The Thing

Route: Counter-clockwise loop around Camano Island.
Distance: 39 miles. (A 25 mile option is also available)
Weather: Sunny. Temperatures were in the low 60s. Light wind.
Terrain: Hilly.
Elevation gain: 2,400′
Time: 3.0 hours
Calories burned: 2,307
Things consumed: 1 bottle of water, 1 Clif bar, an orange, a banana.
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Camano Island is about an hour north of Seattle, just west of I5’s exit 212. No ferry is required, as the brochure likes to point out. The route’s been revised to exclude the bridge crossing onto Camano proper. While safer, this avoids a lot of the pretty farmland on the eastern part of the island. Views from the ride aren’t as good as you’d expect because the roads are bordered by thick areas of trees acting as privacy barriers for view homes.

In some cases, the legendary Pacific Northwest spiders have taken justice into their own … legs.

One aspect that really sucked about this ride was the marking. The Dan Henrys, the little glyphs on the road indicating turns, were dark purple/black and very easy to miss as an oil smudge or salt deposit. Labeling became more difficult as the ride circled back because they wanted to divert people off the busier East Camano Island road onto the side streets. Half the riders, myself included, missed the one leading to the second rest stop.

The first rest stop wasn’t labeled on the map, though somehow I remembered this from the previous years and knew to look for it. Restrooms were in a community center covered with nice hardwood floors. To the right, a lady in fancy, non-walkable biker shoes gingerly works downstairs. (Okay, maybe the shoes aren’t the only thing I was looking at.)

Just past the rest stop was The Thing. Is it art? Is it processing neptunium used in weapons of misdirection? One of the portals was broken, but I didn’t want to venture close to the green glow to peek inside.

One of the more unusual yard displays is shown on the right. If it weren’t for the dollar signs, this might seem like an homage to times past when gas station restrooms were clean and all trucks looked like they should be in ZZ Top videos. However, with the dollar signs, the artist appear to be expressing doubt about the viability of current energy policies.

Maybe it’s because I just did a longer ride last weekend, but the 39 miles went by very quickly and I was left feeling a little disappointed. Next year, I’m going to forgo this event and pick a random ferry route as my starting point.