Cycling against the elements

Story by Annie Runnels, photos by Damon Call

The air is cold and crisp and feels like needles pricking skin. The riders stand straddling their bikes as they wait for one another. Their breath is white and foggy as they talk among themselves. The sound of clip shoes snap into place, helmet headlights click on to light the way through the trails and the ride leader points south as the nighttime adventure begins. The Mount Baker Bicycle Club is ready to disappear into the cold night.

The winter months turn the weekly rides into nighttime trail rides and the dedicated cyclists exchange their road bikes for mountain bikes. They head down to Boulevard Park toward Connelly Creek to the Interurban trails then up to Lake Padden and back to Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro for recaps, boasting, dinner and beer.

The Mount Baker Bicycle Club started in 1974 and is the only club of its kind in Bellingham. The club encourages safe and healthy cycling practices for recreational riders, transportation riders and racing riders. The club provides multiple rides during the week depending on the season for all riding levels as well, Ellen Barton, president of the club says.

Barton says a group of Bellingham riders decided to put together a weekly ride more than a decade ago. Rain, snow, even hail, could not stop the group of riders from being adventurous says Doug Schoomover, ride coordinator for the club. The Wednesday night ride is the only ride that happens year round. Other rides are seasonal, Schoomover says.

One Wednesday night last November, the sky opened up just as 5:45 p.m. was rolling around and riders were leaving work. As soon as the group of riders was ready to hit the trails, it started hailing and the ground turned white. Schoomover says he was ready to pack up at that point and head for home. Then a few of the riders, who rode in on their bikes, wanted to go regardless of the hail beating down on them.

The few riders who rode in on their bikes encouraged the others to go along for the ride. Schoomover says it was a short, cold, wet ride, but not bad in the end. Schoomover says the group has faced some extreme weather, but that night was the most memorable.

Barton says even snow won't keep the most dedicated riders from riding.

"It's possible for limited participation if it was snowing, but people with studded tires will still go if it was snowing or icy," Barton says.

Membership chair Marie Kimball says she tries to ride three times per week and includes the Wednesday night ride as one of the three. She helps organize and take responsibility for the Wednesday night ride, but shares the responsibility with Doug.

"To me, the cycling community in Bellingham is phenomenal," says Kimball "I have the best group of big brothers any girl could ever ask for."

Kimball says she has invested nearly $15,000 into biking. One of her bikes alone cost $7,000, and she has four. But not all members are as financially invested but, it doesn't mean they don't love to ride just as much Kimball says.

Kimball says everybody gets their tires checked before heading out on the road. The group tries to take off at 6 p.m. but doesn't hold strict to that time.

"We are generous with time, we sit around and chat about what direction we are going whether its north or south," Kimball says.

The ride can last approximately an hour and half to two hours. Then the group gathers at Boundary Bay for dinner and everybody tells his or her rendition of where they were on the ride, who came in first and who had an unplanned rendezvous with a sign that said "No Camping."

The door swings open to Boundary Bay and laughter floods out. Down at the end of the dinning room, the group of riders sits at three tables pushed together. With beers in their hands, voices raise over each other as they all swap stories as the nighttime adventure comes to an end.