A Dry Run

I had a bunch of errands to do today, but with a conference to attend the rest of the week, I really wanted to get on the bike. At 1:45PM I finally rolled out, planning to ride the Washington State portion of this weekend's birthday bike ride. I figured I'd start from the north end of the Interstate Bridge, ride the route, then when I got across the Sam Jackson Bridge I'd take the Marine Drive path back to close the loop.



  The roads were dry and the sky mostly blue.  Not bad at all for a February day, especially one predicted to be wet.

  Much of the route is on multi-use paths, and the portion in Washington is no exception.  I've ridden some of these roads/paths before, but not all by any means, and never all together.  That was the impetus to ride this today before leading a group out there on Sunday.  Always poor form for the ride leader to not know the course, or find that part of it isn't safe to ride!

  I rode streets northward until I accessed the western end of the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail. After a few miles of following the creek I came to I-5.




  After a few more miles I took a turn onto the Discovery Trail.



  As I crossed the Glenn Jackson Bridge I paused to take a photo of Mt Hood, Oregon's highest peak, though there seems to be a lot of variance in its reported height.

  Though I had planned to follow the Marine Drive path, as I was crossing the Glenn Jackson Bridge I looked at the time and thought if I put a bit of effort into it, I might just be able to ride the entire 58 mile route before dark.  It was a bet I didn't want to lose, as I didn't have a headlight with me.

  I could feel the lack of miles this year.  In my slow paced rides recently I've been able to pedal pretty well, but pushing the pace I could feel my lack of fitness.

  I knew that the remainder of the route was on bike paths except for just a few miles.  I was going to need every bit of daylight.  I had three Planet Bike Superflash Turbo's along.   With about 4 miles to go I pressed on of them into service facing forward.  I didn't want any surprises, and didn't want to surprise anyone coming toward me.

  I finished up just after 5:30 PM.   Just under a 15 mph clock time average.  Not too bad given that riding paths is slower than riding roads.  As I was driving home it started to rain.  My dry run had dry weather.  Perfect timing!

  And yes, I'm tired!

 ...........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today.............58..............0.............0..........0..............58 Jan..................93..............0..............0.........0.............93 Feb................179..............0..............0.........0............179 Total..............272.............0..............0.........0.............272