Hope

Yesterday was one of the warmest days of the year so far.  As I sat at my desk at work I notice a cycling buddy of mine heading for the door with a familiar grin on his face.  He stopped to talk to me before he left and rather than ask him where he was going I asked him where he was going to ride.  He told me he was headed up to Bellingham to mountain bike some of his favorite trails.  He also mentioned that he had been watching the weather forecasts all week and planning out just the right time when his favorite trail would be dry enough to ride.  That’s an all too familiar tradition for cyclists around here.  I too had been watching the weather forecasts all week trying to decipher a good riding window.  Yesterday afternoon was the window that we had all been waiting for.  I followed my buddy’s example and also headed for the door.

The temperature yesterday was in the low 60s so I was able to wear my favorite camouflage shorts over my cycling shorts for the first time this year.  Yep, no rain pants for me.  It felt sooooo good to be riding in shorts again.  Although, my legs don’t have the cyclist tan yet they were in heaven.  My calf even got christened with the first chain marking of the year.  I’m not quite sure why I can’t seem to avoid that but yesterday I just didn’t care.  

The local bugs must have been following the weather forecasts too because they were out in droves.  At times it felt like I was being shot by bugs in the face.  Wearing sunglasses on days like this provide protection for your eyes in more ways than one.  A couple even flew into my ear which is quite the weird sensation to say the least.  

I’m currently staring out the window watching it rain again but I have hope that there will be a lot more day like yesterday in the near future.  I have cycling hope!

Ride Stats

Mileage = 31.5 

Elevation Gain = 1154 ft.

Smiles on my face = Countless 

Friday Ride

Last week it rained consistently from Sunday through Thursday. But on Friday the rain let up so after the roads had some time to dry out I made a break for it to take a solo ride. I live on a small hill so when I start rides from my house I get to descend a great hill for a quarter mile which is really nice. Then I immediately start climbing a mile long hill to get to where I’m going. Climbing this hill without any sort of a warm up always induces the “I’m going to throw up” feeling by the time I get to the top. It doesn’t matter what my fitness level is I always get it. Luckily, it’s never come to fruition.

I decided to vary my usual route a little so I added a section of a longer route that I haven’t ridden for a while. Even though it was cold enough that I had to wear a jacket, rain pants and warm gloves it felt great to be outside riding again. When you ride inside on a trainer without doing many real outside rides it gives you a false sense that you are doing some good training. It’s always interesting to go for a real ride to see what you’ve got to work on. I’ve definitely increased my aerobic ability through doing my trainer rides but my legs just weren’t where I wanted them to be.

So the long and short of it is I need to add squats back to my training routine. I’m not a big fan of squats but they seem to give me the strength to master those hills. If you’ve got some good leg strength exercises that don’t include squats I’d love to hear them.

There were a lot of signs of mother natures rain wrath as I rode along. Most of the yards had water still pouring off of them down the street because at this time of the year the ground just can’t handle any more water. As I approached one street I encountered a small river that had formed across a street. The newly formed street river was only a couple of inches deep but as I pulled up a four wheel drive drove through it at full speed thus spraying a wave of water at least 4 feet high. Did I mention this was on a very rural road which was mainly driven by 4 wheel drive trucks with the number 3 painted on the back of them? Lucky for me I hadn't crossed the river yet. I decided I would have to tactically time my crossing when I was sure there wouldn’t be any 4X4's crossing at the same time. I’m sure I would have been a dream water target if I hadn’t timed my water crossing just right.

Ride Summary:
Had a great ride with plenty of energy left in the tank at the end.
Need to work on leg strength because some hills were harder than I wanted them to be.
Worked on fine tuning the fit of my bike while I was out and finally got the seat height and position right.
Still messing around with the barrel adjusters because my bike seems to have a mind of it’s own in some gears. Very frustrating.
Mileage - 51 Miles
Elevation Gain – 2348 feet

Chuckanut Ride

A couple of weeks ago Jenny and I rode over to get a hot chocolate and while we were hanging out we talked to a fellow cyclist who told us that he mainly rode his bike north of where we live and really talked it up. Right then we decided that the next place that we needed to explore on our bikes was Chuckanut Dr. I did a little research and couldn’t figure out where the name Chuckanut came from but I’m thinking it either came from someone who has a heck of a sense of humor or a local indian tribe.

Last year through an incentive program at the company where I work I got a Garmin Edge 305 so when we decided to try out a new route I did my planning on www.mapitpronto.com. This is a free site where you can plan out a bike route just by clicking along a map. Once you’re finished you can download the route as a course into your Garmin. My Garmin doesn’t show you street maps but it does show you a line of your route and where you are on that line. This works well enough to follow along while trying out a new route and you never have to pull out a street map. I really love that feature. I’ve never been much of a fan of pulling out maps on a ride but we’ve been know to do that far too often in the past.

