the long and short of it

I led my Rocky Butte hill repeats ride again tonight... sort of.
I pedaled in from Oaks Park giving me a nice 12 mile pre ride. I started everyone off at 6PM as planned but let them continue on without me after two repeats as I had another commitment.

It was a good night for riding the hill.  Rather than take a photo of Mt St Helens ( probably the most photographed volcano from this location) I took one of Mt Hood.  I used my phone to take the photo, not as good as my camera, but still worth taking.

After taking care of a bit of business I pedaled back across town to Oaks Park where my pickup was waiting for me.  I began the cross town ride just as the sun was setting..I stopped along the way for a bite to eat, so it was well past dark by the time I finished.  I did have my Planet Bike 2 watt on front tonight, good enough for urban riding, and always have my Superflash on back so being dark was not an issue.  As I pedaled along Oaks Bottom the full moon was reflecting on the water.  Again, the phone leaves a bit to be desired when used as a camera, but you get the idea..........if you use a bit of imagination.

July comes to a close.  It was a long month, with 31 days, yet I fell short of several self imposed goals. Early in the month I thought I would have a shot at my first 2000 mile month.  I had planned on over 1000 miles in a two week period beginning with a 204 mile STP, 100 miles on STP day two, 530 miles the following weekend on Race Across Oregon followed by 150 miles on Thursday with RAMROD, and finish up with the 104 mile Tour de Kitsap on Sunday.  I fell short on just about every one of those rides.  I did do my eighth consecutive 1 day STP, but did not ride day two as it was a bit wet in the morning and I didn't want to expend too much energy so close to Race Across Oregon.  I ended up only getting 378 miles of RAO, with digestive issues taking me out of the race with 130 miles left to go, and 13 hours left on the clock. I did manage to ride a strong RAMROD three days later.  Tour de Kitsap morphed into the 74 mile ride when I met up with some Seattle friends who were doing the shorter version and I thought company would be good. I did get on an old route for a bit and logged a few bonus miles so I ended up with 79 leisurely miles.

With my DNF at RAO my RAAM dreams are most likely dashed.  It would seem that perhaps the window of opportunity for me to compete in RAAM will close without me getting to the start line in Oceanside.  So now I'm trying to find direction. I suppose about the only thing left to shoot for will be my 4th consecutive 10,000 mile year. I have about 3500 miles left to go this year to achieve that.  Normally that is easily within reach, but no longer training for anything means I'll likely be riding fewer miles, especially when the weather turns wet and blustery.  If I'm going to reach 10,000 I'll have to ride miles when the weather is nice before the fall rains come.  I am helping support the Ride Around Washington all of next week.  While I'll have my bike with me and get some riding in, I don't expect to get any long miles in. I guess I'll just have to see where I am at the end of next month.


 ........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today........40..............0..............0..........0............40  Jan.........105.............34.............0..........0..........139 Feb.........428............108.............0.........24..........536 March.......809..............0.............0.........22............831 April.........1010..............0.............0..........0.........1010 May..........1000..............0.............20..........0.......1020 June..........1500...............0...............0............0.....1500 July...........1558...............0................0............0......1558 YTD........6336............142............20.........46.........6544

Tour de Kitsap

My extended weekend in Seattle was coming to an end.  Today's ride was the West Sound Bicycle Club's Tour de Kitsap.  I had planned on riding the 102 mile route.  I took the 7:30 AM ferry from Seattle to Bremerton, joining several of my Seattle bike friends for the voyage.

When we arrived in Bremerton we were met by "The Mayor of Kitsap", Leo Stone, who welcomed us to the Kitsap Peninsula.

The official packet pickup at the Bremerton Ferry Terminal

After picking up our ride packets Leo led us to the route and as he did so he pointed out bits of local interest that only a career navy man would know.  Information included such tidbits as "the motto of the Coast Guard is 'semper paratus', always ready. The motto of the Marine Corp is 'semper fidelis', always faithful.  The motto of the Navy is 'semper inebrius', always............"  Well, maybe all the tidbits he passed along might not have been officially accurate! ;-)

We pedaled 9 miles to the official start of the ride in Silverdale. I rode most of the first 9 miles with John Weller, a Seattleite who I've met at a few rides, including RAMROD and others.

 At the start in Silverdale there was the first of many food/rest stops.

Having had little time for a real breakfast I dipped heavily into the delicious offerings.
As I prepared to pedal the 102 mile route I noticed that the ride leader from yesterday's Cascade Bicycle Club ride to Alki, Jenny Anderson, was ready to pedal out too.  Realizing I didn't NEED to ride 102 miles I decided to ride with her. 

Thanks to Jenny and her GoPro for the photo

We were joined by a friend, Noelle.  We more or less rode together the rest of the day. I'm a bit faster on hills, and there were plenty of those today, but they knew the area better and were less likely to get lost, and less likely to keep stopping to take photos!

Some of the route was familiar to me as it shared roadway with the Kitsap Color Classic, which I have pedaled a few times.

As with many of the rides I've participated in when in the Seattle area, this one is seldom far away from water.

 The rest stops were plentiful and well stocked.

There were many places that just begged to have me take photos. If I had taken time to stop and set up I might have gotten some good pictures, but even from a bike they didn't turn out too bad.

And one was never far from good food!

 

The scenery was beautiful.

