u/CPetersky

Greetings!

I will be reviewing Day 2 of the Ride Seattle-Vancouver and Party ride for volunteer on-bicycle ride support (and other volunteers supporting the ride). The nonprofit Cascade Bicycle Club hosts this ride, and typically gets about 1200 participants in recent years.

Because of road construction, we are doing a completely different route from the border to the finish at David Lam park in Vancouver this year. I am doing the route review because I have some experience riding my bike to Vancouver from the border other than through riding the regular RSVP route.

The route for Day 2 is here: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/54527379

I am concerned about this section:

Delta Greenway - so I used to ride into town using King George, Colebrook, and then get on the trails to get to the Alex Fraiser Bridge. I remember it not being really suitable for my touring bike running 32s - it being rocky and sandy in places - so the last few years I've used other ways to get to the city. Maybe the Delta Greenway section of that whole unpaved route isn't that bad, or maybe it's improved since I last tried it. What do you think of the Delta Greenway section that we will be riding? Is it nice smooth gravel, or is really unsuitable for anything but fat tires? Since Day 1 is over a hundred miles, and Day 2 is still nearly 80, people are mostly on road bikes for this event.

Nordel Way - this is the way we're routing folks who are eschewing the Delta Greenway, down the wrong way on the sidewalk. I've actually ridden on Nordel Way, god help me, twice, and I think this is going to be challenging if, say, even 800 of the 1200 bikes are going to be on this thing. Right?

Do you see other challenges with the route as mapped that I should flag for road support?

The call is tomorrow night, so I am hoping that I'll hear from you today or tomorrow.

MANY THANKS! I'm looking forward to my ride - as always - to your lovely city.

EDITED TO CLARIFY:

I am not asking for route recommendations. I am not the one who decided what the route would be, nor will I get much input for future alternatives. The route has been set and we are riding it this weekend. I am asking for help with "heads up" or what people who are supporting the route should know. Thank you to all who have helped with this so far! Keep the suggestions coming!

Also, previous years' routes looked like this: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/50661134. I am not exactly sure where the construction is - maybe you do? This was the way for years upon years, with only minor variations- mostly to the end point in the city and the route to get there. When I did my first RSVP more than twenty years ago, we used the ferry instead of the Golden Ears bridge - that's how long this route has been around. This new route is completely different, which is why we're doing a review of how it's going to go.

Again, thanks for all the input so far - it is so appreciated.

I have a tour coming up on Thursday, and the forecast for Friday is pretty darn warm. The route is sparsely populated. The only town with services is about 22 miles into the day where I plan to resupply water at the gas station convenience store. But then I have a 1600' climb up, no shade, for 8 miles. The next settlement of any sort is then 6 (relatively flat) miles away. I was keen on getting more water at this settlement, as there would be nothing else until the end of my day - but how? I did a little goo street view tour - the non-residential buildings consist of a fire station, a grange hall, and a community church. The church doesn't have a website, but it does have a Facebook page with the email address of their pastor. I reached out to the pastor, and she's going to leave me a couple of water bottles under the church staircase in the shade for me to pick up on Friday. In thanks, I quoted back to her Isaiah 49:10: They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.

In the past I've posted that I have found success parking cars to begin/end tours in church parking lots. As long as you aren't parked there on Sunday morning (or unless they have a remarkably successful Wednesday Bible Study) they are quite happy to take a small donation and let you park there for all the other days of the week. I usually try to find one that is the most personally theologically compatible, but in the case of my segment on Friday, I have no other options - they'll get a check, and I will get my water.

What is your experience relying on churches or similar on tours? Have you left your car, gotten water, been allowed to camp on the grounds, or...?

I would love to read a version of Persuasion, from the viewpoint of Mrs. Clay. Anyone have suggestions? A brief search of this sub came up with bupkis.

I have now booked our trip from Seattle (WA USA) to ride P'tit Train du Nord (renting bikes and getting a shuttle through Autobus Train du Nord) and then we will spend a couple of days in Montreal before returning home.

My traveling companion and I have done bicycle tours in Sri Lanka and in Finland together plus some bicycle ramblings through our sister city of Vancouver to our north as well as hundreds of miles in this area, so I figure we will probably get along sufficiently for this trip as well.