The route was actually very nice with plenty of hills and very few cars. Once we passed the half way point we rode onto Chuckanut Drive which follows the Puget Sound shoreline and looks out at the San Juan Islands for 10 miles or so. For the record you can also see Canada from here as well.  I hate to be outdone by the Alaskans who can see Russia from their back window so as far as you know all Washingtonians can see Canada from their front window.  The sights were so nice on the route it was hard to concentrate on the road. Here are a couple of the pictures that we snapped.

Before we got back to the car we road passed a house with a white fence which isn’t all that uncommon but take a look at what the fence was made out of. This is my kind of fence.

Next time we ride up north we are definitely going to take this route again. It was a good one.

Weight Loss Throw Down Update
We have some additional contestants for the weigh loss throw down and they promise to put up some stiff competition. They are Linda and Larry. Both of them have assured me that they will be winning come Friday so they are very determined. Welcome to the throw down!!!

Best Ride of the Year (So Far)

Here's my recipe for the best day of cycling in 2009 so far.

Change sunglass lenses from amber to charcoal
Take off back fender
Leave thermal underwear in their drawer
Wear just a t-shirt under a light jacket
Bake at 55 degrees under clear blue skies until legs are burned to a crisp

This time of year riding in the sun without even a hint of rain is quite the anomaly but that is what I got to do last Friday and it was great.

Since Jenny had commitments in the afternoon I headed out for a solo ride around Granite Falls. This is a great rural ride with plenty of hills and not near enough descents. Funny how it always works out that way. The conditions were so great that I let out a couple of “Wooooooo-Whooooos” just for good measure on my ride. I just couldn't control myself.

About 20 miles into the ride I was passed by another cyclist which at the time really startled me because I was the only person around for miles and deep in cycling thought when he passed me. I hate to be passed so I attempted to at least catch up with but my legs just wouldn’t obey (I’m working on that). To make matters worse about 5 miles after he passed me he passed me again. No he didn't lap me, he stopped to fill up his water bottles at a park on the side of the road and I noticed him as I rode passed the park so I knew he was going to pass me again. I felt a lot like the lone breakaway rider sensing defeat as the peloton bears down on you. He was so much faster than me I knew he was going to pass me again. So, I had to just wait for the imminent pass to happen. At least he gave me a nod of approval as made his move.

Toward the end of my ride I started to run out of gas. Luckily, I had a gel in my seat wedge so once I sucked it down I was good to go for the rest of the ride. Gels work like magic and if you have the right flavor they are also magically delicious. I had a strawberry which isn’t my favorite bit it did the trick. I haven’t bonked on a ride in a long time. It’s amazing what you forget when you haven’t done a training ride in a while. I guess that’s why they call them training rides.


Animals Spotted
Cows
Sheep
Squires
Coyotes
Dogs
Cats
Horses

None of them chased me!!!

Miles Ridden: 42
Elevation Gain: 1782 feet

A Case of Cold Feet

Yesterday Jenny and I went for another bike ride over to Snohomish. This time we planned on adding some additional mileage and hills to our ride for training purposes. This week it’s been cold and dry in our area so extra layers have been in order. As we got ready for the ride I put on enough layers for a ride in the upper 30 degree range, pumped tires, filled bike bottles, put the rack on the car and packed the bikes. These are my normal riding duties.

The one thing I forgot to do before we left was check the thermometer. Big Mistake! About half way to our destination I looked up at the temperature reading in our car and it said 27 degrees. I really didn’t panic because it was only 10 lower than I had dressed for so I thought I would probably be all right.



As we started our ride I really wasn’t all that cold except for my fingers but after a couple of minutes they were hurting pretty good. I tried to do my old standby trick of hiding my fingers behind the drops of my handlebars but it didn’t work. Thankfully, Jenny had worn her Cookie Monster gloves so her fingers were toasty warm and she had a spare pair in her seat wedge. She let me use her spare gloves and I slipped them over the two pairs I already had on. That did the trick and I was in business. If you’re wondering what Cookie Monster gloves look like here’s a shot of them. Don’t they look like something Cookie Monster would wear?


It’s interesting how people get cold in different ways. When I’m cold the first thing to get cold are my hands. When Jenny gets cold she always battles cold feet. This makes for interesting car rides switching the heat from the floor to the vents. Luckily, we also have a setting where the heat comes out both of these areas.