 And the food stops were just great.  At this one we were offered excellent sub sandwiches and hand scooped ice cream! I had last year's route on my gps, and ended up taking about a 3 mile longer route through Poulsbo, so my riding partners were already fed, watered, and ready to roll by the time I got here. As I was eating my icecream, it was pointed out to us that we were the last people into this rest station, all the other riders were ahead of us!  I guess we were just having too much fun.  It looked like one of us would be today's Lanterne Rouge.

 

We pedaled along with a bit more ferver, but still took time to note the scenery.

 We eventually arrived at the ferry terminal and decided to board the ferry rather than return to the official start/finish in Silverdale, where a root beer float awaited us.  Because of our start in Bremerton, we had pedaled the whole course, just with a different start/finish point.  We could live without a root beer float, and without the embarrassment of being the last to pedal in! We lined up for the voyage back to Seattle.

and soon boarded the ferry (bikes before cars!) for our trip back.

Another good day on the bike.  Sunny weather, good friends, and great support.

 ........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today........79..............0..............0..........0............79
 Jan.........105.............34.............0..........0..........139 Feb.........428............108.............0.........24..........536 March.......809..............0.............0.........22............831 April.........1010..............0.............0..........0.........1010 May..........1000..............0.............20..........0.......1020 June..........1500...............0...............0............0.....1500 July...........1518...............0................0............0......1518 YTD........6296............142............20.........46.........6504

Riding with Cascade Bicycle Club

Today I joined a Cascade Bicycle Club (Seattle) ride led by Jenny Anderson. We started from Log Boom Park in Kenmore and rode to Tully's at Alki Beach.

Assembling in Log Boom Park.

Easy to spot our leader with that bright pink wig!

We pedaled out the Burke-Gilman Trail to Gasworks Park in Seattle where we were joined by a few more cyclists.

Along the Burke-Gilman Trail

The Gasworks

The Ship Canal

Our route followed along the water's edge for most of the trip.  Being a tourist today I thought that many places were worth a photo.  I was reminded by the official sweep that I needed to keep up with the group!

"You need to keep up or I'll take that camera away!"

 But I still managed to get a photo of a cruise ship at berth. That is something we don't get to see in Portland!

We rode by the controversial "Man-Boy Love" fountain

Where we reassembled before riding on a section of open road.

There were many great views of the Seattle skyline as we rode along.

We took an extended stop at Tully's Coffee Shop for lunch at Alki Beach.   Alki always reminds me of Mission Bay in San Diego, except that it's colder and there are fewer Palm trees. ;-)  Following lunch we backtracked our route for a return to Log Boom Park. We had to wait at a swinging bridge for a container ship to pass through.

  There was some discussion on whether Danny MacCaskill would wait for the bridge to close, or find another way.

With the bridge closing we mere mortals could continue our way back to Log Boom Park.

Despite warnings from the ride officials, I ended up right where I needed to be....... between the ride leader and the ride sweep. :-)

  It was a good day on a bike. A high mileage week for me (RAO, RAMROD) but today was all about fun. A nice ride in a scenic area I don't get to ride often, perfect weather, and with friends, new and old.

 ........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today........55..............0..............0..........0............55
 Jan.........105.............34.............0..........0..........139 Feb.........428............108.............0.........24..........536 March.......809..............0.............0.........22............831 April.........1010..............0.............0..........0.........1010 May..........1000..............0.............20..........0.......1020 June..........1500...............0...............0............0.....1500 July...........1439...............0................0............0......1439 YTD........6217............142............20.........46.........6425

RAMROD

I made my way up north to participate in RAMROD (Ride Around Mt Rainier in One Day). It was my first time to take part in this event, though I did go up a few weeks ago and ride the route. Today was a much easier ride. I completed the route in 4 hours less time than when I rode it earlier. Fewer stops, shorter stops, and a faster pace all made shaving time off easy. It was not all about going faster though, I did still stop when photo opportunities presented themselves.

We had followed the Nisqually River for most of the first half of RAMROD

Reflection Lakes, these were completely frozen two weeks ago!

Looking at the Stevens Canyon descent

 

at mile 113 we were treated to deli sandwiches made to order

and if you think that cyclists are nuts, wait until you see this!   I ran across a guy running along the highway with a croquet mallet.  The sign on his back read "C.A.M.R.O.D-Croquet Around Mt Rainier in One Day"

I 

It seems that he has been doing this for about 15 years. He runs long miles, though not really around Mt Rainier, and carries a croquet mallet.  He has a buddy that drives up the road, carrying food and water for him, and placing wickets and a ball in strategic locations,

Our intrepid croqueter taps the ball through the wicket, grabs some food and water and continues running up the road to the next wicket. 

As odd is this might seem, what got me was that some buddies didn't join him. It is one of those things that you'd think would just snowball, most likely over a beer some evening.

The bike worked flawlessly today.  Thanks so much to Mike Olson, at Olson's Bicycles in Forest Grove for making time for me, and getting the bike all dialed in. If you are ever in Forest Grove, stop by the shop and say howdy and let Mike know that Kevin says hello too!  

  ........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today.......152..............0..............0..........0...........152 Jan.........105.............34.............0..........0..........139 Feb.........428............108.............0.........24..........536 March.......809..............0.............0.........22............831 April.........1010..............0.............0..........0.........1010 May..........1000..............0.............20..........0.......1020 June..........1500...............0...............0............0.....1500 July...........1384...............0................0............0......1384 YTD........6217............142............20.........46.........6425