Another trip down Martindale Road on the road bike on a wet coast day with the smell of pumpkin and cabbage decomposition in the air.

Curious Christmas arrangement on West Wallace Drive. Good luck with that Santa.

An 80km road bike ride around the Saanich Peninsula. Click on the map to see GPS details on the Garmin website.

Farm near Brenwood Bay.

Sunset at Ogden Point (taken several hours after the ride).

A 46km road bike ride on the Lochside Trail near Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see details on the Garmin website.

Lochside Trail pig. It's big.

That car has a bit of a muffin top and the cyclist's seat is too low, or maybe I'm spouting off randomly.

On the way back into Victoria on the Lochside Trail just before it meets up with the Galloping Goose Trail.

A 44km road bike ride around parts of Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see details on the Garmin website.

Heading south on Oldfield Road in Central Saanich. Hard to tell from the greenery, but there was actually some ice on the road in some shady sections.

About 2/3rds done I figure on the way back into Victoria along the Galloping Goose. It was somewhat easy, based on my limited weather knowledge, to imagine the that clouds off in the distance looked somewhat like tornado spawning clouds.

The shadow on the Galloping Goose.

Heading over the Switch Bridge near the Dorf-Mart (Walmart) complex on the Goose.

Late day sun on the Selkirk Trestle. This is pretty much in downtown Victoria for those who don't know.

More late day sun over the Juan de Fuca Strait. Seen from Dallas Road.

A 30km road ride of sorts west of Duncan on the Trans Canada Trail. Click on the map to see GPS details on the Garmin website.

Part of the group, deep in conversation, on the Trans Canada Trail west of Duncan.

Our turnaround point at Paldi part of the way to Lake Cowichan from Duncan. Not much going on in these parts today.

A Cowichan Valley residence alongside the Trans Canada Trail near Duncan. The compost bin appears to have some perimeter security going on, complete with bells. Perhaps the bells are meant to enhance the dining ambiance for any bears that choose this particular bin.

We thought we'd check the trail map on the way back into town, rather than on the way out. Makes sense I guess .

One of the fancy looking new bridges along the Trans Canada Trail near Duncan.

It was hard to miss this on the way to the bagel shop in downtown Duncan.

A 60km road bike ride on the Saanich Peninsula near Victoria, BC. Click on the map to see GPS details on the Garmin website.

Heading north along the Lochside Trail. It's Fall. It's nice.

Big pig doing what pigs do.

Brown pig munching on onions.

Getting close to Mitchell's Farm on the Lochside Trail.

Field of pumpkins near Mitchell's Farm on the Saanich Peninsula.

An 80km road bike ride from Victoria to East Sooke and back. Click on the map to see details on the Garmin website.

Portage Inlet on the way out of Victoria. If I didn't hate picking berries so much I might have been tempted to follow my nose to the blackberries for a snack.

Lots of people on the Galloping Goose today. Even saw some kiddies doing some group riding practise (not in this photo).

Heading west across Esquimalt Lagoon. To quote Borat, 'very nice.'

I rather like Metchosin Road normally, it's hilly and curvy and the views of the south island country-side are all good.

Maybe the new pavement on Rocky Point Road had something to do with my flat. Said pavement, and the related downhill felt all good up until the flat.

One thumb, a finger, a rear tire, and some little piece of bastard crap stuck in tire. Thank-you bastard piece of crap, I love flats.

Nice view of Becher Bay near East Sooke.

The Sooke highway from the 17 Mile Pub back to Langford is not really that great for riding on (minimal shoulder) hence the lack of photos leading up to this one on the Galloping Goose near the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre. New pavement on this stretch of the Goose is nice.

Someone would have needed to draw one of these to mark the location of my corpse had I been totally dominated by today's East Sooke ride. Thankfully, this was not required.

A 56km road bike ride through parts of Victoria (Prospect Lake and Saanich). Click on the map to see detailed GPS information on the Garmin website.

Our smallish group on the way to Prospect Lake Road via the Lochside Trail. Another great night/day for outdoorsing it.

A 74km round-trip road bike ride from Port Angeles to Hurricane Ridge. Click on the map to see detailed GPS information on the Garmin website.

The Coho awaits in the early morning hours of July 25.

It was a pretty nice morning on the Inner harbour. That's the Johnson Street Bridge at the head of the Gorge Waterway.

More early morning Inner Harbour action, namely the Delta Hotel and some Vic West condos.

