This time of year in the PNW there are tons of cool cycling trips events.  They all raise money for something.  We've done many of the cycling events in Western Washington, but for some reason we had never done this particular ride.  This ride takes us through the tulip fields of Skagit Valley. The ride starts at the La Conner middle school. There were lots of riders there already, and tons of cars. There were probably 300+ riders.  It never seemed crowded, it was terrific.  It is a cool trip through the tulip fields of La Conner. There are some very incredible things to do in Western Washington, going to the Tulip Festival is definitely up there as a great rip. It takes place throughout the month of April. There is a bloom map, because you can see all the Tulips in your car, on a bicycle, or on a tour bus. There were only two or three hills on this ride, one was a 300 foot climb, it definitely got the heart rate up there, but if a person didn't want the climb they would stick to the 20 mile ride, which appeared to be on a relatively flat route.

It was a typical cloudy, windy with a smattering of rain, northwest day.  The thing I hate most about this kind of day is you are guaranteed to get a little wet and to have the wind in your face most of the ride.  Well let's get to the pictures.

I thought this yellow field was very interesting looking.

The ride was well planned. The maps were pretty good, but the print could be a little bigger for those of us who don't want to have to whip out their reading glasses every time they aren't sure about a turn!!!! Oh... sorry, just a little rant about getting older.  The ride also had enough food stops and plenty of good food.  Of course I had food with me too, just in case! I've been on rides where there isn't enough food to last or worst of all, things that don't sustain you for the 60 or 100 miles. There is one ride in particular that I love, but the food is awful. You can't feed cyclists  on red licorice!!! Although I do have a certain weakness for red licorice, it just doesn't give me much long term energy to complete the ride. So I've learned over the years to bring food, making my fanny pack heavy, but making me a much happier  and strong rider!

I digress, we then followed the map to the next fields which.Then we came across these fields.

Ahh, the Tulip Pedal, that was a fun bike ride. 

One side note, the other interesting thing we saw while we were riding was the number of certified organic famers, ranchers, chicken farmers, and dairies are located in the Skagit Valley.