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Northern Tier 2026
  • Michael Sullivan
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  • Michael Sullivan

Northern Tier 2026

Crossing the USA together by bike Read more
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    🇺🇸 Omak, United States
    Michael SullivanNorthern Tier 2026Traveler
    14 devices to charge

    Northern Tier Day 10 =>Omak

    4 hours ago in the United States ⋅ 🌬 29 °C

    Easy 38 mile ride by the Columbia River to Omak, WA. We’re finally back on the Northern Tier route as originally planned before the landslide.

    Stopped in a bike shop in Okanogan to adjust Mike’s rear derailleur. Discovered that the derailleur has a clutch to reduce slack on rough roads/gravel, but it was overly tight for the road causing noise/drive train wear. Runs well now.

    Washington has these cool little drive up coffee shacks all over the state.    Read more

  • Michael SullivanNorthern Tier 2026Traveler

    Northern Tier Day 9 =>Paternos

    June 15 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    Short 20 mile ride north to Paternos along Columbia River with a few hills.

    Half the ride was on Highway 97 (60+mph traffic). But the other half was on somewhat remote quiet roads - maybe almost too quiet - in a state park. Mike reminded Diane that we had entered grizzly bear territory. Diane began ringing her bell and yelling “Woo Hoo!” - to not surprise any bears. Fortunately, we didn’t surprise any bears.

    Tomorrow, we connect again with the Northern Tier Route after the long detour we had to take to get around the landslide on Route 20.

    We met Al and Preston from Massachusetts, also retired, who are also doing the Northern Tier on fully loaded bikes. We decided to have dinner together at Kodi’s Noon Saloon (only place open in this remote town) and exchanged a lot of stories - common interest.

    We also met Jason, an artist from Port Townsend, fully loaded, headed north into Canada in a long loop.    Read more

  • Michael SullivanNorthern Tier 2026Traveler

    Northern Tier Day 8 =>Chelan, WA

    June 14 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    A beautiful ride north along the Columbia River for 40 miles along Highway 97A on a blue sky day.

    There was one 2.9 mile hill, 7% grade, 950 ft climb. It was good practice for the three big mountain passes coming in the next three weeks. What was difficult was the tunnel halfway up - a button to press to flash that there are bikes in the tunnel - but stressful!

    Lake Chelan is so beautiful (we should take pictures later). There are wineries on the hillsides.    Read more

  • Michael SullivanNorthern Tier 2026Traveler

    Northern Tier Day 7 =>Wenatchee

    June 13 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Our planned Route 20 through the Cascades is blocked by a landslide. We needed to rent a car and take highways far to the south to get around it. We’ll spend the next three days cycling north from Wenatchee to Omak to pick up our planned Northern Tier route on the other side.

    Only 12 miles today to get to car rental. But about 5 hills >12%. Seattle has a lot of steep hills.

    We were able to get a new tire for the rear of Mike’s bike at Center Cycle, the largest Specialized bike shop in Seattle. Even though it was a busy Saturday morning and repairs take up to a week, Dave the store manager put the new tire on Mike’s bike professionally right away! So nice. Thanks so much Dave!

    We are about to enter sparsely populated areas with few services for the next 1500 miles. After 3 flats on day 2, a small hole in the tire, it feels good to have a fresh quality tire for this stage of the journey.

    We were able to stop in the town of Leavenworth for lunch. In 1950 it was half boarded up after the lumber/railroad businesses moved away. But the town leaders decided to reinvent themselves, built Bavarian style architecture through Main Street, opened Bavarian restaurants, beer haus, wine bars, sweets. The town is now booming with tourists. There is no Bavarian heritage or immigrants - just some innovative leaders. And now there is a beautiful Bavarian village nestled in Cascade Mountains.

    Early start tomorrow, so we were able to find a church Saturday evening in Wenatchee.    Read more

  • Michael SullivanNorthern Tier 2026Traveler

    Northern Tier Day 6 =>Edmonds, WA

    June 12 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Another beautiful day. 19 miles with steep hills with some 10%+ grade sections to Kingston. We took the ferry to Edmonds, WA where we will spend the evening.

