Bicycle 400 miles in April

A little tootling up and down the Westside Hwy between Vader and Castle Rock during walking meditation time.

Commuter miles, down to the lake, up to the Plateau, then reverse, for three days.

Mostly sunshine, but it was cold this morning – mid 40s, and I’ve sort of said to heck with tights for the season. Oooh babies my shins were cold!

Lovely time riding on the Daffodil Classic today. Sunny and warm most of the day.

I rode to work, and then later, to the Chamber of Commerce lunch and back to the office, then home at the end of the day.

I rolled up my linen-like suit and a knit silk short sleeved chemise into my pannier, plus a pair of appropriate shoes for the Chamber lunch. One of the people with whom I had lunch who knows I’m a regular cyclist said something like, “you didn’t ride here of course” and I assured him that I did. I will take that as a compliment.

One day, maybe, it will be acceptable to show up to a CoC lunch in lycra shorts. In the meantime, I have to do the superwoman thing and transform in a booth – it’s just the ladies’ room stall, rather than a phone booth.

Well, I’m not exactly roaring along with this goal, am I?

But I did a nice 25 miles today. It was one of those April days where it was 38 degrees on the way in, 58 degrees on the way back.

glorious, glorious sunshine.

We rode out to Duvall and back. For the first time this season: short sleeves, no tights, no-finger gloves, hair in braided pigtails. It was gloriously sunny and warm, with a light breeze.

Last year at this time when we did this ride, there were morels. No morels this time – with all the snow and cold weather, the trees haven’t even started to turn green before truly leafing out. Still, there were beautiful blossoms, plum and apple trees, mostly. And lots of milk carton views of green fields with snow-capped mountains in the background.

The absolute highlight of the ride was spotting a bobcat. For all the years I have hiked and walked and biked around this area, I’ve never once seen any wild cat, ever. But there was a bobcat running into the forest from someone’s yard. There’s been a lot of development in the general area, and probably they’ve been squeezed out of the forest and more into people’s exurban properties.

Two days of back-and-forthing from home and downtown Bellevue. I used Bel-Red Road, which is busy, but has the least hills and is the most direct. Using Bel-Red meant I shaved about 6 miles and about a half-hour of riding both days. Considering how hard it was raining, just riding 5 miles in and back was welcome.

I’ll be gone for a week-long meditation retreat in April. But maybe I’ll bring the bike, and ride at least once in the afternoon. The retreat center is just off of the STP route, so I could head either up to Vader and points north, or to Castle Rock and points south.

Today was a showers-and-sunbreaks day, and I managed to ride, if not during 100% breaks, at least when it was dry. It was clear, cold, and breezy this morning. A huge dark set of rain clouds glowered to the north this afternoon, but I managed to get home before they blew in over me.

This was my last commute to and from my job downtown. Eight years of using my bike to commute on a regular basis. I don’t feel that sentimental about leaving my job, but I felt sentimental about the commute. All those people I’ve seen coming the other way, year after year, most of whom I’ve never exchanged more than a “hi” with. There’s T-Mobile Black Racer Dude, Mr. Recumbent, Mustache Guy, Old Guy in the White T-Shirt and No Helmet, Salt-and-Pepper Beard …what ever happened to Soul Patch? And on foot – the Four Bubbies, the Covenant Shores Couple…

So I rode to and from work using probably my most ridden routes, not wanting to do anything but the absolute most familiar, feeling like this is the last time. And it may not be really the last time – I’ll still use the I-90 bike trail recreationally, and I might have appointments downtown from time to time. But it’s the last time in a long long while, now.

And I was lucky – I did meet Dane on the PM ride home. Dane was my bike buddy years ago. The apprentice has now far surpassed the master. He lost 70 lbs after being obese since childhood, and has integrated bicycling entirely into his life, taking his kids on the xtracycle for grocery shopping, riding critical mass and with the Dead Baby Bike Club. Dane and I exchanged hugs off the I-90 trail, and I felt like crying. But at least I have Dane’s email and phone number – we’ll still be in touch.

So – done, done, done. I made my April mileage goal, and I am done with this particular commute. It’s just weird, that’s all.