This morning, I got up literally at the crack of dawn and got on the road at 6am. I made it to Kirkland (via the 1 hill in Ravenna and the Juanita/Seminary and Market hills of Kirkland) in 1hr 11 minutes and signed up for the “7 hills of Kirkland.” I LAUGH at 7 hills.

Silvia showed up and we got started just after 8am. Hill #1? back up Market hill (210ft), to Juanita Hill (285 feet), then Seminary Hill (455ft). Then Norway (475ft), Kingsgate (412ft), - food stop with yummy peanut butter on everything - Winery hill (”Only 390 feet, but a 21% grade at the bottom AND my gears wouldn’t go down into the granny - I had to stop and fix that). We stopped at the food stop again for more peanut butter and cookies.

Here’s where dorky Lauren apparently turned off the GPS for 11 miles - skipping 1000+ ft of elevation gain)… For next was Education hill (410 feet), Redmond Ridge (617 feet), (the GPS was back on here) Mc Whirter Hill (266 ft), Education HIll (part II - 330 ft) and finally Rose Hill (a VERY long 525 feet).

Silvia did fantasticly well on the uphills. The only reason why she didn’t have to wait for me was that I was really good at catching up on the downhills. If you ask me, she’s ready for the Victoria 1/2 iron

After the Best Strawberry Shortcake ever, I went back up and over Market and Juanita/Seminary hill.

Total - approx 91 miles, 7000ft elevation gain. This link will show most - some is missing. The weather was perfect - cloudy so not too warm - just a little cool in spots until around 2pm on my way home. I met up with Ruben at U village and we walked the bike back up the hill to the house. I just couldn’t get myself to do that last 200 ft gain with a frappacino in my hand

Now we had always said “Issaquah (70 miles) and now I understand - 70 miles is the U district to Issaquah and back. That’s not what we did today. This is:

Scott and I met up at UZ at 9, then we headed out. Right in Woodinville we suddenly had someone tailing us. It was ERIK! Riding to work. Very cool.

We met up with James around 10:30 in Redmond and continued to cycle south. Erik peeled off to work. We took West Lake Sammamish - which is busy with loads of cars (more than 12 years ago for sure!) but a nice wide shoulder.

The only problem is south of 43rd, it’s a 4 lane road, but no bike lane. There’s the bike TRAIL but it’s gravel. Where do they expect cyclists to cycle? I wonder what Cascade says about that. And why the decision to make East Lake Sammamamish trail gravel.

Anyway, a bit of traffic through Issaquah, which used to be a lovely place to stop for lunch. We didn’t though. We plowed on. We also found that it appears the Bellevue bike map is not up to date. At least the one I got from on line. We found the I-90 bike trail through signs - you pick it up right near Sunset school and it takes you UP the twisty windy switch backs (a beautiful wooded area) - towards the highway. It dumps you out near Eastgate - for about a 2 mile not-so-fun stretch - but again it’s busy but plenty of room for cyclists.

Right at Factoria, you pick up the trail again and it dumps you out right where the split off at Lake WA Blvd. From there we just did the south end of the lake - stopping for quite a bit at Kidd Valley in Coulon Park.

At Montlake, Scott peeled off and went home. By the time I got back to the U district I was only at 66 miles. Bound and determined to hit 70, I followed James back all the way up to 97th - to try a route to Meadowbrook that Greg recommended. It did quite the trick Greg. Thanks. James continued on the trail home.

So there you go. 73 miles. 5.5 hours ride time (7.75 total time with stops). My butt is sore.

Lauren

It’s a weekend for a ride around the lake, and the sun even started to peak through the clouds!

On Saturday, Lauren wrote:

Greg, Elizabeth, Sean, Anthony, Emma and I did a loop around the lake today. Here’s the data from my Garmin. I forgot to turn my garmin back on after Coulon Park, so I’m Motion Based interpolated the mileage from there to south Bellevue. Basically that means the totals (including the moving average) is off, but probably not by much. GPS log on MotionBased

On Sunday, we had two concurrent routes clockwise around the lake. First from Ruben:

Sunday morning’s ride ended up with a 9am start at Blakely and 25th near University Zoka. Sylvia, Erik and I met with his bike team to do a lap around the lake. However, Sylvia and I ended up taking a different path and diverged at logboom park to take Juanita, Kirkland and Medina hills to get through Bellevue. I highly recommend the route since it takes you by Bill G’s house and you can easily identify his because of the unusual (and pretty) gate that marks the front of his house. It was my first time through that section and liked the lack of cars and the wide roads. Given it was just the two of us, we ended up settling into a nice groove of chatting and occasionally sprinting off to climb hills and fly down the downhill sections. The weather was cool and overcast with no rain and a minimum of cars on a Sunday to pull you off the road. Sylvia and I were worried we would keep slowing each other down as her training for the triathalon included a 40 mile bike ride + run yesterday. Yikes!

