Bicycle 400 miles in May

a few of my friends are training to ride to san francisco, a 383 mi ride from home :)

We actually rode 14 hills because we did the 100 mile loop.

It was a beautiful, sparkling sunny day, light breezes – perfect bicycling weather – not too hot.

We rode to the ride, and therefore got to the start around 8:00, about a half hour after the recommended start time of 7:30 for century riders. But it also meant that we got the last hill for everyone else, Rose Hill, completed before we officially started.

In previous years, we skipped Seminary Hill, the 2nd official hill of the ride. I had climbed it with my old riding partner “Luvs Hills” Lester, and remembered it as being very steep. The reality is, what was steep back then is not that steep for me any more, and we handily made it to the top, wondering why we had not ridden it before.

After we made it to the first food stop (two hills later), we did Winery Hill, which we skipped last year. It has a wicked section right at the start, quite a challenge. At the top, there’s a bagpiper playing for encouragement – we were joking that he probably has a lot of practice playing at funerals.

Two more hills later, David and I were running out of gas and I was getting a little loopy. We had peeled away from the metric century route, and there were now far fewer bikes. At this point, we probably should have stopped and had a goo or a bar or something. But we thought, “oh, it’s mostly downhill to the next food stop”, even though it wasn’t quite.

By the time we got to the official food stop, there was only a couple of riders there. We had the usual bananas and peanut butter bagels and resumed riding.

We got to the lunch stop at 2:00 PM. Again, the place was nearly deserted. One rider commented that it was the best sandwich he had ever eaten, and after 60 (for us, 70) miles of hilly riding, I suppose a slice of turkey and a slice of American cheese on wheat gets downright ambrosial. But what was “the bomb” was the homemade brownies they had available.

Once we took off from there, we never saw another bike on this ride again. Two of the riders at lunch on the century route were going to cut it short and skip out on some of the ride; the other two guys must have been much faster and they were gone. Presumably everyone else were way ahead, or were much slower than we were.

We were on the uphills of Yew Road (where I think last year I really was having some difficulties with fatigue) and we took a short break, and I replenished my chamois butter. Then we completed the climb to the top of Maltby Hill, and there’s a nice long payoff of rollers and straightways with an emphasis on downhill, just what tandems are made for. This carried us until we got on Avondale. We abandoned the official course on Avondale, and rode home from there, via Marymoor Park and a final climb home.

The official distance was 99 miles, but since we rode to the ride but cut it short at the end, we were at 104 miles. We’ve certainly ridden longer distances, but the elevation gain was over 7000’ total, making it probably the gnarliest ride we’ve ever done together.

I rode out to Flaming Geyser State Park/Black Diamond, and back.

8:00 left the house
8:40 short bio break at Coulon Park in Renton
9:05 got on the Interurban Trail in Tukwila
10:00 downtown Auburn
10:30 short break at Flaming Geyser, ate some cherries
11:15 Lunch at the Black Diamond Bakery
12:00 Left Black Diamond
1:00 Summit of Tiger Mountain Road; drank nearly an entire bottle of energy drink while sitting under a cedar tree
2:00 Crossed over I-90 on the little pedestrian bridge
2:30 Home

I had a class at Rainier and Dearborn – used the bus to help get there and back, but otherwise used the bike.

Beautiful day – most grateful to have a chance to ride in the morning, mid-day, and evening.

Definitely have the summer legs now – got home in 50 minutes flat, straight up multi-deity hill and only went a little anaerobic towards the end.

I made it up Multi-Deity Hill this evening, all in one go. This time, I didn’t call out the names of multiple deities. Instead, I just yelled “ho! ho! ho!” at each pedal stroke, and made it up.

Phewf!

There’s a huge difference between riding home when it’s 47 degrees and pelting an icy rain, and riding home when it’s 57 degrees and deliciously sunny.

Oh, and I saw the Indian guy again. His smile and wave gets bigger every time.

I rode in to work like it was spring: a tank with a fully-zippered long-sleeved jersey over it, shorts, half-finger gloves, my fully-ventilated roadie shoes.

At the end of the work day, I think, gee, I’m really tired, maybe I’ll take the bus part-way home today. I look out the window – hm, looks like rain. I gather up my things quickly, and get on the bike. The time is tight, so I’m looking, looking, looking to see if the bus is already going by the stop as I ride up to the arterial. I don’t see it, so I figure I’m more or less right on time.

It isn’t just raining, it’s an icy rain, and it’s in the lower 40s. In other words, it’s like November – February out there – the only way you’d know it’s May is that it wasn’t dark.

After waiting for 15 minutes, I realize that the bus isn’t coming. Since I didn’t see it on the way to the stop, it must have come about 5 minutes early. Well, I could wait another 20 minutes for it to show, or I could just ride home.

I decide to just ride home.

Within a few minutes, my shoes are totally soaked, and I can feel my toes turning numb. My hands turn numb. I consider turning back to the bus stop, but continue on.

I had hoped that maybe it would be better after the descent to the lake. It is, maybe 3 degrees warmer, still pouring rain. A cyclist coming the other way on the construction detour (an unpaved, muddy trail) yells FUN!? at me. At Marymoor Park, this Indian guy I see coming the other way nearly every day gives me the big smile and waves.

I come up the longer Bel-Red way, just because I know I’d otherwise have to wait for the light at Bel-Red and West Lake Sammamish, and I can’t bear the thought of sitting out there in the downpour.

By the time I get home, I am soaked through and completely frozen. I take a luke-warm shower – I can’t risk a hot one – and the chilblains are so intense I start to cry. I cry and cry and finally I give up on a shower, even though my feet are still numb. I towel off, and get dressed.

Only now, an hour later, with a beer and food and wool socks and dry clothes do I start to feel remotely human again.

I saw a large bullfrog leaping from the roadside into the bushes. Or maybe it was a toad? Very large, maybe 5 or 6 inches – quite a sight!

A gorgeous sunny day. All the trees are leaved out now.

David and I did RACMOD this afternoon, a fine ride together on the tandem.

I fell.

Tomorrow I was going to take the bike into the shop, anyway, for a spring tune-up, so they can straighten out the STI shifters.