Biking the ODT with Friends!

This past week I got out for a ride on the much-beloved ODT (Olympic Discovery Trail) with my good friend and former colleague from REI Nicole Leggiere. Nicole loves to bike, and when I asked how far she wanted to go on this initial ride, she simply said, 'Three hours?' <gulp!> I have only been out on some shorter (8-mile) rides so far this year (what I would call a 'toodle'). Three hours sounded ambitious! However, what I said was, 'sounds great!'

The day of the ride, we showed up at our meeting point The Dungeness River Nature Center at 9am. She got her bike out of the car—an electric bike! That is definitely an advantage for a longer ride. I was like, 'I'm setting the pace!'

The trail is generally flat and follows the Old Olympic Highway through beautiful farmland. There are some steep descents/climbs as the trail approaches Hwy 101 (just after the Old Olympic Hwy joins 101 outside Port Angeles). I had to get off and walk my bike up the hill a couple times—my quads were toast. We did not make it all the way into downtown Port Angeles, given our time constraints and the state of my legs. Instead, we swapped bikes and headed back to Sequim an hour and a half into the ride.

The e-bike was a *dream*! I honestly don't know what the assist level was set at, but I think it was low because Nicole is a hard-charger and I did not make changes to her settings—no more walking the bike uphill (lol)! My singular complaint about the e-bike was the lack of toe cages. I didn't realize how much I use them, particularly coming out of a stopped position. Otherwise, I enjoyed a rather leisurely ride back to the Nature Center. If I were biking to lose weight, I think I'd have go much further on an e-bike to get the same results. It's a trade-off.

I highly recommend getting out on the ODT for your next ride! The scenery is gorgeous, and for this section at least, there are only road crossings—no road sharing.

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