By SEABURY BLAIR JR.
EDITOR’S NOTE — See related story today, “Bicyclists to climb to top of Ridge in Ride the Hurricane this Sunday,” https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20150731/NEWS/307319999
SEQUIM — You might notice a paucity of bicycle riders this weekend.
My guess is that many local pedal pushers will be heading toward Sequim and Port Angeles for three great cycling events.
On Saturday and Sunday, bicyclists will have the opportunity to see Sequim’s vaunted lavender fields from their saddles.
It’s the Tour de Lavender, with a long-distance ride on Saturday and a family fun pedal on Sunday to Sequim’s lavender farms.
And on Sunday, bicyclists will have one of the most scenic and challenging roads all to themselves.
The Hurricane Ridge Road will be closed to auto traffic from 7 a.m. to noon to allow cyclists the opportunity to punish themselves with a 17-mile, 5,000 vertical-foot climb.
The reward, of course, is riding back down from Hurricane Ridge. You can cruise the entire 17 miles without touching the pedals — although it is highly recommended you tap the brakes every now and then to stay below the posted 35 miles per hour limit.
Entry fee for Saturday’s Metric Century Plus Ride is $55. For the Family Lavender Farm Ride, it’s $45 ($15 for riders under 12). To register, visit tourdelavender.wordpress.com.
Sunday’s Ride the Hurricane costs $40 for pre-registration at portangeles.org. Hurricane Ridge riders will have the option this year of
pedaling from sea level by riding downtown Port Angeles before starting the climb.
For a shorter climb, riders will be able to start from Heart O’ the Hills, 1,100 vertical feet above the Peninsula Community College start. The ride from Heart O’ the Hills is 8.5 miles, one-way.
During a period of lunacy brought on by early senility many years ago, I pedaled my mountain bike up the Hurricane Ridge Road from Heart O’ the Hills.
It was an adventure I will never forget, thanks to a bunch of kids from Boy Scout Troop 1510.
My mountain bike, the Great Emasculator, has 21 gears. None of them were low enough to keep me from wheezing like a leaky Dyson or sweating so much that Morse Creek turned to saltwater.
The Scouts — Ryan and Derek Frei, Chuck and Phillip Galbraith, Sterling Large and Nathan and Erik Hill — all climbed the ridge road in about two hours. It took me slightly longer, if you define “slightly” as being sometime the same day.
As exhausting as the ride was for me, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone who pedals a bike on a regular basis. Every hundred feet of elevation you gain opens new vistas across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, into deep forested valleys or up mountain peaks still decorated with snow.
And nobody says you’ve got to ride all the way to the top. Pedal 4 miles from Heart O’ the Hills to the tunnels at Lookout Rock, and you’ve got one of the most spectacular views of the Strait and Vancouver Island.
You’ll have climbed about 900 vertical feet from Heart O’ the Hills, and thrill at the ride down.
Odds are you’ll need plenty of sunscreen this weekend around Sequim and Hurricane Ridge.
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Seabury Blair Jr. is the author of Backcountry Ski! Washington; Day Hike! Olympic Peninsula; Day Hike! Columbia Gorge; The Creaky Knees Guide to Washington; the Creaky Knees Guide to Oregon; and Washington Wild Roads. E-mail Seabury at skiberry@hughes.net.