    The traffic over the Hood Canal bridge is stressful. We wanted to minimize it and left at 6:30 am. Cera Reusser, who we met yesterday, wanted to ride out of town with us and offered to escort us over the Hood Canal bridge, and was out there to meet us at 7:15 am when we passed by her house! Then on the other side of the bridge, she showed us a secret path through the woods that avoided a section of 104 on the other side where there is zero shoulder and cars are traveling 55+. So nice!

    Arrived at our hotel at 10:45 am. But they let us do laundry. So nice to have fresh laundry clothes vs. shower-washed clothes.    Read more

  • Michael SullivanNorthern Tier 2026Traveler
    2

    Northern Tier Day 5 =>Port Ludlow

    June 11 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    First blue sky day and warm enough that we didn’t need jackets/layers. The ride to Port Ludlow was on state highway (stressful) and secondary roads. But Port Ludlow is beautiful and nice to have time here.

    We met Cera and Terry Russer - who own 45 bikes (that tells it all). So we talked for an hour! They were able to ride a few miles with Lyle Wilcox when she rode through this area on her round-the-world ride. Lyle Wilcox has the woman’s around-the-world bike record and the first woman to win the TransAmerica bike race.

    Only 19 miles today, but a couple of 10%+ grade hills that gave us 5 min+ intervals. A 90+ lb bike is so much harder to get up a steep hill vs a 23 lb road bike.    Read more

  • Michael SullivanNorthern Tier 2026Traveler

    Northern Tier Day 4 =>Port Townsend

    June 10 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Another good day! A 37 mi ride on the Olympic Discovery trail. So beautiful with no cars. Some steep climbs and 1850’ total climbs - so easy/medium day. But we had 8 miles on state highway 20 with a 1’ shoulder and big trucks that stressed us a little bit.

    But now we’re in the beautiful historic town of Port Townsend. Headed to an old western pub for a beer, and then get dinner.

    We’re getting our routines down (pack/unpack, what goes where, charge electronics, wash clothes, get ready for the next day). Soon we won’t have to think about it anymore.

    We’re getting more confident riding the heavily loaded bikes and their reliability. No flats or issues today.    Read more

  • Michael SullivanNorthern Tier 2026Traveler
    Mike's Bike Setup1Diane's Bike Setup

    Northern Tier Day 3 =>Sequim

    June 9 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    What a difference a day makes. We biked along the beautiful Olympic Discovery bike trail for an easy 18 miles.

    No flats or problems! We were hyper-vigilant after yesterday. listening to/feeling everything on our truck-heavy bikes, but everything seems OK. Mike will get a new rear tire in Seattle just in case.

    We planned easy days for the first week. It’s enough of a challenge for us to get used to a new routine, how to organize our stuff, get used to the maps/electronics/new gear, and riding very heavily loaded bikes. Endurance challenges will start at the end of next week.    Read more

  • Michael SullivanNorthern Tier 2026Traveler

    Northern Tier Day 2=>Port Angeles

    June 8 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    On and off rain all day and 65 miles to Port Angeles. But we only ended up riding 24 miles.

    Unfortunately we had 3 flat tires. Gave up after the third and walked 5 miles to connect to the main road to try to get an Uber. No Uber service out here. A park ranger told us about a public bus that comes twice daily and we were able to catch it with 5 minutes to spare. It had a rack in front that holds two bikes. We easily could have been stranded in the rain 50 miles from the nearest bike shop/town sleeping in our tent. So grateful.

    A bike shop did the repair. I thought the Tubolito lightweight tubes were robust, but it turns out they are delicate. Bought three regular tubes and got the flat fixed. Happy the bike shop handled us as an emergency walk-in.

    Check out the logging truck video. We need to get mentally ready to feel comfortable with fast moving trucks. Fortunately there was a good shoulder on this route.    Read more

  • Michael SullivanNorthern Tier 2026Traveler
    2

    Northern Tier Day 1: The Start

    June 7 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    We’ve started crossing America on the Northern Tier bike route!

    Ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. Then had a transportation service take us 3 1/2 hours west to drop us off on the open Pacific Ocean at La Push.

    It’s traditional on a cross America ride to dip your rear wheel into the Pacific, then dip your front wheel into the Atlantic at the finish.

    We started riding at about 2:30 pm. It was a short 16 mile ride to Forks where we will stay tonight. Enough after a busy morning.

    Excited! But we were also slightly anxious, like many people tend to be when they take on a long journey like this.    Read more

    Trip start
    June 7, 2026
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