Seattle to Arlington

Today is the first day of Dave and my ride from Seattle to Vancouver BC.

It had been raining during the night, but predictions said it would likely stop by 9AM. Dave and I planned for a 10AM start.

We walked to breakfast at the Queen Anne Cafe then rolled down the hill at 10:30 AM to Fremont where we accessed the Burke-Gilman Trail. The road was damp, but not wet. We'd ride the B-G and Sammamish River Trail for the first 20 miles.

I carried my rain jacket, but never wore it.  A light windbreaker was sufficient.  I had my water repellent long pants on, to protect from the expected splash from puddles and wet roads, but that never materialized. 

Today's ride was 60 miles, of which 40 or more where on trails. We'd ride the Burke-Gilman, Sammamish River Trail, and Centennial Trail.

Dave's photo

Dave's photo

Dave's photo

Dave's photo

Dave's photo

The sky was filled with dark clouds all day and we could see showers in the distance from time to time, but we stayed a step or two ahead of them. There was a very slight headwind for most of the day. We had all afternoon to ride 60 miles, so we took our time and played like the tourists we were.

We had such a nutritious breakfast that neither of us felt the need to stop for lunch.  In addition, water fountains were so plentiful and adequately spaced, that I never took my water bottle out of the cage today. Dave never came close to finishing a bottle.

We arrived at Arlington, the overnight stop for day 1.  We got cleaned up and walked a block to dinner.  I had pork chops, mixed vegetables, and mashed potatoes!

It was a nice day on bikes.  We had dodged the rain had comfortable temperatures as we pedaled our loaded bikes. Dave was surprised that so much of today's route was on paths.

 .......Road bike........Rollers.......MTB.......Lifecycle....Total
Today........60...............0..............0..............0..............60
Jan..........765.............0..............0..............0.............765
Feb..........248............0..............0..............0..............248
March......183...........0...............0.............0...............183
April........228...........0...............0.............0...............228
May.........200............0..............0.............0...............200
June.........199...........0...............26...........0...............225
July..........246...........0...............0.............0...............246
August.....502...........0...............0.............0...............502
Sept..........820...........0..............44............0...............864
Total........3391.........0...............70............0..............3461