racing rain

I am still in Seattle. I took a look at the Cascade Bicycle Club's well populated daily ride list and noted that there was a ride beginning near me and riding out to Edmonds for lunch and back.  The forecast called for an increasing chance of rain as the day progressed, and though grey skies prevailed, it was not currently raining.  Looked like a perfect fit.  I rode a gently descending route down from Queen Anne.

Once off the hill I crossed the Fremont bridge and headed toward Gasworks Park, the starting point of today's ride.

I arrived just in time for the ride, though not as early as I had hoped. (hey, taking video of the view takes time!

12 of us made our way out west on the Burke-Gilman Trail.  We jumped off the trail before too long and from then on I was on a route I had never been on before.  It is always nice to ride in a new area.  The
pace was true to the posting, generally about 14 mph.  Even that rather slow pace proved to be a little fast for one of the riders and about 5 miles into the ride that person turned back.

The rest of us continued on our way to Edmonds.  The roads were wet, and in some stretches they were littered with leaf debris making them slick.  We all managed to navigate safely, in large part because the ride leader did a good job of advising the group when we were about to enter a section of potential problems.

We arrived in Edmonds and spent 45 minutes having a tasty lunch at The Red Twig Cafe.  While there we lost our race with the predicted rain as the sky began to drip.  I took a cue from the locals and took the raingear out of my pack and put it on.  Good thing I did.  We had rain falling for the remainder of the ride.  I was comfortable, good clothing options always make it easier. We pedaled along the shores of Lake Washington on the Burke-Gilman and came back to Gasworks.  The rest of the group loaded bikes in vehicles and took off toward warmer and drier locations. I wanted to get a few more miles, mostly because I have not been riding enough given that the year end is closing in, and I still have a few miles to go! I turned around and backtracked on the Burke-Gilman to the University of Washington just to add a few miles  I turned around and followed the B-G to the Fremont Bridge then made my way back up Queen Anne via that gentle route I had taken down earlier in the day.

Despite the rain it was a good day on the bike.



   ............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today...........51..............0.............0..........0..............51  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 Aug...........531..............0.............0..........0............531 Sept..........730..............0.............0..........0............730 Oct............844.............0.............0..........0.............844
Nov...........144..............0..............0..........0.............144
 YTD..........8645.........142...........20.........46............8853