The end of the month

I've been back in Oregon for a few days now.  I finally got back on a bike.  I posted to Facebook looking for some friends to ride the Springwater Corridor.  3 others nibbled, and we were off.  I took the fixie.

We started from Sellwood Riverfront Park on the Willamette River in Portland.  We rode 19 miles east on the Springwater Corridor Trail to Boring where we stopped for coffee.  Well, my friends stopped for coffee, me not being a coffee drinker, stopped to visit with them.

Following the stop we turned around and rode toward Portland.  We got a few sprinkles on the return trip.  Not bad rain, just an extended light shower.  We got back as far as 82nd, and the group decided to stop at Cartlandia for snacks.  It was after 1PM after all.

I had a large breakfast and a short Springwater ride wasn't enough to use all that up yet, so I again just hung around for the camaraderie.

Following lunch we continued on our way.  As we crossed Foster Rd Larry peeled off since he lived nearby.  The two ladies and I continued on toward the Willamette River.   Just a mile or so from the river Kay peeled off as we passed her house.

Lori and I continued on our way.

We reached Sellwood Riverside Park and I peeled off, letting Lori be the last of our party to be riding as she continued northward toward her home.

It was a good day, even though I got a flat tire on the way out.  Good with a flat you say?  Yup, it was good because I just recently started carrying a spare tube for those 38mm tires. (yup, me bad) and I managed to get the tire changed and rear wheel remounted on the bike.  Inflation was a bit of an issue.  I've been able to top off with my floor pump without issue, but the  small pump I carry on the bike had problems mating with the schrader valve stem.  I eventually got it hooked up.


..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............38...........0................0............0.............38 Jan.................710..............0...............0.........0.............710 Total.............710.............0...............0..........0..............710

All signed up

 It is the season for making the annual biking calendar. Part of my plan is to repeat my ride referee volunteer duties.  Ride registration is open for all the Cascade Bicycle Club events, and RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party) is 97% sold out as of today. It was time to get my ride ref paperwork filed.

I rode from Queen Ann to Cascade Bicycle Club headquarters in Magnussen Park and dropped the forms off.  I rode back, stopping in Fremont for a bowl of teriyaki .  Following the filling of the fuel tank I pedaled back up Queen Ann via the longer "easy" route.  It was noticeably colder on the return trip.

20 miles total

..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............20...........0................0............0.............20 Jan.................672..............0...............0.........0.............672 Total.............672.............0...............0..........0..............672

No drinking the koolaid

 I was invited to join a Cascade Bicycle Club Policy Ride today.  Well, not me personally, but an open invitation to the membership to make a showing as they rode from Fremont to South Lake Union, a contentious piece of real estate that is the subject of a proposed protected bike lane. I am far from a believer in protected bike lanes, I fall more into the vehicular cycling format.  I just wanted to be a voice in the wilderness so the koolaid drinkers could not say that "we only hear 100% support for this".

There were about 75 people on bikes at the start.  Several without helmets, all looking very different that I.

We all had to sign a ride liability release, standard practice for a club ride, but several riders did not have helmets, yet were allowed to start off with us. That is not standard.

After commenting to some of the ride marshals I was told that those people hadn't signed in and weren't part of the official ride.  Okay, so if you don't sign a ride release you can just ride along?

There were hipsters, families, extacycles, single speeds, flat pedal bikes.   I did see one RAMROD reflective band on a bike, but the rest were firmly in the other end of the bike rider spectrum.

The group took off on a designated bike path consisting of wide sidewalks and striped parking lots. With a group this large, of widely varying riding skills, I chose to ride the adjacent road.  Julie and I took the right lane, and just like those vehicular riding videos that Cycling Savvy publishes, the motor vehicles all moved to the left lane and passed us without incident or complaint.

I'd pull into the parking lot to listen at each one of the stops the group did.  They had local politicians and others versed in promoting the infrastructure. I'd listen intently, so as to not rely on hearsay later. I stayed to the edges, mostly to be listening, but not in the crowd.  I noticed that at one point a group of three rode by in the parking lot on their way south as we were stopped on the path.  Their comment among themselves? "Now there's trouble".   I wonder if the koolaid drinkers factor in those bike riders who see them as less than beneficial to the cause?

