this altitude in the world.




The views were fantastic as the sun was going down.




It gets dark very quickly in the tropics so after a few photos, I put on warm clothes and started the coast back down to camp. The clouds were below me, all lit up by the sunset. It felt like I was riding on the top of the world.

On my way down, a man in a red Mustang stopped me and asked if I wanted to test some high tech cycling clothes for his Swiss company. I told him I did but I needed to get down to camp before it got totally dark. On that curvy road, I was able to keep up with the cars and the Swiss guy ended up driving behind me, lighting the road for me with his brights. It was a spectacular descent, with the last of the light fading on the clouds below and my very own chase car. When I got to camp, I gave the Swiss man, Bruno, my address. He said he had seen me several times riding on the island and would send me some bike clothes to test. I hope it pans out; it would be interesting to help with gear design since I sure use my stuff pretty hard core and in some fairly rugged conditions.

Back at camp, the wind had died down and I had a nice dinner with a local couple camping on the mountain for the weekend.

I spent the next two days slowly making my way back to the coast and hanging out on the beach near Paia. Then it was back to the Banana Bungalow for my last night and a quick ride to the airport this morning. The hostel had stored my bike box and one of the employees was nice enough to drive it to the airport for me.

So, my two week adventure in paradise is over and it's time to get back to the real world.
-- Post From My iPhone