Here is the obligatory route map, and the recommendation to go out biking soon.

GPS log on MotionBased

Sadly, I don’t have a MotionBased log, but for what it’s worth:

As for me, I and 4 other Winos also rode around the lake clockwise. Ruben & Sylvia passed us while at a pee break at Logboom, and then we headed south along 96th Ave, taking the back way into Kirkland. We cruised along Market St. in Kirkland and did the standard loop around. We made good time with plenty of chatter; about 3:15 for the loop. We were in a 5-person group, so riding mostly in a double line, keeping to between 18-22 MPH.

Next week: Whidbey!

I did just over 40 miles around the south part of Whidbey on Saturday. I got a late start (at 2pm) but managed to do the whole thing, including 3675 feet of elevation gain (a couple of monster hills!) in 3.5 hours (4 hours total time - I had to stop for an extra bike tire in Freeland and a latte in Langley).
Things to note: - Bike on top of Prius == overheight charge on the ferry. Note to self: next time put bike on Joan’s car before getting in ferry line (we did this on the way home).

• GREAT Artsy coffee house near where we were staying in Clinton (right off 525 across from a scary looking restaurant called Cozy’s)
• South Whidbey is really pretty, and pretty hilly.
• My new bike tires need tubes with long stems.
• My legs weren’t terribly sore yesterday or today - just tired.
• I saw 3 live bunnies, 1 road kill bunny, 1 green garter-ish snake, a bunch of horses, cows and a sheep who had just started to eat a dandelion puff ball from the bottom up when I called out “baaa” and it looked up, puff ball sticking out of it mouth. I wish I had my camera for all but the road kill.
• Elizabeth biked from Seattle -> Whidbey on Friday (and made the same ferry we did - leaving at the same time from Seattle we did - we were stuck in 1 hour of ferry traffic…). She biked Whidbey->Seattle on Saturday and made damn fine time.

Here’s the Motion Based report.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=37665&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=2604181
Lauren

I think I broke the “Lauren goes to Alki and it Rains” curse. We had some sprinkles on the way out, but on my way back it was pretty nice and I had to take off my rain gear.
We started at Greg and Elizabeth’s and did the “flat route” to Alki. We had a great lunch at Sunfish fish and chips, and I got a really yummy cookie at the Alki bakery for Elias (and some coffee and a cookie for me too). On the way back, Greg and I split off at the Sculpture garden to Fisherman’s terminal, then I split off from Greg and took the “long way home,” up NE 95th St to see if I could do it.
Note to self - get the compact chain ring changed back to a triple.
Here’s the data from the Garmin.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=37665&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=2523104

Ruben, Lauren, Megan, Katy, Elizabeth (towing Emmett), and Erik (towing Laura) went on our (mostly) annual Toeclips through the Tulips ride yesterday. The weather was threatening, but we only got hit with a couple of early AM sprinkles before lunch. Temperatures were in the 50s and it wasn’t too windy. The route starts in Mt. Vernon at the public parking next to the river.

The route starts heading south from Mt. Vernon following the east side of the Skagit River, then wraps around as we head to La Conner. For the most part, the road is chip seal, and the early going this year was rough… new chip seal, so rough going. Erik got a flat pretty early on! The southern half of the ride won’t show many tulips, by the way. It’s mostly there to rack up some miles and get warmed up!

At La Conner, met up with Lupe and Elias and had lunch in the La Conner Brewing Company. They have a small beer garden on the side of the restaurant, and some open space behind (available via the beer garden or by cycling around the block onto 2nd) where you can park your bikes. We typically eat in the garden, as they have heat lamps and we’re already dressed for warmth (and the restaurant can be a bit crowded around lunchtime!).

After La Conner, we start to head to the tulip fields. While our planned route is a 20-mile zig-zag course through the Skagit Valley by the fields, invariably we make various detours depending on what fields are actually blooming. Plus, at any point if people are tired or the weather turns inclement, it’s easy enough to hop back on McLean and take it in to Mt. Vernon for a quick escape. Megan, Katy, Elizabeth, and Erik headed up the first up & down and saw some lovely tulip fields, but after about an hour we weren’t seeing much so we bagged it and headed back along McLean. Lauren and Ruben had stopped to fix a flat after heading out a bit later than the rest, and simply sped down along McLean to catch up with the rest at Mt. Vernon. Back at Mt. Vernon, we hung out at the Same Ol Grind coffeehouse, where we had some lovely cookies and coffee and took in some of the town before heading back.