There were three stops along the way.  Prior to the ride we all had been issued aerial photos of the area and asked to "crowd source" any issues we found, marking the locations with "X"s.  I marked my map, tracing my route on the street, with the comment, "no issues found, a great ride".  At the third stop we were asked to turn those aerial photos in.  As I did, Brock Howell, the Government Affairs and Policy Manager, asked if I had indicated that I'd prefer the sidewalk or parking lot.  I answered "the road".  He looked puzzled, but took my marked map.

We pedaled a few blocks to an establishment to" have a brew and talk policy".  I found it strange that an event that openly courted families, would hold a portion of today's policy ride, in an establishment that had prominently displayed a sign that read "No Minors" on it's front door.

I talked a bit with a few of the families, and others choosing to not partake.

Before long I turned back up hill and went up Queen Ann.

It was a nice sunny day.  It would have been nice to go for a longer ride, but given how my legs felt after yesterday's fixie ride with all it's stops and starts, it was probably good to give them a rest today.

Policy & Government Affairs Manager

Policy & Government Affairs Manager

..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today...............7...........0................0............0..............7 Jan.................652..............0...............0.........0.............652 Total.............652.............0...............0..........0..............652

A bagel run

Today there was a plan to ride around Lake Washington.  Merry, from Anderson Island, was going to join Julie and I for a repeat of a ride we did a few weeks ago.  Merry didn't quite understand the finer points of nutrition when riding longer and bonked hard.  She assured us she had learned her lesson.

It was foggy this morning but was predicted to clear up.  The girls decided they'd rather do a flat ride out to Blazing Bagels near Marymoor Park.  I had considered riding the Lake Loop on my own, but decided a better thing to do would be to ride with them, and take my fixie.

We took off from Queen Ann in thick fog with our lights on.

We rode just under 5 miles to get to the meeting point at Gasworks Park. Despite assurances of intent to do better on nutrition, I was surprised to hear Merry say she hadn't had breakfast and hoped to stop soon for food.  Well, stopping for food if you haven't had breakfast is a good fallback plan.

Julie and I waited on the trail while Merry grabbed a coffee and a couple of muffins.

The fog was patchy, as fog often is.  We'd go from thick fog to thinner fog.  The pace was slow. Sometimes I'd get ahead and wait a bit. Sometimes both Julie and I would get ahead and wait a bit. It was going to be a long day.

The fog did make for some interesting scenes.  During one of my waits I took off my gloves, opened my pack, removed the camera, and took this photo.

We continued on our way, in fits and starts.  The fog had pretty much cleared by now.  By the time we got to Blazing Bagels, I was ahead a bit, as Julie had waited for Merry. I placed my order and was seated by the time Julie rode in.  Julie came in solo as she and Merry had gotten separated when Merry missed a turn,

The girls were having a bit of a disagreement over riding style it seems.

Julie and I finished lunch and Merry still had not arrived, or contacted us.  Julie and I hopped back on the bikes and figured we had a chance to catch Merry as she was pedaling back. Despite the "personal" problems, it had turned out to be a very nice day.

Julie and I traded off being in the front.  The trail was busy today.  We finally caught Merry with about 3 miles left to go (for her, 8 for us)  She was standing next to the trail with her bike.  As we rode up she said to continue on, saying she'd catch up with us.  I thought to myself, "uh huh, if you could catch up with us you would have kept up with us".

We never saw her again.

I got to the base of Queen Ann before Julie, I had kept a consistent 13-14 mph and that was a bit fast for Julie.  I was concerned with getting that fixie up Queen Ann.  At the last minute I turned to go up 4th Ave rather than the circuitous "normal" route..  4th Ave reaches 26%, but is only 0.3 miles long.  If I was going to walk anyway, I just as well walk a short distance.

The fact that the Queen Ann climb came after 58 miles was not lost on me.  On STP, the biggest climb comes just after mile 50.  Hopefully I'll be in better bike shape by then.

