With the bike tour officially ending and our bikes locked up on the rack on the back of my car, I decided to wait until we got home to document my final thoughts about the trip. That, and we also spent the entire day walking Port Townsend, finding geocaches, eating at many of the restaurants with vegan options, and going into nearly every shop in town in search of an Olympic Discovery Trail enamel pin (of which we never found). Needless to say, I was exhausted by yesterday evening and felt my final thoughts would be better expressed from the comfort of my own home.
First things first, Port Townsend is an incredible little town and one of Lauren’s favorite places (she only told me 17 times yesterday). Everything about it from the Victorian buildings to the bike-friendly streets made it a place worth the drive from Portland to see. I was very happy that we decided to stay an extra day after returning from our tour since we didn’t get to see much of the town when we arrived since we were too worried about where we were parking the car for two weeks.
A few vegan highlights in Port Townsend include Thai food at Khu Larb Thai, sorbet at Phosphene (an all-vegan snack shop and bookstore), great veggie sandwiches at Owl Spirit Cafe, and surprise late-night (for us) vegan Italian ices at Elevated Ice Cream. There were a few not-so-noteworthy places that I won’t bother mentioning. If you are in the area and wondering where to eat, the HappyCow reviews should point you in the right direction.
This was my longest bike tour and there are definitely some things that I learned from it.
- Plan, plan, plan. Especially on the first day. What happens on the first day of your tour can easily set the stage for the rest of your trip. Also, if you are leading a group, and they have a horrible first day (say, you end up riding until 11:30 pm) it will take some time to recover from that. In short, if you’re going to fuck up, make sure you’ve built some morale to fall back on before you do.
- My packing strategy can use some work. Every time I’ve toured, I’ve managed to bring less and less–we once hauled a table and chairs over Going to the Sun Road which was a mistake–but I think things can be trimmed down even more. I decided to start a clothes packing list based on what I brought versus what I wore on this trip which I will use as a guide next time. Things like camping equipment, food, and toiletries will get their own list as well and I plan on making them while this trip is fresh in my mind.
- I am not a minimalist. Although I need to bring less stuff, I will never be an ultralight guy. I don’t want to sleep in a hammock or wrapped in a tarp out in the open somewhere. I don’t want to shower in my only pair of bike shorts and let my body heat dry them. I don’t want to live off of peanut butter and ramen. I enjoy some creature comforts and that’s ok. Staying in hotels and taking showers is nothing to be ashamed of. When I was touring around the Big Island of Hawaii, I met a guy riding a Brompton around Volcano National Park. When I told him about my tour he told me he liked bike riding and he liked camping, but he didn’t like doing both of them together. I understand that thinking a little better now.
- I prefer a traditional four pannier setup. We encountered a few minimalist bike tourists on this trip with bags on their bikes that didn’t seem big enough to carry a change of clothes, let alone shelter and food. This is not me. I tried my Salsa Anything Cages with dry bags strapped to them and while they worked (I packed all of my clothes into them), they served more as inconvenient mini front panniers. They were a pain to get on and off and I was only able to access what was at the very top. I feel like in most situations, a set of Ortlieb front panniers would have been much easier to keep my gear organized. If I’m being honest with myself, I only bought the Anything Cages because I felt compelled to use the three-bolt pattern on my front fork. I have now accepted that I am a traditionalist, and as cool as the bikepacking setups look, they are just not for me.
All in all, this trip was a great time for both of us. It was definitely difficult, but if it wasn’t, then everybody would be going on long bike trips instead of traditional vacations. We’re not the type of couple that likes to lie on a beach for a week to recharge–we need new experiences and preferably, adventure, to get our blood moving. I’ll be returning to the drudgery of my job very soon, but at least I’ll be able to have a story to tell and some things to daydream about to get me through the days ahead.
