Bicycle 300 miles in October

A nice dry day, with patches of blue turning to gold on the way home, even. But this joy can’t last – it’ll be the end of daylight saving time soon, and I’ll be riding home in the dark.

Rode first to get my hair cut, then to work. I used a bus-assist to get me on to the Microsoft campus, to drop off a packet for one of our board members, then rode, in fairly gnarly rush-hour traffic, home.

I rode to work and back, and it felt great, but then I came down with a cold.

So windy on the way in, on a side street that went through a cedar grove, there was a blizzard of needles.

Coming down Inglewood Hill, with a tailwind, effortless at 60 kmph. Along the lake, cruised at 30 kmph.

Paid the price, though, on the return. Oy.

Fall has fallen – full finger gloves, thermal tights for the way in; running two headlights and my retina searing tail light for the way home.

I used the car to get to a meeting and to drop off 600 newsletters at the post office. Then I figured I’d dump the car at a park, change out of my business suit and silk blouse, and ride up to the office.

The idea was to find a quiet place so I could discretely change in the car into my bikie gear. I figured I’d leave the car at some soccer fields, on the theory that no one would be playing soccer at 11:00 AM. No one was, but the grounds crew was busy mowing and doing other sorts of maintenance, and I felt rather conspicuous being the only car parked there.

I reparked the car in a different, quiet wooded corner of the park. I was all ready to change my clothes, when a park ranger and a field trip of elementary school kids came by. It was like some sort of comedy skit! Finally, they all trooped past and disappeared into the forest, and I could change and pedal out of there.

No problem getting back to the car for the way home.

A week in to the month, and I’m already behind. Tomorrow, I will only be riding in from the Post Office, I think – I have to drop off the bulk mailing project there first, before coming in.

It’s getting too dark if I leave work after 5:00 PM to ride home northbound on West Lake Samm. I’m probably condemned to East Lake Samm until March.

October layers…
To meeting in downtown Redmond:
quick-dry t
plaid flannel shirt
fleece vest
jacket
(note: City of Redmond has done a good job with signage off of the Sammamish River Trail)

From meeting to work, mid-day:
quick-dry t
plaid flannel shirt

From work to home, after 5:00
jacket, shed after 5 miles
quick-dry t

We don’t get very good color here in the fall – it’s isn’t like when I lived in upstate New York. But we get a little bit – mostly from big leaf and vine maples. As I came up 212th this morning, the big leaf maples were all turning, and it was quite pretty.

On the way home, my husband, “Jackrabbit” Levine, rode up to my office and we rode most of the way home together. He wanted to go up Bel Red, a steady 5% grade, while I wanted to do the stair step of multi-deity hill. So we split off for the final miles. He got home a hair before I did – just the difference of waiting for a traffic light.

This is the time of year the blinkie batteries go dead. Yeah, the blinkie looked fine when I did my first pass of winterization, but the batteries quickly faded after a few evenings of riding.

Also, after soaking my feet on Monday, I realize I need to put the fender back on over the front wheel. I already yanked it off of the tandem – I just need to put it on my single.