Here’s a quick Live Maps collection with the starting location & food of record, and a MotionBased trail for what Lauren and Ruben rode. And some obligatory pics!

Erik towing Laura:

Katy:

Megan:

Elizabeth:

Kids coloring, with Lauren and Erik looking on:

Ruben next to some beautiful tulips:

A daffodil field:

Update 4/15/07: Here’s a MotionBased link to the 20-mile Tulip Pedal that Skagit County Medic One holds. Similar route to ours.

Megan and I ended up doing a simple out and back loop from University Zoka to Alki and back (37.6 miles). I picked Saturday morning because I really wanted to get a sunny day bike ride in. That said the weather gods were unusually cruel in that Friday Afternoon was gorgeous, and Sunday Morning was great for a bike ride, but Saturday……not so much. Don’t get me wrong, at no point were Megan and I complaining about it being unusually cold, but the day was not as advertised. The 9am start found us riding on relatively clear trails out to Alki and our return around noon found Myrtle Edwards crowded, but on the whole the conditions were for a great bike ride. Our 30 minute coffee stop at the Alki bakery for a latte and a Chocolate Chip Espresso Muffin was definitely worth it.

The data on the trip via Motion Based is inaccurate as I forgot to turn my watch on until we were in downtown Seattle. That said since it was a simple out and back course the return trip was 18.8 miles out so a 37.6 mile round trip.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=13403&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=2412381

Your humble scribe,

Ruben ” Next time complete data and in sunny weather please… ” Ortega

A second triplog of our ride to Bainbridge / Poulsbo; see Lauren and Greg’s original here: http://pastrypowered.com/?p=27.

Data: Erik’s GPS Log. Also, here’s MotionBased’s new player link for just the Bainbridge section (apparently I got lucky and in the beta!)

As the final training ride before STP, Lauren, Greg, Paul, and I decided to do a quick ride around Bainbridge Island. In truth, and in large part due to laziness on my part, I just put forth the Chilly Hilly route of 33 miles with travel to / from the ferry from UZ and called it good.

We got off a bit late (my fault; forgot the cue sheets and had turned around to get them before Lauren called and said she has a map), and then booked it down to the ferry. We made it with seconds (literally) to spare. Chances are if we were a week later, we’d have missed the ferry as they’re planning on stopping boarding 2 minutes before posted sailing time to ensure on-time departures (boo!). The day was gorgeous though; here’s a quick picture of Mt. Baker from the ferry (yes, it’s there, I’m just not a master with the camera phone camera!)

and here’s where they keep those other ferries!

We put on some sunscreen and stretched out…

and it was off we go!

After a few miles, Lauren’s back rack came off and slammed into her tire. At this point, we thought there’d be a bike shop in Poulsbo, so we decided to head up there. We also ran into Brent from Wisconsin who had sold his business and was in the process of biking from Seattle back to Wisconsin. He tagged along with us to Poulsbo, where it turns out there wasn’t a bike shop. But there was a nice bakery — Liberty Bay Bakery & Cafe:

We headed back to Bainbridge, and Lauren then headed to town while Greg, Paul, and I did the rest of the route. We tried to meet up at the cider stop (although we were about 5 months late for cider), but Lauren got a flat so she just headed to the ferry. Greg, Paul, and I then did the southern part of the route, and about mid-way through Greg picked up some glass through his big knobby 26″ tires… d’oh! Paul, wanting to get back, took off for the ferry. Greg and I headed out without too much of a delay… and were zipping down to the ferry past the gates when we heard HOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKK! D’oh! The ferry was leaving. And suddenly, there was Paul, who had apparently missed a turn somewhere and was behind us. Oh well!

We turned around, and I picked up some Grapefruit Juice and a yummy tea biscuit at Blackbird Cafe in Bainbridge… yum yum good. We then took the 2:55 ferry and headed home. The day was still gorgeous… here’s a final pic of a sailboat we passed on the way home:

Written by Greg and Lauren. First the data
- Here are Greg’s gmaps of the trip in two parts, due to the ferry. From Bainbridge Loop + Poulsbo sidetrip, and home to Colman dock and back (not very exciting).
- Lauren’s link to the data on her GPS, which had some problems on 2nd and in the trees on the east side of Bainbridge.

Now the details:

We started at UZ a bit after 8… and somehow, crazily made it to the ferry RIGHT at 8:45. We were averaging 17-18mph most of the way there, minus going up Denny hill. Lauren quickly paid while the three FASTER three guys went to the ferry, but she did catch up and we were on just in time.

