As I rode by the time/temperature/scrolling ad sign in Shoreline I noted that it was 4 degrees cooler today.
I continued on to Echo Lake, the lake that I did not make it to yesterday. As local lakes go, this one was a pretty small representative.
The next lake I arrived at was Lake Ballinger, at 103 acres it was a bit bigger, though in 1901 it was evidently only worth $20. ;-)
The Interurban Trail at times looks similar to The Springwater Corridor in Portland.......... minus the stunning views of Mt Hood seen as you head east.
Unlike The Springwater Corridor Trail, the Interurban Trail is highly segmented. Rarely could I go for more than a couple of miles without having to get on roads. While on one of the road segments I spotted a donut shop. I saw that as a sign.
With TWO maple bars now powering me, I pushed on to the extreme south fringes of Everett. With dinner guests tonight, I decided this was far enough for today. I turned around and retraced my route.
My first stop was at Lake Ballinger Station.
A jogger arrived as I was taking the photo and tried to get a drink of water...........from the drained for the winter water fountain. I offered her some of my water. We chatted a bit, and as it ended up, she too lives in Oregon (Brownsville). She thanked me for the water and we each went our separate ways.
As I rode by the time/temp/ad sign I noted that the temperature had dropped a few degrees to 39, despite what should have been a warmer time of day. That didn't surprise me, it felt cooler as the day progressed.
RANT time again. There is a segment of the Interurban Trail that has been "improved" by constructing a protected bike lane. Between the bidirectional bike lane there is a painted buffer zone, a curb, then a row of parked cars before the first traffic lane. I didn't have any issues at all going north but in this "protected" section coming back south I had several issues within just a few blocks.
There is a senior living facility next to the trail. There were some portable sandwich board signs telling of upcoming parking restrictions. The signs were placed in the center of the bike path, wide side perpendicular to the direction of travel. As I do in most of these types of instances, I stopped and slid the obstructions off the path. In this instance I turned them lengthwise and placed them in the painted buffer. A guy came out of a pickup and scolded me, saying I didn't need that much room. I told him it was a safety issue, especially with the impending darkness. Then I pointed out that he didn't need that much room either. Before I could get the second sign moved, an official name tag wearing woman came out of the facility and told me I couldn't move the signs, that they "belonged there". My patience was wearing thin. I told her they did not belong in the center of the bike path. She went on to say that the police said they could be there. I told her that they could not legally be there, and if she wanted to call the police, I'd be willing to wait there and talk with them. She declined. With that I rode on.
I didn't make it 200 ft when two skate boarders come across the road with their backs facing me, and looking backward. I verbally announced myself while ringing my bell and braking hard. I zigged, zagged, and cleared them while going about 5 mph.
My fun in this protected bike lane was not yet over. I rolled up to the next intersection slowly as the cross signal was red. Just before I got there, the cross signal activated for my direction. There was a car coming from the left, wanting to make a right on red, despite the sign that said "No turn on red". I gave the fender a slap after slamming on my brakes to avoid the collision. The car never stopped before turning, or after I slapped the fender.
I'm not sure what these "protected" bike lanes protect cyclists from. Certainly not from cars making right turns on "no turns on red", certainly not skate boarders crossing without looking, and certainly not from obstacles being placed in the path. This infrastructure came at a cost of nearly 4 million dollars per mile. There are better ways to spend that kind of money.
Once I ran out of "protection" I had an uneventful remainder of the trip. I rolled down 8th Ave NW at 25 mph, with light rain falling. I got to Ballard, went upstream along the Ship Canal to Fremont, then back up Queen Anne via the Kralik Way.
I arrived back with an hour to spare before guests arrived.
A successful 58th consecutive day on the bike.
...........road bike..........rollers.........mtb..........lifecycle.......total Today...........51...............0..............0...............0...............51 Jan.............710...............0...............0...............0............710
Feb............ 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ..........701...............0..............0...............0............701
April...........749...............0..............0...............0............749
May.............613...............0..............0...............0............613
June............309...............0..............0...............0............309
July............615...............0..............0...............0............615
August..........359...............0..............0...............0............359
Sept............292...............0..............0...............0............292
Oct.............708...............0..............0...............0............708
Nov.............650...............0..............0...............0............650
Dec..............564.................0..............0...............0...........564 Total..........6740...............0..............0...............0...........6740
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