Author: billthorness
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Safer Cycling in Traffic: Be Seen, Be Defensive
The other day I was riding behind another cyclist and thought, man, I have to get one of those jackets. I wasn’t envious, or bemoaning the lack of new cycling gear. But it was just getting dark, and when the headlights from a car behind us hit his jacket, it just glowed. It was yellow,…
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Harvest Time on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail
A beautiful fall Sunday saw us journey out to the Snoqualmie Valley for a ride between Duvall, Carnation and Fall City. Parking at Tolt MacDonald Park in Carnation, we cycled north along the old Carnation farm road, which hugs the west edge of the valley, and crossed into Duvall. Fueling up at The Grange with a brunch of tasty…
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Autumn Garden Blazes
Autumn in my edible garden is a growing and even blooming season. With a backdrop of blazing fall tree color, cool season vegetables inch upwards like a roomful of nieces and nephews whose growth is notable at a holiday dinner visit. If family visits our place for a winter feast, some of it will come…
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Cycling the Pacific Coast: An Epic Tour … and Book!
Vancouver, B.C. to the Mexico border is about 1,850 miles as the bike wheel turns. But the pedaled path was much longer to my guidebook, Cycling the Pacific Coast: The Complete Guide from Canada to Mexico. It was the result of two years of research, numerous trips and uncountable miles — and a year in writing and…
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Cycle the green, coastal charms of Southwest Washington
The smooth ribbon of asphalt is surrounded by a sea of waist-high beach grass and marked only by trailheads emblazoned with archways bearing the date 1805. Set your wheels on this 8.5-mile-long Discovery Trail and feel yourself floating along the undulating beach breeze. If that sounds like an ideal cycling vacation destination, plan to pack your panniers…
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Saving Rainbow Chard Seeds
Saving seeds can be as easy as beating a bag with a stick. Well, almost. I try to save seeds of one crop each summer. Since good seed-saving generally requires a large quantity of seeds, I don’t have room in my garden to do very many crops. For instance, you need a huge quantity of…
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Garlic Harvest: A Bulbous Bounty of Spice
I knocked my head against a hanging braid of garlic the other day, and instead of the predictable response, I had to smile. That ceiling rack in the garage holds the spice of many meals. And the harvest is the result of nearly effortless planting. Please grow garlic. It’s so easy, and it’s so good.…
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Cycling the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island
Do Lochside and Galloping Goose mean anything to you? If so, you’ve probably cycled the Saanich Peninsula on lower Vancouver Island. The trails get you around the Victoria area, up to Sidney and over to Sooke. This is one of our favorite short and easy cycle touring routes. The MV Coho, out of Port Angeles,…
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North Idaho Weekend: Traverse the CdA, Conquer the Hiawatha
Want to traverse an entire state in one ride? It can be done in northern Idaho on the paved, scenic Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. Named for the Native American tribe that used this route before it was a railroad and now a rail-trail, the “CdA” is a 72-mile-long asphalt path with plenty of nature…
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Celebrating the Black Spanish Radish
Today we are celebrating the radish. Not just any radish. Oh, sure, there are round globes of red white, and the elongated French breakfast variety with both red and white. Lately we’ve been seeing designer colors ranging from cream to yellow, pink to purple. There are long white tapers of Japanese daikon radishes, which are…