Burnaby Lexington 1000: Skirting the Hornet's Nest
Lower Mainland June 1000
Ride Date: June 11, 2023
by Mike Hagen

This was a tough ride. Its story deserves to be told. Now that a week has gone by, I feel that I'm up to it.

For this Lower Mainland Spring 1000, Dave King and I initially planned to ride Full Circle, a counterclockwise trip up the Hope Princeton, north to Merritt and Logan Lake, over to Ashcroft and Cache Creek, up to 70 Mile House, then back to Vancouver via Lillooet and Whistler. But returning from the Interior 600 on June 5, we thought the Hope Princeton was still a bit iffy for bikes, and, besides, Full Circle has lots of climbing and the forecast was for HOT weather. Something easier, maybe?

The Peace Arch St. Helen's 1000 fit the bill. Previously run in 2005, 2010, and 2013, it had a route sheet and RwGPS file ready to go. Some quick revisions to start at Burnaby and turn around at Lexington (north suburb of Longview, Washington), and we were set. Dave's daughter had high school graduation events that Dave had to be home for, so we scheduled the ride for June 11 - 13 and called it a pre-ride to make it legit.

4:00 a.m., Sunday, June 11: It's hard to be ready so early. Dave showed up at my house at 4:00, but I didn't get us out the door until 4:15. A few hundred meters later, I realized I'd forgotten the spare batteries for my processor, so went back for them. The official start was the McDonalds on Hastings; we left from there at 4:24 a.m. I'd routed us as directly as possible to the border. That meant a few hills in Burnaby and Surrey and crossing the Patullo Bridge, but it went smoothly. We were at the border in two hours, and had a record-breaking crossing: only a minute to get our passports checked and passage granted.

Day 1 was going to be a long day. Hotels for a night stop had been hard to find; they were either sold out or pricey. We opted to go 435 km to Centralia on Day 1. Fortunately, the weather cooperated: cloudy, cool, with light winds that were favorable more often than not. Roads were good too; not heavily trafficked for the most part, long stretches with few stops, minimal navigational challenges. There was the occasional missed turn, but my Garmin was always quick with an "Off Course" notification. Even so, we were not going super fast. Not sure why. We're getting old, maybe?

We went through Issaquah during the afternoon rush hour (on a Sunday?): downhill, heavy traffic; we looked askance at each other, the next-day return there would be difficult. Dusk came while westbound on 264th St E, at Km 350. Behind us, Mt Rainier was still glowing in the sun, it was stunning. Full dark shortly after, and still almost 100 km to go to the King Oscar in Centralia, but except for a few short sections of trafficked road, it went smoothly. We checked in at 1:30 a.m., and Dave demonstrated a super-power: he was showered and in bed in just minutes. I barely had time to set up my recharging and choke down a ham sandwich. I also had a saddle sore developing; I feared very uncomfortable Days 2 and 3.

6:43 a.m., Monday, June 12: It was a pleasant morning heading down toward Castle Rock. A few navigational blips were easily sorted. Roads were good. We even had a tail wind! But it was a cloudless day, the sun was bright, and it got hot. And hotter. After the turn-around at Lexington, we had a headwind. And hills. We faced a net elevation gain for the rest of the day. 120 km into the day, we stopped at a small coffee/bakery kiosk at Napaville. We hadn't been drinking enough, and we both faced the early stages of heat exhaustion. Though it was already afternoon, we had no choice but to go slower and rest more often. Back at Centralia at 3:00 p.m., we needed ice cream and air conditioning. Dave demonstrated another of his super-powers: he asks directions. Where's the DQ? Well, it was across town, but the A&W/KFC was right down the block.

Onward. Our second night stop was a Warm Showers place about 15 km north of Issaquah. Dave texted them from Centralia that we would probably be very late, and we had no way to update them; our phones did not work in the US. Issaquah is 45 km north of Enumclaw, and we weren't even at Enumclaw at dusk. We were again on 264 St E, this time eastbound, and the views of Mt Rainier were even more stunning. Full dark at Enumclaw. I sat on a bench outside the Enumclaw City Council building eating my Subway sandwich while Dave hunted down food of his own. We set off northbound. I was exhausted.

15 km later we descended to the Black Diamond Bridge in Green River Gorge State Park. And tried to ascend out of it. The road was steep, it was busy, it was dark, rumble strips on the shoulders, my eyes were blurry and I could not balance well enough. It was midnight and I was done. Dave had to go on. We split up: Dave rode on, I hauled my bike into the forest, lined a hollow with sword fern fronds, rolled into my emergency blanket, and slept.

Meanwhile, Dave was cruising, concerned about deer suddenly jumping in front of him. He watched a deer move off the road and saw a fawn laying there. Was it injured? He checked and saw no signs of trauma. Maybe it was laying there because the road was warm. He picked up the baby deer by the scruff of its neck to get it off the road, mama snorting behind. As the fawn half stood, a car approached. Dave flashed his lights and waved his arms to get the car to stop, which they did. But the deer had disappeared from between his legs, slipping off to the side of the road. Who knows what the car driver saw, other than this crazed, arm-waving cyclist standing in rural nowhere Washington at 1:00 a.m?

4:06 a.m., Tuesday, June 13: I woke up cold. The forest was disorienting. Was this a dream? No, it was real. But the stars were gone, and the trees could be vaguely seen; it was time to start out again. The highway was not an issue in the morning twilight. The roads were nice, though rush hour traffic was building. The Issaquah climb was a slog, but manageable. I got to the turnoff to our night stop from last night in just over 2 hours, about twice as fast it would have taken. No sign of Dave: it turned out he was an hour behind me, slowly gaining all day, and finished 15 minutes after I did.

Strong tailwinds after Conway were great. The day was uneventful but for saddle sores. Peace Portal Drive was 13 km of pounding misery. The torrential downpour in Surrey was appropriate punctuation to the day.

One often meets folk on long brevets. Most are kind, friendly, helpful. Some are a bit odd. Two teenage boys at Monroe, wanting to know how tall I was; one says to the other, "Oh! I wish I was 6 ft 2!" At the Creation Center in Castle Rock, the proprietor very kindly allowed use of his bathroom, of which I was in desperate need; friendly guy, but a few seconds of frenetic evangelical Jesus-speak at the end surprised all three of us. The night clerk at the King Oscar very kindly fetched a few slices of bread for us from the breakfast nook when we checked in. The Mariposa Taqueria at Edison, though closed for a private function, their big water container empty, gave me a couple of bottles of water. And there were more, especially all the folk responding to Dave's requests for directions!

Overall, the roads are maybe more trafficked than ideal, though considering one is skirting around the whole Everett/Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia area, it's not bad. Booking hotels may take some work, but services in general are not a problem. And, you know what? Though it was my slowest ever 1000, it was all right. It's a good route.