40th Annual “Chilly Hilly” Bike Ride More Than Delivers on Promise

“Chilly Hilly” riders heading down a Bainbridge Island hill (Photo: Jonathan Dean)

The days are getting longer, holiday-season gorging is far behind us, and it’s time to get back in the saddle. Shake off the dust from muscles that haven’t been used in a while! Shed some of that winter padding! For cyclists, there’s no better way to inflict such pain on ourselves than the annual “Chilly Hilly,” Cascade Bike Club’s February ride around Bainbridge Island.

Saturday night I’d heard the beautifully masochistic opera Orpheus and Eurydice at Seattle Opera. Its strangely mingled music of pain and pleasure was playing in my mind during much of Sunday’s 33-mile ride, with its alleged 2,675 feet of elevation gain (imagine Queen Anne, stacked on top of itself nearly six times).

There are few pleasures greater than whizzing down one of Bainbridge’s empty 2-lane roads, the glimmering blue waters of Port Madison or Port Orchard beckoning at the bottom of the hill, the smell of fir and spruce in the cool breeze that’s wicking away your sweat and rustling the number-tags you’ve pinned to your jacket. Yet this precious pleasure is only bought with the great pain of climbing each of the island’s hills, a couple of which are long and steep enough to qualify for Tour de France ratings.

Of the thousands of cyclists who rode today, many resorted to walking their bikes up especially steep stretches. Some of us just shifted down to our “granny gears,” eliminated everything from our consciousness besides pedaling and gasping for breath, and hoped we didn’t smash into anybody. And yet, there’s an odd pleasure in the light-headedness you get when you crest one of those killer hills, the way I imagine nitrogen narcosis is probably kind of fun.

Despite my enthusiasm for it, I’m sure some of today’s less warmly-dressed riders (I had on three layers, plus thick all-purpose winter gloves) found the blast of wind when rushing downhill at 40 mph a bit uncomfortable. Pain or pleasure, take your pick; or maybe, experience both at the same time. Even the snow, which only dusted us for a few miles, was simultaneously beautiful and alarming.

If you’re on the fence about whether you should ride it someday, please don’t take seriously my whining about steep hills—nor that of the cyclist who exclaimed to me, as both of us (finally) got to the top of Hill Number 3, “That sucked!” It’s the Pacific Northwest, it’s hilly, get over it.

I was duly chastened, after the ride, when I met a Bainbridge Island resident who had ridden the 33-mile route that day—three times. And he didn’t even seem tired. (This man, one of Cascade Bike Club’s tireless volunteers, had first ridden the route at 5:30 am to make sure everything was clean and clear, since islanders who resent the ride have been known to attempt to sabotage it.)

A few memories of today’s adventure:

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For reasons that elude me, we were asked to sort ourselves, like Goldilocks’ porridge, into boarding groups for the ferry by speed (fast, medium and slow). That request was largely ignored. (Photo: Jonathan Dean)

Cyclists waiting to get on the 9:35 ferry. It was the 9:45 ferry by the time we were done with them! (Photo: Jonathan Dean)

With thousands of cyclists doing the “Chilly Hilly” (the record was over 6000 in 2010), these are crowded ferry rides. (Photo: Jonathan Dean)

WSDOT is quite particular about keeping their ferries in good condition, and hordes of cyclists tromping around with metal cleats on the soles of their shoes isn’t good for the decks. So if you want to be a good citizen and give people fewer reasons to hate bicyclists, take off shoes with cleats when you’re on a ferry. (Photo: Jonathan Dean)

“Chilly Hilly” is always a beautifully topsy-turvy day for the Bainbridge Island Ferry—one day a year when bicycles are the majority and we also allow them to ferry a few cars. (Photo: Jonathan Dean)

A steaming hot bowl of chili, meat or vegetarian, awaited riders back in Winslow courtesy of FareStart. (Photo: Jonathan Dean)

“Chilly Hilly” riders heading down a Bainbridge Island hill (Photo: Jonathan Dean)

Can’t afford Bainbridge Island waterfront real estate? Bike the “Chilly Hilly” and pretend for a moment that you live in these amazing houses. We hugged the shore at Manitou Beach, Crystal Springs, and Rockaway Beach. (Photo: Jonathan Dean)

I was surprised to learn that today was *also* the “FHR” (it stands for “F---ing Hills Race”), an event organized by a club known as Point 83, every Chilly Hilly day for the last seven years. When I asked a member to explain Point 83, he told me it’s “a drinking club with a serious bicycling problem." Although described by a representative of Cascade Bike Club as “pirates,” presumably because they simply buy their own ferry tickets and ride around Bainbridge without paying Cascade’s registration fees, they did throw a nice party in a park in Winslow after the ride. Even the sun came out for it. (Photo: Jonathan Dean)

We ride counter-clockwise around the island. I dashed off the ferry and up to Fay Bainbridge State Park with plenty of energy, before a couple of hills took away the shine. At the halfway stop, Battle Point Park, plenty of local charities were selling fruit and baked goods, and REI had a repair facility. (Photo: Jonathan Dean)

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