Since my cold issues were now solved it was time for Jenny to get cold. You guessed it. Her feet were cold. I had worn some heavy socks for the ride but Jenny only opted to only wear two pairs of fairly thin socks. Not sure what she was thinking. As we rode along her complaining of cold feet started as a small mention and got increasingly louder and louder. I guess her complaining was warranted since by this point in the ride our water bottles had frozen. The only thing I could think of to help her was offer to exchange my thick socks for a pair of her thin ones. I didn’t think she would go for it but when I offered this up she jumped at the chance. So, the next park bench we came to we stopped and switched socks. Honestly, it felt kind of weird sitting on a park bench exchanging socks but luckily it was so cold no one was around.

With the great sock exchange now complete we headed back out for Snohomish. You see we were on a mission. The Snohomish Bakery sells some great muffins and both of us wanted one even if it meant a mild case of frost bite. The rest of the ride I let Jenny draft off of me and she said it was a lot warmer to be out of the breeze.

I must admit it was really nice to walk into a warm bakery. We made our order and Jenny and I sat down at a table. Jenny took her shoes off in hopes that her toes would thaw out. It took quite a while for Jenny’s toes to warm up and she said it was really painful. I guess her toes really were cold.



What happened next reminded me of a cyclist pulling off the road and letting their team car pick them up in the Tour de France or Roberto Doran uttering No Mas when he just couldn’t fight any more. I offered to ride back to the car alone then drive over to pick Jenny up and she reluctantly agreed. I don’t think Jenny was happy about this situation but I’m sure she was relieved that she didn’t have to go back out into the cold.

Lessons Learned:
Mike needs to wear bigger gloves on cold rides
Jenny needs to wear thick socks stuffed with hand warmers on cold rides
Always look at the outside temperature before you ride
Baked goods from the Snohomish Bakery are good enough to risk a little frost bite for.

Stats:
Temp 27 degrees
Mileage 36 miles

Adventures in Bike Commuting

On Monday I learned that I had an all day meeting at work that would be getting over late. OK, where I work 4PM is a really late meeting. Since Tuesday is a normal carpool day and we normally leave quite a bit earlier than 4 this put me in a bind. How was I going to get home? Solution: ride my bike home.

I’m not much of a bike commuter because I live 20 miles from where I work and making the trek both ways just seems like too much of a good thing. On occasion I’ve talked one of my carpool buddies into throwing my bike in the back of his truck on the way to work. That way I only have to ride one way and I don’t have to figure out how to take a shower before I start working.

Well, on Monday night I packed all of my gear up in a bag and included a bike lock so I could secure my bike at work. Being the smart guy that I am I left the key in the lock so it would be right there once I got my bike to work. It’s good to have a plan.

Everything was working as planned. I put my bike in the back of my buddy’s truck along with a bag of my riding gear. Then I listened to my carpool buddies give me a hard time about riding home from work. It was like I was riding to work with two Eeyores. You know, “you’ll never make it”, “it’ll never work”. I tried to tell them that 20 miles was really doable and a fairly easy ride. What a bunch of rookies.

Once I got to work I pulled my bike from the back of the truck and wheeled into my building. My plan was to park it under the stairs and lock it to a sprinkler pipe. My well thought out plan was working great until I looked down at my lock and the key was no where to be found. I searched around the parking lot and the back of the truck, no key! Oh crud, what was I going to do. In a move of desperation I ended up looping the lock around the end of the pipe and sliding it up as far as it would go.

This didn’t secure my bike but it gave the illusion that it was locked up. Lucky for me, since my bike was parking under the stairs no one could see my bike anyway. This doesn’t mean I wasn’t a nervous wreck all day though. I went down to check on it a number of times and every time I went down it was still there. What a relief. Here’s some pictures of my bike and the lock illusion.

The ride home was a tough one with many hills but it was just what I needed. I even got to use my new light as I got home after dark. I still have the lock wrapped around my top tube though without a key to unlock it. I’m thinking my options are:

Cut off the lock

Keep looking for the key

Keep the lock on my top tube and amaze my friends with the bike lock illusion trick every chance I get.

I’m thinking I’ll look around for the key for a couple of days and if it doesn’t show up the lock with have a rude encounter with my hack saw.

Light Review and Super Heros

The other night I went for a short ride on the Centennial Trail to test out my new bike flash light. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. It lit up the whole trail. My light was a lot like having a head light for a car strapped to my head only not as heavy.

I was the only one on the trail because it closes after dark so the ride was really quiet and peaceful. That is until I looked up and there were a couple of deer standing in front of me. I know that deer don’t normally attack people but looking up and seeing them right in front of me really freaked me out.

