A wonderful stroke of luck

Today was my Birthday Ride, Seattle Edition.  Last Saturday for the Oregon Edition we had nearly perfect weather. The weather since then has taken a turn for the snowy.  I got on the road for Seattle just minutes ahead of the snow in Portland.  I saw cars sliding off the road and spinning around as I made my way up I-5.  I thought perhaps that might be the weather we'd have for the ride today.  But that was not to happen.  Most of  the folks who were going to join me backed out due to perceived cold.  It was still 10 degrees warmer than Portland this morning, the ride was on.

Arsen and I were the only attendees, but no matter, we were going to have fun. The temperature as we pedaled off from Marymoor was 29 degrees and the roads were dry.  The sun was more out than hidden, the Olympic Mountains were in their glory.

 

Arsen is a good rider, and quite a few years younger than I, but I knew the route so he had to stay close. ;-)
We pedaled along without making many stops We did stop at a view point for this photo.

There was a bit more climbing than the Oregon route, and steeper maximum gradient, but it was still fun.  The weather was good, and the views were nice.

Silver Lake

 We had one segment in an industrial area where we rode a few hundred feet on packed gravel next to a lake. As we approached the lake a muskrat scampered  across our path toward the safety of the water. We stopped there for awhile and watched with amusement as ducks would glide in for a water landing, only to go skating across the frozen surface.

The Muskrat was still making tracks away from us.

The ducks congregated in the only open water

 We came across a road closed by the fire department as they rescued a driver who had left the road and gone through a fence. Sorry that it happened, but glad it happened before we got there, rather than as we passed through there.  We made our way around the apparatus and continued on our way.

We had one more significant climb as we neared Woodinville. After getting to the top of that climb it was all relatively down hill.  We cruised along at a good pace. In the last mile or so we were routed to bike paths to avoid a busy freeway interchange.  In no time at all we were back in Marymoor, the temperature was 40 degrees.

Following the ride Arsen and I met up with Julie and her family for a little birthday dinner.

 It was a nice day and a nice stroke of luck with the weather.  What is the chance of two Saturdays in February in a row being sunny and dry?  We did have increasing clouds as the day wore on, but no real threat of precipitation.

That would change as I am typing this up, it is now snowing in Seattle, the first snow this month, and only a skiff on the ground as of 7:15.  My Oregon friends are sure to be smiling over this turn of events, as they sit in 8"-15" of the white stuff.


 ............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........59................0..............0...............0............59
Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 233...............0..............0...............0............233
Total...........943...............0..............0...............0............943