Bicycle 200 miles in January

Jim Carson isn’t all that active on 43t anymore, but he blogged about our ridehere

I could see Pine Lake sparkling in the setting sun through the trees – for all the times I’ve been at that intersection, I’m surprised this is the first time I’ve noticed that you can see the lake there.

Also, I want to note that I am enjoying more and more the section of the commute home through Marymoor Park. It is peaceful and pastoral at dusk – probably the highlight of day.

I rode to work on Wednesday; I’ll ride again today, and that’ll bring me over the top!

Rode up Inglewood Hill in one go this morning; implies I’ll be getting back my summer legs by, with luck, this summer.

On the way home, I didn’t have to put on my light until the final few miles – it drove it home that we’re on the happy slide into summer solstice now. You can almost feel the embryonic heart of spring beating faintly in that cold, hard, icy shell of winter.

I did a multi-modal thing: to a meeting on Capitol Hill today, and then downtown Seattle. But I drove to work.

It was supposed to be sunny, but really, the weather ranged from dankly cloudy to foggy, to super foggy, to heavy mist. It was in the mid to upper 30s.

Jim Carson rode to my workplace, and I attempted to make my escape by the time he arrived (10:45), but it ended up being quite after 11:00 before I finally extricated myself and fled.

We used the old Flying Wheels route, out and off of the plateau, up and over Ames Lake Road, and then screamed through the Snoqualmie River Valley. Evidence of recent flooding was everywhere.

We ate lunch, then pounded it up Wood-Duv Road, the Old Wood Duv Road, around the top end of the Trilogy development, and then down to Bear Creek. Then it was a quick (~18 or 19 mph) run down Avondale to Marymoor.

I left Jim to pursue his geocaching craze – he wanted to hunt some cache in Marymoor Park, and pedalled home.

It was the longest ride in some time, the first real recreational ride of the year – 46 miles round trip.

I rode to a class on Monday, and then in and back to work on the shortest route, which means these days, up and down Inglewood Hill. This time I only had to stop once to gasp for breath, so progress has been made.

Also, I tried a cut-off from the main drag, making the route both shorter and with less traffic. It was labeled “Not A Through Street”, but that sort of thing is often just to discourage cars. And lo and behold, it was a through street, despite the sign, so I’ll probably use the cut regularly for this route in to work.

I rode to the park and ride, and then carpooled with someone to my morning’s workshop downtown. Then I changed into a suit and hose to meet with our attorney right after lunch. I got a series of legal documents from him, so I was glad I took the extra pannier to carry it all back – I took the bus back to the p/r and rode home from there.

A little wet, but mostly windy on the way in to work this morning. I plotted my course so that my ride into the wind was mostly sheltered; after coming around the bottom of the lake, I had a tail wind as I headed north again, and flew up East Lake Samm Parkway.

For the way home, it was pouring. There’s still lots of grit and debris on the road from the snow. I came home soaked through, and covered in road grit from head to toe.

Slush, slush, slush for the first few miles, as I wound my way out of the neighborhood and dropped down to the lake.

Marymoor Park was like something out of a dream – fields covered in snow in the dim dawn light and heavy mist.

Then, in a fit of hubris, considering I’ve only ridden twice in the last month – I decided to take Inglewood Hill to the office. Well, damn, I had to stop twice and suck air into my screaming lungs.

When I got to the office, I was soaked through. I set up multiple fans and put my gloves and socks on monitors. Alas, by the end of the day, while everything else was more or less dry, my socks, while warm from the monitor, were not dry.

I hate wet socks.

Since my legs were still semi-gelatinous from coming up Inglewood in the morning, and it was pretty dark, I took the bus most of the way home. I just got off at Microsoft Corporate Campus and rode home from there.

Still, considering conditions – a respectable 15 miles for the first ride of January.