Me, Kari, and Michelle on the bow of the Coho Ferry prior to departure from Victoria's Inner Harbour.

Coho life ring. I seem to recall thinking that if for some reason I ended up in the water, my bike clothing would not offer much insulation, duhhhh.

There's probably a technical term for this... mooring line/rope?

A pretty big boat in the Port Angeles Harbour.

There seems to be a lot of metal art in Port Angeles. I don't recall seeing the same numbers of objects the last time I was in P.A.

Michelle looks giddy about the impending three hours of climbing. This was taken at the Olympic Park visitor centre.

Kari looked kind of giddy too. There were at least 10 other people on the ferry with us who were heading up to Hurricane Ridge as well.

The higher you go the better the view gets on the road up to Hurricane Ridge.

One of three short, but dark, tunnels along the way.

There's some debate about which half is harder, the first or the last. Even if the last half is easier by the numbers, it doesn't feel that way. It was mighty nice to see the lodge at the top signalling the end of the climb.

Yeah it's kind of cool, but isn't this how those man vs beast, man gets maimed videos start? In the background is the top of the ridge, on which I believe a couple of rope tows operate in the winter.

Olympic Mountains to the south from the lodge at Hurricane Ridge.

More mountain, lush looking valleys, and me.

There's apparently quite a bit of hiking in the Hurricane Ridge area. Someday, I/we will head over to do some hiking, but not after riding up the hill.

I saw it, I took photo of it. Didn't see too many dead trees on the way except for this one.

Still a few little wildflowers at Hurricane Ridge even though we're halfway through the summer.

Good work Michelle, you made it.

Heading back down in the hope of catching the 12:45pm ferry.

A somewhat torturous, several hour climb became a fun 45 minute descent.

More downhill riding on the way back to Port Angeles.

A bit of a Mt. Baker view from just above the Heart o' the Hills park toll booth. $5 per person for entry.

Lots of big trees = shade, which was welcome by this point of the ride. Still not quite back in Port Angeles yet.

With our hopes for the 12:45pm ferry dashed, it was off to the Sunday market on the Port Angeles waterfront. I guess it may not have actually been a regular Sunday thing, and maybe we lucked out, but it gave us something to do for four hours while we waited for the next ferry. Beware of the octopus guarding the port-a-crappers!

Hollywood sci-fi sand sculpture #1: Terminator

Hollywood sci-fi sand sculpture #2: IRobot

Hollywood sci-fi sand sculpture #3: Uhhh, Aliens and Futurama?

Hollywood sci-fi sand sculpture #4: any ideas?

Hollywood sci-fi sand sculpture #5: Star Wars

Hollywood sci-fi sand sculpture #6: that's an awesome Jabba the Hut

Port Angeles Harbour near the Coho terminal.

It pains me to mention cheesy vampire movies/shows, but didn't one of the characters in either Twilight or Vampire Diaries drive one of these?

MOMAR! It's capitalized, that means I'm yelling on the interwebs. Just kidding, I'm not yelling. Kari and Michelle do like their MOMAR jerseys though.

14 hours later and we're finally back in Victoria. The Port Angeles market was good, but next time I'll be aiming for the earlier ferry.

Yep, it's still pretty dark at 5am. The camera makes things look a bit darker than it actually was, but not far off. This is just after the start near the University of Washington in Seattle.

As the day got brighter, and we got further south in Seattle, the crowds started thinning slightly, but there were still lots of riders in front and behind. I think this might have been somewhere near Renton. It was too dark to take photos earlier in the day, while we were riding along Lake Washington - it was rather nice though.

The second rest stop in Kent was a busy place and ended up being the source of my breakfast since I didn't pack a cinnamon bun like Vince. Fruit and energy bars were ok, but peanut butter tortilla rollups were not quite as good. Cool stop though with a bit of a party atmosphere.

I don't think Vince had much time make himself up this morning so he may not appreciate this somewhat candid photo. Looking hot in bike gear with a wack of crap in your pockets is generally pretty difficult anyway.

Being from Canada we don't see to may signs like this public park sign in Puyallup. Actually, there are signs like this in Canada, but they typically don't include point number 2.

'The Hill' just after Puyallup. Yeah, it's a hill, but to be honest it wasn't that bad, not really any worse than some later on in the ride.

Just what everyone needs to see - people lined up for the port-a-crappers. The rest stop in Spanaway was really good food-wise, there was even a pizza truck. A good portion of our three hour non-moving time during the ride was due to waits like this; not complaining though. The first 5 hours of the ride were under overcast skies and cool temperatures. There was literal teeth-chattering when we left this rest stop.