Other than my deer incident my night ride was great.

On another note, the other day I referred to gaining a superpower from my father. I guess I’ve also been handing down superpowers to my kids without knowing it. Friday was superhero day at my daughter’s school. Here is a picture of her before she left for school in her true identity. I’m not sure what her superpowers are at this point but her supersuit it way cool. She's also a smart superhero. No capes!!!

Tour de Flood

Last week it rained and rained and when you thought it was just about time for it to quit raining it rained some more. Since it rained so much and the temperatures were somewhat warm (50 degrees) our area sustained some flooding. Usually, the flooding isn’t much at all but this time around our area took a beating.

I had the day off on Friday so Jenny and I decided to ride over to Snohomish to check out the flooding.

On our way there we stopped at Lake Cassidy to snap this photo of the dock because I’ve taken picture from there before. Usually I can ride out to the end of the dock but nothing doing this time, it was flooded. As I rode out on the dock I didn’t notice that it was iced over so when I put on my front brake my wheel locked up. Luckily, I was able to put my feet down quickly before I fell into the lake.

The rest of the ride into Snohomish was uneventful but it was really nice to ride outside for a change. In fact, it was the first outdoor riding I had done this year. When we got to Snohomish we immediately saw that there were a number of roads closed. Because we were on bikes we were able to ride through road closure barricades to get a closer look. The flooding was pretty devastating but luckily there weren’t that many houses affected. I guess most people are smart enough to build their houses on a little elevation. Here are some pictures that we snapped of the flood.

Before we headed home we stopped at a bakery for a muffin and a cookie. I don’t know about you but I’ll take baked goods over power bars and shot blocks any day. So the first ride of the year is now in the books. One down, many more to come.

Ridin In The Rain

I had the day off on Friday and since Jenny was tied up with some things she had to do I talked myself into going for a ride. Normally, I don’t need to talk myself into going for a ride but it’s was 41 degrees and raining. Not ideal conditions for a ride but I was itching to get out so I thought I’d brave the conditions, put on some rain battle gear and give it a shot. I really hate being cold so I added two pairs of thermals to my normal riding attire for the day.

Jenny was also nice enough to give me a Christmas gift early. She bought me a head wrap to cover my ears and when she saw the conditions that I was going to ride in she let me open it up early. What a saint.

When I got to the trail head I wasn’t surprised that there wasn’t anyone else around. As I got on my bike and peddled away it was kind of nice to have the trail to myself. I did have to stop several times to make adjustments to my clip on back fender to get it just right but once I got things nailed down the ride was actually really nice.

I rode for a good 10 miles but then I encountered a park ranger standing in the middle of the trail with his white truck. I rode up to him wondering what was going on and he told me that the rest of the trail was closed because they were mowing. Nothing really gets called off in the northwest because of the rain, not even mowing.

Before I spoke with the Ranger I was wondering just how far I should go before I turning back. I guess he answered my question for me. I was actually glad I had to turn around because the rain was starting to soak through my jacket and I could feel the water leaking into my cycling shoes.

Since I was riding I really wasn’t cold but I was starting to get uncomfortable. By the time I got back my feet and arms were completely drenched but it was a great ride. It turned out to be more of an adventure to see how far I could go before getting completely waterlogged than just another bike ride. I actually had a great time. I obviously need to make some adjustments to my gear but I’m interested to see how far I can make it the next time I go for a rain ride.

Equipment adjustments/additions
- Find something to cover my feet with
- Water proof my wind breaker – generic scotch guard should do the trick
- Find some light water proof gloves

I ended up covering my Garmin 305 with a zip lock bag because I wasn’t sure if it was water resistant. I looked at it’s specs and I guess it is water resistant but I’m going to keep the baggie on it just in case.
Last summer I took a great picture of my bike laying on a dock during a nice summer evening ride. As I rode passed that same dock I thought I’d take a winter time picture. Here’s the same shot in different seasons. Rain riding is fun but nothing really beats summer riding.

A Dry Saturday Ride

Last Saturday I woke up and peaked outside the window checking to see how hard it was raining. To my surprise it wasn’t raining at all. Bonus! With that, I gathered up all of my cycling gear, made a PB&H, threw my bike in the back of car and headed over to the Centennial trail. Normally, I would just start from home and ride over to the trail but I haven’t done much training lately so I was looking to minimize on the cycling punishment. There’s a big hill in between my house and the trail. I’ll save that punishment for January when the real training begins.

Once I got to the trail I was glad I skipped the hill from the house. It was like I had some kryptonite in my back pocket. My legs just didn’t have much go in them. I guess I’ve been doing way too much eating and not enough riding. After a while the kryptonite must have dropped out of my pocket because my legs came back to life.

