After a week full of mostly rain, chilly breezes and general ickiness, the skys started to clear up a bit on Saturday afternoon and by sunset I was optimistic for a bike ride the following day.
The Whistle Lake area of the Anacortes Community Forest Lands was the destination. I had ridden here a couple of times in 2009 and I was really looking forward to getting back onto the flowling singletrack goodness of this place.
This was my first time back on the bike since the truck accident three and a half weeks ago and boy could I feel it. The opening climb was steep and there was much more huffing and puffing than I had expected. It was a quite brisk 47 degrees for pretty much the entire ride and the cool air felt really good. While we SoCal weather weenies consider that cold, after a week of typically Seattle area weather, this was no where close to bad. There is something about being out in nature of a trail that meanders through the forest is good chicken soup for the soul. I am especially fond of the series of trails going around the lake with its numerous twists and turns coupled with short up and downs. The trails on the north side of the lake is often perched well above the lake and sometimes is downright near-cliff like just off the trail.
I did pretty close to the route I did in 2009 and by the time I was done I was pretty spent and my legs were complaining. Obviously way too many tasty beers and no miles on the legs were issue. I was nearly finished with my ride with the sun came out for good and the day was getting downright awesome. I had plenty of time left in my day and I did not feel like leaving the trails just yet.
There is a also a series of trails in the Heart Lake area where I had parked. I just had to go out and get some more time in the dirt even though I was “done”. I liken it to having a yummy Thanksgiving dinner. You are plenty stuffed already but you just have to have that extra slice of pie to finish things off. So I headed off to do a loop around Heart Lake. I ended up worked over and sore over the “extra slice of pie” but it was well worth it.
Less than a mile from Heart Lake is Mount Erie and there is an access road up to the top as well some viewpoints. The views were quite amazing.
It was certainly a great day to be out on a bike and a particularly good day to be getting back on the saddle.