The 17th Annual WildLife 100, the 100-mile, one day, three island bicycle ride, peaked on the west side of San Juan with a grand siting of Orca whales. Starting the day, after hours of rain, at 6 a.m. at WildLife Cycles in Eastsound, 14 hardy souls headed off on the first leg to Obstruction Pass, with stragglers joining in along the way. The group was near 20 when they turned around and rode for the 9:20 ferry to Lopez.

Lopez offered several creative routes to the expanding group, now nearly 30 strong. By the time the group got to the ferry headed for San Juan, several cyclists had clocked 70+ miles. The cooler temperatures made for a pleasant bonus and were especially helpful for the final 35-mile leg on San Juan. The delight of an Orca show made the ride complete.

Several islanders completed the entire 100-mile ride. Most notable of the 10 century finishers were the three Orcas High School seniors: Julian Glasser, Morgan Borman, and rookie of the year, Alex Waldron. Pete Moe, fully recovered from last year’s broken collar bone, Jonathon Heverly, Erin Bostrom, Clay Philbrick, Freddie Tincher, Paul Hopkins, Shawn Jones and Jane Lewis also logged the 100 miles. Other local participants included Joe Ciskowski, Don Thompkins, Savvy Sanders, Al Brisbois, John Fleischer, Randy Gaylord, Jean and Todd Spalti, Randall Simson, Bob and his son Alex Halliday, WildLife Cycles partners Brett McFarland, Jill Sherman and Will Varley, and veteran participant Scott Gianola, who rode the first WildLife 100 in 1991!