I still felt like I was pedaling squares as opposed to a smooth circles but I had enough energy to enjoy myself. Most people on the trail were all smiles because there just aren’t many days this time of year that are dry. As I got to the end of the trail I noticed 30 or so people running that had on matching shirts. As I passed them I noticed that their shirts said Army on the back. They all seemed like they were dragging and there wasn’t much spring in their step. When I turned around at the end of the trail and passed them coming back I noticed that not one of them had a smile on their face. It was a pretty grim sight. I guess that’s the difference between doing something you enjoy and completing a requirement. Being all you can be didn’t look like much for the day.

On the way back I got into the zone of deep thought as I pedaled along so I didn’t even notice some fellow cyclists as they passed me. They probably said “Onyerlef” but I just didn’t hear it. That startled me back into reality so I decided to do some tagging along. I was able to do some pretty good drafting without being right behind them for a while. All of the sudden I started hearing music and they pulled over. One of them got a phone call and the party was over. I was on my own again for the rest of the ride.

All in all, it was great to ride without the rain. I’m planning on another ride this weekend if the weather holds. The forecast is calling for snow of all things but I’m crossing my fingers.

And Bears Oh My......

Last night I went for another evening ride on the Centennial trail. Because I was riding by myself I brought my iPod along and started the ride out with some Jackson Browne. Ahhh, very relaxing. About 500 feet into the ride I passed some walkers and they started pointing and talking to me. I pulled my headphones out and they told me that they just spotted a black bear in the bushes up the trail between milepost 11 and 12. A rational person would have probably just gone back to the car and gone home but I was out for a ride and DANG IT no bear was going to stop me.

I’ve only seen bears in the zoo so closest thing I have to experience with them is my friend at work who grew up in Alaska. He has told me a lot of stories of how they used to chase black bears away from their work sites so I rationalized my riding safety by telling myself that any bear that I saw on the trail would run the other way if he saw me and I made enough noise. It’s good to have a plan.

Right after I spoke with the walkers I noticed there were some other cyclists just up the trail from me. Not that I was scared or anything but once I saw them I sprinted in their direction and caught up with them. I figured if a bear mauled me it would be good to have some company.

As I rode with them we started talking about the bear sighting. I noted that I had seen posted signs of possible bears in the area but I had never heard of anyone actually seeing one. One of the cyclists told me that was because the cougars usually scared them away. I think his attempt at humor was wasted on me. Lucky for me my new cycling friends had bells on their bikes that they constantly rang. If there was a bear in the area he would definitely know we were there.

As we passed milepost 11 I figured I was in the clear so I bid my new cycling buddies farewell and took off. As I rode toward Snohomish I started calculating how long I could ride before I would have to turn around to make it back before it got dark. The last thing I wanted to do was to ride on the trail past a bear in the dark. I at least wanted to see the bear before the attack.

I ended up turning around just before I got to Snohomish. On the way back my legs were starting to lag a bit but I did have the motivation of bears in the dark that kept me going. I ended up getting back a little earlier than I expected so I stopped at Lake Cassidy to take some pictures of my bike on the dock. As I was taking pictures I heard something rather large rummaging around in the tall reeds by the dock. I didn’t put two and two together until I got back to the car but that could have been the bear. Probably not though.

It would have been nice to see a bear at a distance just to say I saw one but I think I’m relieved that I didn’t.

Stats:
Distance 20 miles
Avg MPH 15.8
Bear sightings 0

A lot of hard miles on cheap gas

A couple of years ago I worked with an older gentleman who used to tell me his life had been full of a lot of hard miles on cheap gas. Yesterdays ride reminded me a lot of that.

Yesterday afternoon things suddenly got quiet around the house so I was successful in getting clearance from the boss to go on a short bike ride. Since I was only going on a short ride I decided to head over to Smoky Point and back from our house.

While I was climbing up the fist hill to Highway 9 I started thinking about what I had eaten that day. My Saturday diet had consisted of a bowl of granola for breakfast and three cookies and a slice of banana bread for lunch. If I had to categorize this food that I would be using as fuel for riding I would definitely call it some cheap gas. I think it was my version of AM/PM gas. It gets the job done but no one’s car runs very well on it.

The ride down to Smokey Point was pretty fast after the first hill. This is my favorite part of the ride as it’s a gentle descent most of the way there. Since it’s slightly downhill most of the way there I was able to ride around 20 MPH which is pretty fast for me.

