Another short ride

I had an invitation to join a guy on a ride from Gasworks Park in Seattle beginning at noon and riding to Alki Beach and back.  Julie thought that ride would be too fast, so she was going to do a Cascade Daily Ride from Gasworks Park at 11 AM .  My ride was going to be flat so I took the fixie. It was also supposed to start raining by early afternoon, so I put the clip on fender on it.  Julie is more fashion conscious than I and decided against fenders. We rode to breakfast at Queen Ann Cafe then rode down the hill toward Gasworks.  As we crossed the Fremont Bridge we paused for a photo.

As we stopped for the photo my riding buddy called and sent his regrets, his morning honey-do stretched into an afternoon honey-do.  My plans immediately morphed into joining Julie on the Cascade ride. It was going to have a little more hills, but I figured it would probably be okay.  We arrived at Gasworks Park about 30 minutes before the ride was to take off.   We visited with the others as we waited.  Before we shoved off the rain started lightly.  I didn't put my Garmin on the bike, when I left I figured that I wasn't going to ride anything new so it was no big deal.  As it was, I wish I would have had it along.  We took off from Gasworks Park and ended up near UW, then rode past the Arboretum. I was happy to be following, as I didn't have a clue where we were going. We went across the Montlake Bridge then climbed up a pretty good hill that spread the 35 riders out a bit.  I managed to keep with the leaders, only because I didn't have the luxury of gearing down and spinning the pedals.  I had to keep my momentum up.

Before long I recognized the road as one we ride the opposite direction on the annual Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic. The rain had picked up a bit. We got back to Lake Union and followed the west side back northward. As we approached the Fremont Bridge most of the slower riders decided that the "first loop" was enough. Just over half of us decided that we were already out there, we might as will ride.

We continued out toward Magnolia but before reaching that scenic peninsula we turned onto the Elliot Bay trail and rode toward downtown Seattle. We exited the trail and made our way through downtown.  The rain continued to increased.  We eventually turned north and rode up Dexter St back toward the Fremont Bridge.  As we rode along the base of the Queen Ann hill Julie and I took our leave and pedaled up the hill. I was ahead of her and took a different route.  I took a pedestrian walkway/stairway and crossed over the divided Aurora Ave.  To my surprise, the stairs continued on up the hill all the way to nearly Taylor.  I came out on a cul-de-sac on Galer, just a short block away from Taylor.  I pedaled just a few blocks to finish up the ride.

Julie followed me in about 15 minutes later.  She had pedaled up Dexter and rode a bit longer than I did, with no walking stairs. She was a bit cold, the rooster tail off the rear wheel had soaked her tail and she was happy to be done.


 In the first loop I came around a corner and was surprised by a 1 block long 25%ish hill.  I might have made it if I knew it were coming and got a run at it.  As it was, I stalled out quickly and ended up walking. I wasn't alone as some of the geared bike riders walked their bikes too.

It ended up being about 20 miles shorter than the ride I had planned on, but it was still fun.

 ............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........22................0..............0...............0............22 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 271...............0..............0...............0............271 Total...........981...............0..............0...............0............981