Greg, Emmett, Elizabeth, Laura, and I did the Everett Street Scramble on a very rainy Saturday. The rain forecast for noon arrived about 8 AM and lasted throughout the early afternoon, so we were quite soaked. Turns out this also reduced the participation in the scramble — there were only 2 teams in the Family / Bike division: Teriyaki Donut, which is Greg and Emmett, and Maybe He’ll Nap, with Elizabeth, Laura, and yours truly.
We decided to do a southern route first, planning on shooting north if we had time. It turned out we managed to forget the cover to the trailer, so we ended up rigging a shield using spare map cases and duct tape. It worked OK, but Laura got very cold and was in some distress, so we didn’t end up going all that fast. At Point 53 (the offshoot about mile 9), we stopped for a bit, dried out the trailer, and make Laura a garbage bag parka. This worked well and made her more comfortable, so we made decent time back up to downtown Everett. We made a few hill mistakes quickly though — the next point was in Forest Park. We went down a huge downhill, and then had to huff right back uphill to Point 41. Then, we circled around on Mukilteo Blvd going down and back up a steep hill, versus staying high and taking Federal due north. But hey, we needed some exercise.
In the end, we arrived about 15 minutes early (so 2:45 total), and had earned 590 points, which was good enough for 2nd place in Family / Bike, and 3rd overall. A solo cyclist was second overall, and Greg & Emmett, the other Family / Bike team, took first with a whopping 920 points. They took a northerly route first, correctly going for a flatter route initially. Then they cruised south and took most of the points.
Overall, I’m reasonably pleased with how we did… I think for any future ones, a map case on the handlebars would be key just to keep track of where we’re going. Plus, extra clothes for Laura — the rain was a killer!
As always, for your enjoyment, the HR stats. Lap markers indicate when we hit a point.