Several things I am thinking about now that everything is set - I realize some of these questions are general travel questions and not specific to cycling - please forgive me:

• Will most of the mosquitos be dead by mid-September? That was one of the considerations in picking the time that we did. If we ride fast enough we should be able to outrun them :-D but I am thinking about rest stops along the way.
• Will the leaves be turning yet at all? I attended university decades ago in upstate New York, which is sort of a similar biome, and we didn't get fancy colored leaves there until October.
• What do you think is the most practical clothing for bicycle touring at that time of the year? (We will not be camping.) I am thinking the usual shorts, maybe tights, maybe short-sleeve jerseys with a longer-sleeve zip-up to keep off the morning chill - plus our usual Seattle rain jackets just in case it gets wet (which would be a bummer, but we will survive.) Then the usual gloves, helmet, and I always bring bandanas, too.
• What level of lock should I bring to lock up our rental bikes? It could range from none to lighter cable lock to U-lock to cable lock and U-lock. I am thinking it is perhaps the laid-back countryside and maybe we don't need anything gnarlier than a light cable lock to deter casual thieves, compared to riding in the city.
• Both my friend and I are interested in urban planning and design, and would like suggestions of interesting places in Montreal for us to ride around on whatever hourly-hire type bikes you have in the city - like, which neighborhoods and parks should we check out from behind the handlebars? I am happy to return the favor for Seattle if you were to be interested.

Thank you for any light you can shed on the above.

Wasn't sure if this should be posed in r/bikecommuting or r/femalefashionadvice so I figured here was the compromise.

I have a varied day ahead. Since it's going to be a nice warm (not super hot) spring day and I have the time and energy, I plan to get to all destinations by bicycle, a total of over 30 miles (50 kms). There's enough cycling in the day I will want bike shorts on, or my nether regions will pay the price. The most "extreme" of my destinations are - I need to appear at a bank and look at least semi-professional and competent; and later in the day I have a session with a personal trainer mainly to work on strength and balance.

Here is what I am thinking:

• Quick-dry V necked bright top - bike jersey probably too weird for the bank, but a quick-dry top I think will be OK.
• Stretchy skirt, black and white stripes. Skirts generally look more "dressed up", just like shorts usually say "casual" no matter the rest of the outfit. I can ride a bike in this skirt, I know this from experience. The stripes make it jaunty, to go with the bright top.
• Bike shorts under the stretchy skirt - the ones I have that have the shortest leg so it doesn't show under the skirt. I am not a fan of having to wear these at the gym, but they'll be OK.
• Black-and-white athletic shoes - the big compromise between the bike shoes and say, ballet flats to go with the skirt - and the only shoe really for the gym.
• White anklets.
• Black and white bandana for sweat and snot while on the bike, stuffed away for the bank visit.
• Of course, the helmet and gloves.

I'll ride my light touring bike so I can carry the paperwork I need for the bank in its trunk. It has those pedals for SPDs on one side, flat on the other, so I can ride without bike shoes. I do not want to have to bring a pannier just to change clothes along the way.

The bank theoretically only should judge me on the documents I will be taking with me for their review, not my appearance or mode of travel, but still. Maybe I can make a light comment about biking to get there when I meet the banker, maybe it's not a big deal. But if you all think I need to kick it up a notch, I could trade out the striped skirt for a black stretchy skirt instead, and throw on a coordinating scarf to cover up the more athletic elements of the quick-dry top. But it's more stuff I have to carry around, and the striped skirt is a little easier to ride in.

The other two destinations for the day I can wear whatever the F I want and it doesn't matter.

Your thoughts?

I am not good at game theory, so I am hoping you can help me here.

It seems to me that you should only ally yourself with someone you think has no chance of making it into the semis. She is not really competing with you or anyone - she's just there to be on TV again, show off her glow-up, remind old fans she exists and maybe catch a few new ones. She'll also have a total of three points to give away, so she has highest alliance value. If you win a round, her points plus the three you earn can be enough to get you into the semis.

Obviously there are other ways to gather points - MIB shenanigans, being so nice/helpful like Cucu - but shouldn't this be sort of the standard approach?

I would be sussing the room and figuring that Ms. Methyd is a likely win-most/all-rounds type of gal, and not pursue her the way Ms. Titties apparently was. Winners are not helpful allies.

Am I wrong? What would be your strategy?

I was piloting my car down a dull section of interstate highway on a sleep deficit after about 200 miles of driving. A few times I sort of drifted off to the shoulder, and decided that I would get off at the next exit with services and get a caffeinated beverage. I pulled into the gas station convenience store and aimed for the coffee in the back. They also provided tea. They had individually wrapped Twinnings tea bags, and even offered Darjeeling. So I decided to try that. I brewed up 12 ounces and dumped in a couple of half-and-halfs, and paid $2.04 which includes state sales tax.

Back on the interstate, I decided to sample the tea. It had an odd faint chemical flavor. Here are the options of what I think it could be:

1. spray from some sort of cleaning fluid used to wipe down the coffee machine area that had gotten on the to-go cup

2. spray from some sort of insecticide, used to keep the cockroaches at bay that had gotten on the to-go cup

3. that's just what Twinnings Darjeeling tastes like

Optimistically, I am hoping that you'll tell me 3 is the correct answer. I fear it's 2. I suspect 1 is the most likely.

Your thoughts?

P.S. I also had a stream of tumbleweeds hop the fence due to an irregular side wind, and they blew into the main line of traffic, and hit the car on this journey. Fortunately, I have now arrived at my Best Western Plus in one piece with no further hazards encountered.