The ride back home was kind of a struggle. On previous rides when I’ve pushed myself I’ve found that my legs were the thing that has held me back. This time around it was my lungs. My legs were doing fine but I was panting like a dog in the sun on a super hot day. I pushed my breathing to the edge of a side ache but just under it.

I was shooting for an average of 15 MPH for the ride but I ended up just under my goal. I ended the ride at 14.7 MPH. When I got home I looked at my time for the last time I rode this route and I noticed that I had beaten it by 3 minutes so I must be getting fitter through all of this training.

Yesterday’s ride was a lot of miles on cheap gas but all in all I was faster than before. Maybe I should change my diet. NOT!

Stats
Distance: 16.75 miles
Avg MPH: 14.7
Time: 1:08.

A Race Against the Sun

Last night everyone scattered in different directions after dinner so that left me with an opportunity to go for a ride. With the nice weather we’re having I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I left at 6:45 which got me to thinking about how much sunlight I’d have to ride in. I was thinking I probably had until 8:00 so what I was really faced with a race against the sun. How much riding could I get in before it got dark?

As I started out from our house and headed up the first hill I was really regretting doing squats an hour before I left. My legs were instantly burning. Not a smart move on my part. My legs felt so weak at first all I could do was stand and pedal. After a while the burning went away so I was able to sit and grind away.

At the top of the first hill while I was waiting for the light to change I happened to look down at my Garmin and noticed that I had only gone a mile and a half. I thought for sure it was farther than that. Oh well. At the point I headed down Highway 9 to the trail. It was really nice to head down hill for a while. I did notice that about half of the cars had their headlights on. Not a good sign.

When I got to the trail I looked down at my Garmin again and noticed I was still stuck at a mile and a half. DANG! Even though it was registering MPH the cumulative mileage wasn’t calculating. I put two and two together and figured out that somehow the trip end button had been pressed. Once I pressed trip start it started working again. Crisis solved.

It was nice to be riding on the flat trail now for a change but the big question was just how far should I go before I needed to turn around to make it home before it got dark. I decided that I would ride until 7:15 and then turn around. The race was on! Since the trip was short I really put the hammer down on the trail and increased my speed. It was really fun to be flying on the trail. Per my plan I was able to make it all the way to Lake Stevens by 7:15.

When I turned around I snapped the picture below. As you can see the sun was getting pretty low in the sky. I was feeling pretty good that I could make it home before dark though.




As I headed home my legs were getting pretty tired but I had the motivation of the racing against the sun and I was feeling confident I could win. As I exited the trail I noticed that all of the cars now had their headlights on. Oh no, now I really had to pour it on. Every hill that I came to I tried to stand and pedal to increase my speed. As I arrived home I was happy that I had actually made it before it got dark but I was pretty darn tired. It was good to have a reason to push myself and it was fun to race against the sun.

Distance: 15 Miles (estimated since my Garmin had issues)

Now I Remember

By the middle of winter every year I often wonder why in the heck we live in the Pacific Northwest. Today I remembered one of the reasons I like it so much here. Cycling on back roads in the middle of the forest.

Today we rode from Machias over to Granite Falls and back again. The roads on this route are some of the greatest cycling roads I’ve ever ridden on. The ride actually seems to fly by because I spend most of my time looking around at all of the sights.

This ride is filled with small to medium hills but they aren’t too bad to ride because they seem like a series of small battles that are rewarded by a series of downhill sections where you can recover. It’s actually quite the fun challenge.

The midway point of the route is Granite Falls. If you remember the TV show Northern Exposure from the early 90s, Granite Falls looks a lot like the fictitious town of Cecily Alaska. Check out this picture. Doesn’t it look like the Brick?

Once we arrived in Granite Falls we stopped at a diner named Ike’s. They serve great breakfasts. I had two eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage links, and toast. So much for cycling to lose weight. It was really good though. Here’s a shot of our meals.

The rest of the route heads up some more hills then all of the sudden you get to reap the rewards of all of your climbing by coasting down some long down hill sections.

The ride today was one of my all time favorites because of the scenery, the challenge, and no dogs chased after us. Good times.

Jenny pulling out the pepper spray just in case

Stats
Distance: 29.5 Miles
Ascent: 1428 feet
Avg MPH: 13.1
Dogs chased by: 0

Watermelon Ride

Yesterdays ride reminded me a lot of cutting open a big ripe watermelon and just eating the center. You know the sweetest part of the watermelon without any seeds.

To begin with the weather was a sunny 75 degrees with only a light breeze. Not too hot and not too cold. It doesn’t get much better than that. We also decided to take an easy route and drive over to the centennial trail and ride to Snohomish. By driving over to the centennial trail as opposed to riding there we skipped all of the nasty hills. In my mind this is equivalent to bypassing the seeds of the watermelon and going straight to the center.