We met a guy from Wisconsin who sold his business and is now just biking around (actually he’s biking back to Green Bay) We rode with him from the NE corner of Bainbridge to Poulsbo; he was heading on to Port Townshend. We basically had lunch with him at the Liberty Bay Bakery and Cafe in downtown Poulsbo. But why did we go to Poulsbo you ask?

Lauren’s back rack came undone (again) doing approx 20mph down hill, in spectacular but luckily symmetric fashion, so nothing went into the spokes. The bolt on holding the rack to braze-on (where it connects to the frame up at the front) came free. The whole rack became one big huge break.

The rear flasher was destroyed, and a chunk of her tire was taken out. Here are some pictures of what happened to the rear deflector as a whole AND especially what happened to the part that was rubbing on the tire. A bit of heat anyone? Oh and the force of the tire pulling on it made the back part where the deflector attaches bend to the point where she just snapped it off when she tried to bend it back.

However! Bontrager puncture resistant tires are awesome. The few gouges did warrant replacing the tire (the people int he cycle shop confirmed this), but I wound up riding all the way to Poulsbo and back on the thing with no flats… She just didn’t feel safe continuing to ride on it, all the way home.
This led to our search for a bike shop in Poulsbo. There are none.

We did get a copy of the phone book and found there are 2 bike stores on Bainbridge: one purportedly on High School and the other on Djune in the center of town.
A guy who we asked gave us his map and directions for leaving Poulsbo that took us on a much nicer route than 305 (which isn’t bad for a state highway, but hardly scenic). We wound up giving the map to the guy from Wisconsin.

After we crossed back across Agate Pass, Lauren took 305 straight to Winslow, stopping at High School way… but that cycle shop didn’t exist. She asked a who had just finished shopping at the Safeway there. HIs mode of transportation was a tricycle like thing that weighs approx 300 lbs with a big cargo area. He modified it to have a motor assist him going up hills, but he pedals it all the other times. I asked him how fast it will go and he said “Scary fast” (the tricycle shakees). He took her to the nearest cycleshop was on Winslow Way - Classic Cycle. As they were parting, he said “Tell Jeff (if he’s in there) that Dave with the tricycle says ‘hi’” - So she did. They helped her pick a good replacement tire and reflector, and Jeff fixed her bike tire. However (and it happens to the best of us), it there was a pinch flat. Within four blocks of trying to catch up with the guys, she had another flat, but they fixed it for no charge right away. She took the 2:05 ferry back to Seattle and had a pretty uneventful, but headwind filled ride home.

Paul, Erik and Greg did most of the rest of the loop (the Chilly Hilly, plus the side route to Battle Point Park to hit the restroom. Greg remembered it had a restroom from the loop he took about 15 years ago. That’s about the only thing that hasn’t changed. Oh, and the Lynwood movie theater (which at the time was showing “Do the Right Thing” was still there and now showing “An Inconvenient Truth”).

After deciding to continue with the loop without Lauren, Greg got a flat at
about the farthest possible SW point. Luckily he had spare tubes and luckily
he found the piece of glass that had probably been in there for a few weeks.
He had to stop an extra time to try to inflate the tire, but otherwise no
damage except we missed Lauren’s ferry by 2 minutes. Back to town for a
treat at the bakery, oh well.

So the good news is that I did manage to get in some riding while my family was out on the Olympic peninsula for 5 days. The first ride was a very short 20 mile ride along Discovery Trail from Sequim towards Port Angeles and back. I had my son in a trailer on the back of my bike and was accompanied with my wife. The trail was notable for all the farm animals we saw along this trail as well as two historic bridges that were probably over 100 years old.
The longer ride I did by myself was ~60 miles long and ran from west of Sequim to Poulsbo. This was the last day of the trip and was essentially me getting a 5 hour head start on my wife to head back to Seattle. Since I was on the highway most of the time, this is not a recommended ride although the scenery along the highway was mostly pleasant.
Actually the original plan was for me to go from Sequim over to Port Angeles and attempt the 5000+ ft climb up Hurricane Ridge which my wife and I had hiked a few days before. I was supposed to do this with the neighbor of the friend we were staying with is an outdoor guide and leads climbing, kayaking, and mountaineering expeditions all over the Olympic peninsula. Unfortunately he got a last minute call to go to “work” and the weather ended up being extremely cloudy and wet so I decided not to take my chances and save the challenge for another day.
Although I highly recommend exploring the Olympic peninsula if you’ve never been out there, it is not a very road bike friendly place, the Discovery Trail being the main exception. Mountain biking, on the other hand. I hear that’s another story.
Scott