I arrived to the top 30 minutes before Julie.  She did have a good climb though, riding it nonstop.  I think this is the second time ever that she's been able to do it without stopping to rest.

As she arrived she got a message from Merry. Merry had just arrived back at her vehicle. 51 miles for her, and about 45 minutes after Julie was there.


..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............61...........0................0............0.............61 Jan.................645..............0...............0.........0.............645 Total.............645.............0...............0..........0..............645

Another scouting adventure.

I'm organizing two rides to celebrate my birthday (if you can say "celebrate" with a straight face)  For the second year I'm organizing one for my Oregon friends and one for my Puget Sound friends.  The Oregon ride is easy to plan, with riding 10,000+ miles for 4 of the last 5 years it should be no surprise that I've pedaled just about everything pedalable there.  Oregon's ride will be on Feb 1, and we will ride THIS ROUTE.

The Seattle ride has been a bit more challenging for me since I'm not nearly as familiar with the roads.  After one error in planning where I just wasn't comfortable leading a group of folks on those roads, I planned another.  This time I "streetviewed" most of it.  Today I took off to scout THIS NEW ROUTE that is scheduled for Feb 8th.

It held promise "on paper" and should offer some nice views.

I had a delay of game today, having to mess with my Garmin, soft reset, factory reset, load route, repeat process, etc.  By the time I got out I was concerned that I might not get the whole route biked before dark.
I loaded the bike in my pickup and took off.

I drove some of the route, biked some of it.  It is going to be fun!  There was one section of about 4 miles near Edmonds that had no shoulder and was a bit curvy, but I had to route on it if I wanted to take in a view point that looked across to the Olympic Mountains.   When I got there I found that the road indeed had no shoulder, and yes, was a bit twisty, but it also had a 25 mph speed limit!

  Despite the blue skies, there was enough moisture in the air to obscure the Olympics.

The  route passed by many schools. I was surprised to find that near the schools there were no painted bike lanes, and often not very good shoulders.  No wonder younger folks don't ride bikes much.

I had mapped it near Lake Serene, thinking there might be some nice views there.  There were some pretty fancy homes and manicured neighborhoods, but all of that hid the lake from the eyes of we commoners. I did manage to get one glimpse of the lake between houses.  The light was from the wrong direction, but I didn't have much choice.

Just before crossing I-5, the route sent me down a street signed "no outlet".  While that might be true for motor vehicles, bicyclists with a sense of adventure can find a way.

 It looks worse than it is.  After about 25 feet this gravel path drops onto the Interurban Trail and follows it for just over a mile.  Shortly after crossing over I-5 I traveled along the shore of Silver Lake.  This time I had an easier time seeing the lake, but it didn't seem quite as scenic.  Spoiled I guess!

 The route goes through an industrial park then turns right as the road turns left.  It looked like it might be a section needed to be rerouted, but I found the gravel to be hard packed and quite ridable on skinny 23c tires. Around the back side of this lake the gravel trail joined up with a paved trail to finish it's way back to streets in about 3/4 mile. I won't bother rerouting, it will be a good break.

 I continued on to Marymoor without any issues.  I was on busier roads but there were excellent shoulders to ride on and great sight lines.

We are going to have fun!

..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............37...........0................0............0.............37 Jan.................584..............0...............0.........0.............584 Total............584.............0...............0..........0..............584

A scouting ride

No, not Boy Scouts, but a ride to get a first hand look at a ride I'm organizing for Feb 8th in the Seattle area.  Specifically it starts in Redmond and rides a loop up toward Monroe and Snohomish.  I rode the vast majority of it last year on a Cascade Bicycle Club training ride, I felt pretty confident that my chosen 59 mile route would be safe to pedal. As I pedaled out I was surprised to find that my modifications were fine, but the existing route I borrowed as worse than I remembered.  There were many miles near on the way to Monroe that were narrow, poor sightlines, and very busy.  There was enough of that kind of road that I've decided to change it drastically.  Still 59 miles (just because it's my birthday ride) and will start and finish in the same location, since I've already got folks saying they are joining me. 

I got just over an extra mile because of a missed turn.

