The official ride route was 33 miles. Given the short distance of the route, it was a perfect excuse to ride to the ride. I twisted an arm and talked my friend Julie into joining me. We started from the top of Queen Anne in Seattle, a little 400 ft hill. We rolled down Taylor Street to downtown, then made our way to the water's edge by way of Roy Street and a brand new bike/ped overpass over Hwy 99 and the numerous railroad tracks. From there we headed south on the Elliot Bay Trail to the ferry terminal where we joined the gathering masses.
Julie and I are both Cascade Ride Referees, as were friends Leo and Lee Anne. There were about 40 Ride Refs in total. Click on the link to know more about the Ride Referee's role.
We loaded our bikes on the ferry and prepared to make the short trip across the water to Bainbridge Island.
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| Jim Carson photo |
In years past we had a dedicated ferry for bike transport, this year we shared the space with automobiles. I guess the Washington State Ferry System believes in "Share the Load". ;-)
As we docked on the island, cyclists cued up to make our egress, and begin our ride.
Chilly Hilly is a popular ride and with 6000 riders and only 33 miles to spread them out over, often the biggest issue is not the chilliness, or hilliness, but the crowds of cyclists, some with less than stellar cycling skills. This year seemed to be a bit better than normal. There were still plenty of cyclists around, but the 30% chance of rain, and predicted 20 mph winds may have scared away those lesser skilled riders.
The 30% chance of rain (predicted to go to 80% by dark) didn't hurt us much today. I never got a drop of rain all day, and even saw my shadow much of the time. I didn't ride hard, but did keep moving except for a few photo opportunities, and a couple of stops to help out with rider issues.
I finished the course a bit before 11AM. I milled around the finish line festival for a bit chatting with other riders. I also had a bowl of famous "Chilly Hilly Chili".
It wasn't cold riding, but after milling around the finish line for about 45 minutes I was starting to get cold. I decided to pedal backwards along the route and rejoin my friends, who according to text messages were now riding pretty much together. Of course, "riding" is a relative term. I attend Chilly Hilly for the ride, they attend for much more social reasons.
They weren't the only folks in this back of the peloton who were out to enjoy the day. I came across this guy who said he was waiting for a group of a dozen or so of his grad students who were joining him, all in matching frog helmet covers.
As I rode back through the riders I helped a few who had flats, and also got to ride UP a steep pitch in excess of 20% that the route riders got to ride DOWN.
After nearly 12 miles riding back, I came across my friends, all with smiles on their faces and chatter of dancing in the streets. They also had a few stories of folks not exhibiting good cycling skills, and a few instances of ear buds. (prohibited on Cascade rides) All in all, they were having a good time, albeit at a slower pace.
I turned around and joined them on their ride to the finish line. We arrived there (me for the second time today!) just a bit before 2PM. There was not enough time to make the 2:05 ferry, so we chatted with a few folks in the now dwindling crowd. We lined up for the 2:55 ferry.
We may not have had dedicated ferries this year, but we certainly had the numbers to do a de facto take over.
After our ferry crossing back to Seattle, Julie and I rode northward on the Elliot Bay Trail, then eastward on the Ship Canal Trail, before arriving in Fremont and making the climb back up Queen Anne. We had a brisk tailwind along the water. The climb up; Queen Anne wasn't bad at all, despite Julie voicing concerns as we were on the ferry.
It was a good day, and a bonus that we never had any rain.
...........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total Today.............68..............0.............0..........0..............68 Jan..................93..............0..............0.........0.............93 Feb................369..............0..............0.........0............369 Total..............462.............0..............0.........0.............462
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