Vince was powered by chocolate according to his shorts. Actually, I'm pretty sure Vince didn't eat any chocolate during the ride, although there may be a photo of him somewhere on the interwebs with some chocolate flavoured power gel on his face. This stretch was fast and relatively fun on the way to Roy.

I think I may have an aversion to honey from this point forward. This rest stop was in Yelm if I recall correctly.

We spent a good chunk of time on the Yelm-Tenino trail, a former railbed. I was expecting something more barren and industrial, but the whole length was really nice, it even had some lake views.

Getting close to halfway through ride. This is the Tenino rest stop. Some dude was yelling out the rest stop offerings to arriving riders; pretty sure he was heading towards a few days of laryngitis.

Nice roads on the way towards Centralia, and for that matter most of the way. Definitely not the I-5.

Finally, the midway point in Centralia. This approach to parking one's bike seems reasonable, but more often than not seemed to end up with bikes falling over.

Sunscreen touchup and Darigold Cow consultation in Centralia. I was happy to avoid the cow's solicitations.

In my opinion this is the safe way to park your bike (as opposed to the option shown previously). Derailleur up! I suppose someone could still step on, or fall onto, your bike causing issues, but generally I figure this is better.

Sweet, about halfway done... oh god, still need to ride another 160km.

Vince trying to intimidate other riders with his triceps in the food line at the Centralia rest stop.

Some of the rest stops like the one in Centralia had massage therapy available. We didn't take advantage, fearing more unwanted pain.

A couple velomobiles at the Centralia rest stop.

Gourmet? No, but after chowing down on energy bars etc. for a while, something even as minimalistic as this sandwich tastes ok.

Finally, albeit somewhat hesitantly we got back on the bikes and headed out of Centralia into the farm land to the south.

After a 160km under grey skies things had not improved much. Aside from the 5-10 minutes of warmup required after every rest stop, the temperature was tolerable. Thankfully, during the cold spells I had a giant sticker covering some vents on the front of my helmet.

More scenic or boring (depending on your perspective) agricultural scenery. I liked it.

Finally, some sun... and a rad rooster in Winlock.

I'm not really sure this is the world's biggest egg, but maybe I'm wrong. I seem to recall a pysanka (easter egg) somewhere in Alberta that's bigger than this one in Winlock.

It felt rather good to leave the Winlock rest stop without shivering. The rest of the ride was under sunny skies.

Best food on route... Vader Taters (baked potato) and banana bread. Ordinarily, these might not be standouts, but by this point of the ride both were welcome changes to the stuff we had been consuming previously. $10 donation, check.

Another shot from the Vader rest stop.

Corner store in Vader, Washington. Thanks for the taters, Vader.

From Vader onwards we had some cool winding roads through mostly treed countryside. Again, different strokes for different folks, but I really like this sort of stuff.

Cool, some sort of rocket/missile thing outside the Castle Rock High School, one of the last stops in Washington.

Castle Rock moo cows. By this point I'm pretty sure both Vince and I were finally fairly sure that we were going to make it to Portland.

Last stop in Washington at Lexington. About 235km done, roughly 90km to go. Some pretty decent peanut butter and banana sandwiches here. Salty tortilla chips were probably even better though.

Heading towards Kelso and Oregon along the Cowlitz River.

Oregon at last. Well, not quite. Need to get over the Lewis and Clark Bridge first.

Looking west along the Columbia River from the Lewis and Clark Bridge.

First town in Oregon was Rainier. We were definitely feeling good about finishing at this point although we were also starting to feel the effects of a long day in the saddle.

There was lots of this sort of thing on the side of the road today. The first occurrence was within 1km of the start and there were people fixing things within 5km of the finish. No problems for us thankfully.

The St. Helens rest stop was the last major stop for us and was about 45km from the finish line. There were notable signs of fatigue amongst the rest stop visitors, but everybody seemed content and ready to finish it up.

Hard not to smile when the end is near. The road from St. Helens into Portland was not the most inspiring (wide and sort of busy), but on the plus side it was mostly downhill and we had a tailwind.

Portland... we're almost done except for a few more kms of stoplights and city traffic.

Oh so close. The Steel Bridge over the Willamette River in Portland.

Vince and myself moments after finishing the longest ride either of us may ever do. I would not have guaranteed at the beginning of the day that I'd be walking at this point, but both of us felt pretty good, relatively speaking.