I wish I could say it was a good day on the bike, but the only thing good about it was that I managed to find it's limitations before getting a group out there.


..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............60...........0................0............0.............60 Jan.................547..............0...............0.........0.............547 Total............547.............0...............0..........0..............547

Racing Rain

The weather prognosticators say that it may rain tomorrow.  I thought it might be nice to get one last ride in while it was dry.  It was foggy in the morning so I waited a bit before pedaling.  I'm still in Seattle for a few more days, and have two bikes with me.  I had the choice of my fixie or my rain bike.  I decided the luxury of multiple gears sounded pretty good.  I rolled off the top of Queen Ann and down to the Fremont Bridge.  I headed east on the Burke-Gilman trail and followed it to Marymoor Park.

As I rode eastward the sun appeared.  Not a blue sky day by any means, but certainly sharp shadows.

I turned around and retraced my route, until I got to the base of Queen Ann, then took a more circuitous and less steep route back up.

Despite my reticence  this morning about getting on the bike, it turned out to be a nice day to ride.

..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............56...........0................0............0.............56 Jan.................487..............0...............0.........0.............487 Total............487.............0...............0..........0..............487

Sunshine!

The morning started out gray but cleared up by afternoon offering Seattle a rare sunny day in January.  I should have hopped on the bike and gone long, but I had a few duties to attend to.  I did manage to ride the fixie to the local hardware store a few times for supplies.

I ended up with 7 miles.
1 new water bottle cage mounted on the fixie
1 new water bottle cage installed on Julie's bike after drilling out and rethreading.
1 pair of hooks in the garage for hanging bike stuff.
1 adjustment of angle on a bike seat.

..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today...............7...........0................0............0..............7 Jan.................431..............0...............0.........0.............431 Total............431.............0...............0..........0..............431

Football Game?

I'm not a football fan by any means, but even those of us blind to professional sports can't miss the buzz going on in the Puget Sound region.  Big blue "12" flags flying everywhere, several buildings with interior lighting arranged to show big "12"s, blue and green lighting everywhere.

That's all well and good, especially since that means the roads and trails are practically empty. :-)

Today 4 ladies and I  pedaled from Ron Regis Park in Renton to Black Diamond Bakery and back. Black Diamond Bakery may be noted for baked goods but I ordered 1lb of chocolate covered peanuts. (my mother would be proud of me) and also had a bowl of soup. Before leaving I took some time to adjust the front derailleur for one of the gals as she couldn't shift to her big ring.

We pedaled back mostly downhill.  It was a slow day, winter fitness was the issue for one, low mojo for another.

I was on my fixie today.  I figured with the hills it would be challenging, but that I should be able to keep up with the gals. I managed to make it up and down the 16% hill today, probably only because it was only a few hundred yards long.  The longer grades (about 4%) were ridable in my 42x18, with some effort.

I was pleased, but still don't know how I will fare with that long hill at mile 50 of the STP route.

Every mile helps.

41 miles
1533 feet gained
13,1 mph average
27.3 mph max
max cadence 142! (calculated)

..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............41...........0................0............0.............41 Jan.................424..............0...............0.........0.............424 Total............424.............0...............0..........0..............424

Almost a Birthday

Every year I invite a few friends to join me on a ride in miles that matches my age. It all started 9 years ago.  Early on, the ride was a milestone to achieve.  In recent years it wasn't even enough to get my attention causing a few of us to add miles by riding to the ride.  This year I find myself again just hoping to be able to keep up.

Today, as a confidence builder (and if I failed to complete it, only I would know!) I rode last year's Seattle version of my birthday ride. I added a 7 mile round trip commute to the route.

I wasn't very fast, but I did finish.  I at least won't embarrass myself too badly.  If you are reading this and haven't seen the event on facebook, and want to join me this year you are most welcome to ride along.  There are two versions, Hillsboro, OR on Feb 1, and Redmond, WA on Feb 8th.  Send me an email for more details.


..............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............65...........0................0............0.............65 Jan.................383..............0...............0.........0.............383 Total............383.............0...............0..........0..............383