Revelry. Pilgrimage. A Traveler’s Journey. These are a few words that came to mind while pedaling the 125 miles between the Padden Creek Water Catchment and Heather Meadows for the 53rd Ski to Sea race. Seeing the carnival of bikes with long, pointy, or otherwise oddly-shaped things attached, with tinkerers perfecting their rigs and admiring (or questioning) the likes of others.

To dance between points is certainly much slower than going directly. And it felt like the whole Nooksack River corridor was a grand dance floor this previous weekend.

In 2023, I wrote my master’s thesis quantifying the carbon emissions associated with Ski to Sea. After this year’s event, one statement has caught hold for me, as I pondered what it means to race car-free.

‘It’s about experience, not emissions.’ And I wouldn’t want to experience this race any other way.

See the gallery directly here, or continue to the race recap below. Middle image credit: Whatcom Events

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This year, I found a team through the Ski to Sea forums. Within 15 minutes of my initial outreach, I was registered officially with “Yaeger’s Car-Free.” I was particularly lured in by the trappings: “competitive team looking to be Top 20,” as well as “sick after party.” And they needed a skier, which was what I was hoping to do. Sold.

Two days prior to the race, a team member bowed out, so we then had a last-minute hole to fill. The best plan we could come up with was a bit of a moonshot. Get our runner, Nic, from the end of his leg on the Mt. Baker Highway to the sea kayak start at Zuanich Point Park, in time to paddle to the finish line. The main caveat? He would need to ride 50+ miles directly after sprinting 8 miles down a mountain, with just enough time to spare from the competing road cyclist, canoers, and cyclocross rider to hand it off to him. Effectively, he had to race the rest of our team.

What could go wrong?

And for us to accomplish that goal, it took two days of machinations both intentional and circumstantial.

Team roles were mixed around, bags strapped to other bags on racks on bikes. Tubes were shared, and vague but just specific enough communication was in place. Set-ups busted apart, and we became dehydrated and grumpy. A sunset over Shuksan, a peaceful mountain hammock hang. An unplanned 4:00 AM alarm by a deranged individual’s screeching parking lot donuts, leaving us wide-eyed until the crisp morning sunrise eventually came. I prepared my freshly waxed skis under crystal blue skies, amidst the flurry of racers and buzz of anticipation.

Finally, with the resounding boom of the mass start, it came time to pass the chip from one to the next, with a fire in the eyes set upon a single shared goal.

And to feel something so simple be so unifying, if but for a couple days. Get a little bit of plastic and circuitry from one point to another, as fast as you can. Ultimately, we did so in a time of 7:35, for a respectable 39^th place finish, as well as 2^nd in the car-free division [by my estimation, 3^rd in the division because Green Mountain PT raced in the style as well but registered in Whatcom Women’s (and won by 6 seconds!)].

We rode our bikes home, having left only the morning prior. But the feeling of having been on a journey, a backyard adventure to the grand place where preparation meets uncertainty, was one extra thing we carried on our elaborate setups for the return.

And the after party was indeed a good time to boot, too 😉

See the rest of the gallery here: Car-Free Ski to Sea 2026

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Many thanks to Yaeger’s Outdoor Sporting Goods for sponsoring the team (and over 100 years in business locally!), as well as all the effort put in by race organizers and volunteers to keep this race going for over half a century!