We started off at the 84th Street entry point and rode over to Snohomish. This is a fairly flat trail with no cars and very few people on a Friday afternoon. Once we got into Snohomish we decided to stop in at a new burger joint there.

Now for the big decision. Do I go for the Root Beer Shake and break even on the calorie consumption/expenditure scale or should I be good and just refill my water bottles. I struggled with this tough decision for at least 3 seconds. You guessed it I went for the Root Beer Shake. It was pretty darn good. They even put whip cream on the top to boot. We sat outside in the sun while we drank them because it was just too nice of a day to stay inside. We sat there for a long time because it just felt so dang good we didn’t want to leave. Good times!



Showing off the goods




Enjoying the sun in downtown Snohomish


The ride back was leisurely to say the least. We got passed by 3 or 4 other riders. OK, this is the guy in me but I hate that. Anyway, it was a really nice ride on a really nice day.

Stats
Distance: 27 miles
Avg Speed: 13 mph
Cadence: 73

Bakery Ride

On Friday afternoon after we arrived on Lopez Island and set up camp Mike and I rode over to the best bakery in all of the San Juan islands. Holly B’s Bakery.

The ride was short but very scenic. On our exit from the campground we spotted a bald eagle flying around in a field right in front of us. It really is amazing how wide their wing spans are.

It was a 4 mile trip over to the bakery through some less traveled roads, up over a hill and down to the Lopez Village.

Once we arrived at the village I knew just where the bakery was located because Jenny and I have been there a lot in the past. If you are ever on Lopez Island you have to make it a point to stop in at Holly B’s Bakery. It’s simply the best.

I got a cheese cake square with local raspberries. It was really good. In fact, I was wishing I had two or three more but I resisted. After we made our purchase we sat out on the chairs outside of the bakery and did some serious people watching while we relaxed. There is a definite difference between the locals and the tourists. After sitting there for a half an hour or so we decided that we should get back to the camp. I hated to leave but I knew that we should.

The ride back was equally scenic except the bald eagle had left.

Mt. Constitution Ride

Two Thursdays ago 6 of us rode up Mt. Constitution as an optional ride on the High Adventure. I had done some research for this ride before hand and had heard some horror stories about how steep it was so I was really second guessing myself if I could really make it or not.

Before we started I decided if I was going to make it I would have to ride like I was one of the slowski’s. You know those DSL turtles.

As we started out I immediately took the rear and shifted down into my lowest gear. I kept up with the rest of the riders but I was definitely trying to conserve energy. All of the reports I had read were right. This ride was really steep and unrelenting. Fortunately, it wasn’t impossible. We ended up taking a lot of breaks along the way. Every now and then we would ride up to a switch back and around the corner would pop out an amazing view. These were great areas to stop for a break.



As we pushed on I started to get a little jittery. I was in the middle of the riders by now so I sped up a little and then pulled over and sucked down a chocolate gel really quick. It tasted really good but a little thick so I chased it down with some water. That did the trick and I was ready to ride again when the rest of the riders caught up to me again. Jeff and I dropped to the back and pushed on. Toward the top of the mountain the climb seemed to level off. After riding up a 17% grade hill when it levels to 6 or 7% this seems like heaven. Jeff and I had recovered enough to ride side by side and have a conversation. We talked about a book I was reading about Neil Peart riding his BMW 1200 across the country during a 2004 Rush Tour. Jeff seemed to know a lot about BMW motorcycles as he rides a motorcycle himself.

After a couple of more switchbacks we reached the top of Mt. Constitution. I was very happy and kind of surprised that I had made it. At the top of the mountain there is an observation tower you can climb up. Once up there you can see all of the other islands that make up the San Juan’s, Mt. Baker and Victoria Island in BC Canada. It’s quite a sight to see.





After wandering around the top for a while we started our descent. All of the work that we had put into our climb was now paying off. Since we were flying down the hill faster than cars could travel we were able to take up the middle of the lane. At some sections of the descent I had to slam down pretty hard on my brakes because of the tight hairpin turns. It wasn’t as bad as I had read about though. The descent was a blast. It took us 55 minutes of riding to get to the top of the mountain but only 10 minutes to descend the mountain. It was the most fun I’ve ever had flying down a mountain. At the bottom, the road straightens out so we were able to really let loose and gain some speed.

We were having so much fun we went right passed our campground exit and had to backtrack to get back to our camp.

All in all I was really happy that I made this ride and I would do it again. It wasn’t as bad as everyone says.

