Following the Desert Coyote - 226th phonecast

Following the Desert Coyote - 225th phonecast

And so it begins

I biked 18 miles today doing some last minute shopping. At noon I begin the trip to LA where I will spend a day helping Steven Burns pack and prepare the support van before we drive back north to Reno and the Silver State 508.

..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total Today...........18...............0..............0...............0.............18 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............100....................0..............0...............0............100
 Total..........4935...............0..............0...............0..........4935

A business trip by bike

I had business to attend to in Washington County.  I had stops to make in Hillsboro, Roy, and Forest Grove.  I left just before noon and by the time I got back home it was 12:45 AM.  It was a long day filled with contracts, meetings, and lawyers.  At least the roads were pretty empty on the return trip, and there was no rain.

..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total Today...........83...............0..............0...............0.............83 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.............83....................0..............0...............0.............83
 Total..........4917...............0..............0...............0..........4917

Pathetic

 I used to ride 300 miles a week.  This month I didn't get 300 miles all month!  I started off today riding a few miles down Queen Ann in Seattle to the train station where I hopped on a bus. (makes sense, right?) As we made our way down I-5 big puffy clouds grew and darkened.  50 miles out from Portland it poured rain, but then stopped again after about 20 minutes.  I had the route on my Garmin to ride back to Wilsonville from Portland and as we arrived in Portland I still figured I'd make that 21 mile ride.  Before I could get prepared to ride, the rain started again!  Those big puffy clouds spelled unstable air....the kind that can give hard rain, often laced with hail.  I had my computer in my bag and it wasn't protected from hard rain.  I dodged rain showers taking refuge from bridge to bridge.  It took 45 minutes to get 3 miles.  But I did stay mostly dry.

I hitched a ride back to Wilsonville with Dave when he got off work.

My pansy ways meant I didn't even break 300 miles this month.  :-(

I'm turning into a non-cyclist

..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total Today............9...............0..............0...............0..............9 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 Total..........4834...............0..............0...............0..........4834

Bob Mionske, Bicycle Lawyer interview

George Thomas interviews Bob Mionske, a noted bicycle attorney on Over the Top Radio.

Check Out Fitness Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with overthetop on BlogTalkRadio

Another 12 mile day

I'm still in Seattle, the weather is still nice. I still only rode bike for 12 miles

I rode to lunch. I rode to Sunday Market. I rode to Locks. I did happen across friend Brad, who had already biked 50 miles, and was now on a 5 mile run.
He's one of those Iron Man guys. Darn over achiever!





..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total Today...........12...............0..............0...............0.............12 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............283................0...............0...............0.............283 Total..........4825...............0..............0...............0..........4825

Riding Westlake Avenue

There is much political maneuvering in Seattle over the best way to fix a way for bicyclists to travel the route between South Lake Union and Fremont. All "solutions" involve alignments through a parking lot. 
There have been rumblings about having the new cycle track built with a design speed limit of 10 mph. Between pedestrians crossing, cars backing out of parking spaces, and poor sightlines, it is going to be a mess no matter how they decide to fix.........a problem that doesn't exist.

Julie and I were planning to ride to the Museum of History and Industry located in South Lake Union and decided to start at Gasworks Park to allow a flat ride since Julie is nursing an injured knee.  It was a perfect opportunity to pedal the section of road that many view with fear.

On the way out, slightly downhill, and with a brisk tailwind, we were moving along in the very high teens.  There wasn't enough traffic passing us to make a video worth watching.  After visiting the museum we traced our route back, this time slightly uphill and into that same wind.  Julie's frail knee kept us in the low teens.  Still we had no trouble taking our place as traffic in the lane.



After watching the above video, then take a look at the photo below of what conditions might have been like if we had taken the route through the parking lot (as a major bike club in Seattle would have us do)

Where would you prefer to ride?

By taking our legal position as traffic, in the center of the lane rather than hugging the edge we were more visible.  While not every car driver might have liked us there, they all saw us, and they all changed lanes to pass.  If we had hugged the gutter they may not have seen us as they focused on the vehicle ahead of them, and most would  have tried to squeeze by in the same lane.


..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total Today...........12...............0..............0...............0.............12 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............271................0...............0...............0.............271 Total..........4813...............0..............0...............0..........4813

A night ride

With the shortening of daylight Arsen leads a dark ride.  Tonight 9 of us started from Gasworks Park at 7PM and pedaled off into the darkness.  It was a nice evening with comfortable temperatures.  Our leader bumped the pace up a bit from recent renditions.  We met back at The Dock for post ride libations.

..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total Today...........25...............0..............0...............0.............25 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............259................0...............0...............0.............259 Total..........4801...............0..............0...............0..........4801

A non bike rider

I rode two bike rides today, 6 miles total.  At least there was about 500 ft of climbing.  I had afternoon plans in Bellevue but was hoping to ride back to Seattle following the event.  Alas, after a dry start in Portland this morning the rain started falling 30 miles south of Seattle.  After the wet ride a couple of days ago, I just didn't look forward to a repeat.


 ..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total Today...........6...............0..............0...............0..............6 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............234................0...............0...............0.............234 Total..........4776...............0..............0...............0..........4776