Pushing It

Last night my riding buddy (you know Jenny) and I went for a quick 20 mile ride while the kids were at mutual. It sure is great to have older kids. Since we were only riding 20 miles and we had to go to a dreaded scout committee meeting after mutual we both agreed that we would push it and ride as fast as we could.

The ride started out at our house and we headed straight up the hill on 64th to highway 9. This is typically a pretty miserable hill to climb but it wasn’t too bad this time. I’m not really quite sure why. It might be that we had BBQ ribs for dinner right before we rode. You never know, that could be the new energy food. Probably not though. Anyway, on the way up the hill I actually passed someone. OK, he was riding a heavy mountain bike and he was wearing jeans and had a backpack on but I still passed him.

Once we made it to Centennial Trail Jenny and I tried to keep up a good pace. We didn’t do too bad and it helped that the trail to Machias is slightly down hill.

When we reached Machias we stopped to fill our water bottles and took a quick rest. There were a couple of wannabe pro cyclist standing there that we listened to try to one up each other telling stories. It was pretty funny. Both of them had full racing uniforms on which looked pretty goofy but they had really nice bikes. I guess I’m a pretty big bike nerd when it comes to knowing what people are riding. I can’t help myself.

On the trail back there are tons of false flats so it’s a mentally tough ride. We really pushed it and kept our speed up although there were some long slight uphill sections. We passed a lot of other bike riders so Jenny and I practiced doing “The Look” by Lance Armstrong.

If you’re not sure what that is check out this video. You’ll recognize it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7THIhZEP4QM

I know, kind of dorky but it was entertaining.

We were able to finish up the ride in just over an hour and a half. This beat my time on this route by about 10 minutes.

All in all it felt really good to push it on a shorter ride.

Stats
Miles: 22
Duration: 1:33
Avg Speed: 14
Max Speed: 33
Avg Cadence: 78

Arlington Loop with my Buddy

Today I woke up early and was on the road with my favorite riding buddy by 7:00. That’s right Jenny and I went for a bike ride this morning. Today we rode from Marysville down to Arlington then over to Granite Falls and back to Marysville again. It was a great 30 mile bike ride through some very rural roads with some great scenery.



Fresh Riders




We started the ride in our jackets but after 4 miles and the first hill of the day both of us shed then and in my front carrying case they went and stayed for the rest of the ride. The weather for the ride was nice and warm but not too hot. This is such a nice change from the winter riding that we did only a couple of months ago with cotton stuffed in our ears just to endure the cold. I’ll take warm weather over that any day.

The ride into Arlington is my favorite part of the ride. It’s about 10 miles to get there and the last mile or two is all down hill. Because it was so early in the morning there weren’t any cars on the road on the descent so I was able to get in the center of the lane for much of the down hill. This makes me feel a lot more comfortable when you’re going 35 miles an hour. Once we got to Arlington they were setting up for a street fair but it wasn’t open yet. We rode our bikes through the middle of the street fair checking out the vendors as they set up their booths.

The ride out of Arlington into Granite Falls is very beautiful but there are a lot of up hill sections where I did a lot of huffing and puffing. On steep hills when I get to my lowest gear and can’t go any lower that’s my cue for the pain to begin. A number of times I had to stop to wipe the sweat of my eyes because it was stinging so bad I couldn’t see anymore. I’m not a big fan of hills but I guess you have to climb them in order to enjoy the downhill sections.

By the time we got to Granite Falls the weather was starting to heat up but we only had a few miles left to go at that time. This section of the ride is basically up 84th St. back to Marysville. From the beginning of this section it looks like a lot of nasty hill climbing but the ascent is pretty gradual so it’s not as bad as it seems. You just put your bike in the low gear and grind away for 3 miles and before you know it you’re back to the car and the ride is over..

Today was a great ride. The weather was nice and warm, no dogs chased us, the route was fun, and most of all I got to go with my favorite riding partner. Jenny and I have a blast riding together because when there isn’t much traffic we get to just ride and talk. It’s amazing the great conversations you can have in the middle of nowhere on your bike with your buddy.



Triumphant Jenny at the end of a successful ride!




Ride Stats
Miles: 30
Avg Speed: 12.6
Max Speed: 37
Total Ascent: 1318 Ft.

Vacation Ride with Denise

Last Friday Denise and I went for a bike ride on Centennial Trail. We started at 84th St and rode over to Lake Stevens and back. Denise did a great job on her bike. All in all she rode 10 miles all by her self. Not too shabby. She'll be doing the STP before you know it.


The Riders




Denise sucking down a gel to maintain her power level




Denise forgot to brake soon enough and ran into this gate. No damage was done to the gate that we know of.


Denise the speed demon