Category: Routes & Rides

Let the tapering begin!

Nick upgraded my handlebars, stem, and seat and his handlebars on the tandem this morning. A quick spin verified that this is indeed a better setup. (Looks nice too!)

This was our intended route. We had to ride back into Issaquah on Hwy 900, though, because May Valley was closed just east of there. In a few months, when the bridge is repaired, this will be a good route!

We also made a quick stop in Redmond for Derby Days. The masters men were just finishing as we rolled up. We watched the beginning of the women’s race, but it was too hot to stick around and enjoy the beer garden, so we climbed the hill home with thoughts of beet salad dancing in our heads.

It’s time to get serious

We’ve been farting around with our STP training. Today, we’re riding our first century to get ready:

Tour de Snoqualmie

The sun started to shine just about the time today’s Giro stage finished up, so Nick and I saddled up for what should have been a 65-mile ride today. (More on the “should have been” later.)

The day was just warm enough to leave the house wearing just a jersey, arm warmers, shorts and knee warmers - perhaps the first long ride of the year without a vest! From our house, we dropped down into Redmond to Marymoor Park and crossed over to the other side of Lake Sammammish. By the time we hit Inglewood Hill Road (devilishly steep), we were good and warmed up. Nick stood up and rode away from me like a juiced, Eurotrash cyclist. I tried to hang on his wheel, but ultimately had to be satisfied with grinding my way slowly up the hill, confident he’d be waiting for me at the top. The 12% descent down to Redmond-Fall City Road made it all worth it, of course. And I had no trouble keeping up then!

We weren’t done climbing yet, though. In order to get the Snoqualmie Valley with the least amount of time spent on a highway, we took Ames Lake Road. It’s a windy road that works it’s way up through heavy forest. Did I mention it went up? Nick rode away from me again, waited at the top, and then we were rewarded with another happy, twisty descent, this time into the Snoqualmie Valley. Which reminds me, I really should sing the puppet song more often when I’m climbing on the bike...what goes up, must come down, spinning wheels round and round.

By the time we got to Carnation, we’d ridden about 25 miles and had hungry bellies. Fortunately I made some spinach & chickpea almond salad wraps before we left, which made excellent snacks. I think this was the first time I’d made wraps instead of sandwiches for cycling, and I’d like to take a minute to extol their virtue. Sandwiches are good - very good, in fact, and unquestionably better than Clif Bars or Gu - but they tend to get smushed in your jersey pocket. Tortillas, however, do not degrade when pressed, and they roll up into a very convenient, longish, pocket-sized shape. If you wrap them in plastic wrap, they hold their filling nicely. Who knew?! I’m a convert and will be looking for more interesting wrap ideas for future adventures!

Back to the ride…

This was a two-Snoqualmie ride, so we headed south along the Snoqualmie Valley until we got to Fall City. From there we turned up the hill for Snoqualmie Falls. The flood gates were open and the falls were roaring. We paused for a peek at the nesting peregrine falcons - little puffs of white on the cliffs opposite us.

(For more pictures of the falcons visit http://sfpf2010.zoomshare.com/ . The journal of the falcons’ growth it pretty interesting.)

After another snack, we headed back down the hill for home. Unfortunately, our clothing choice proved not as wise as we thought. As soon as we hit Fall City, little spatters of rain started to fall. We took stock of our intended route over Duthie Hill (pretty dark and ominous) and a shorter, less hilly alternate route back to Redmond (lighter, less likely to rain), and picked the alternate. That meant 10+ miles of riding on Highway 203 - yuck! Nick took the lead and we peddled at 20+ mph along the highway. Within 20 minutes, it was raining hard. So hard, that I couldn’t draft Nick anymore because his rooster tail was throwing grit into my face.

We got to Redmond without too much fuss then encountered the most angry set of drivers I’d ever seen. We signaled our intent to cross two lanes of traffic to get to the left hand turn lane and were met with all sorts of honking and yelling. “Follow the rules of the road!” Um, we did. Maybe you need to learn the rules of the road *ssh*le.

As we turned off the main road, we heard a driver lob the last parting “insult,” calling us gay and a lesbian. We laughed the whole way down to Lake Sammammish, wondering what sorry state of the world we live in where someone actually thinks that was insulting. Was that the best she could do? Then we peddled hard to work out a bit of anger and frustration...what kind of person actually thinks being gay is so terrible that it would be insulting? A horrible, ignorant bigot, that’s who.

By the time we got to Marymoor Park, the rain had let off and we only had wet road to contend with. Then it was back up to the top of Rose Hill, where the roads were dry. I felt really good - like I could go for another 20 miles without blinking - but we were a bit soggy, so we headed for home and a lovely warm shower. In the end, our shortcut only took 5 miles off the route. We finished with a solid 60 miles in the saddle.

Here’s the route. If you’re looking for a nice 50-miler, you could start and finish at Marymoor Park instead of our front door.

The Stinky Spoke was not too stinky afterall

I did not take my camera on today’s mountain bike ride. I should have though. There would have been some fantastic footage of mud, lakes, mountain bikes in the fog, smiles and goofiness.

Matt, Eileen, Mark D. and I rode Stinky Spoke, an urban mountain bike poker run to benefit Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center. It was probably the most fun you could have in the mud in January. For the record, Eileen’s poker hand (two pair) beat Matt’s, Mark’s and mine. It wasn’t quite good enough to win a prize at the end. No matter; free beer at Red Hook is a pretty good prize for everyone.

Stats: 15.8 miles / 978 ft elevation gain

You say “car-bon-AY-do,” I say “car-bon-AH-do”

Two weekends ago, we feted Bruce as he made the monumental transition into the decade that shall remain unnamed. By the end of the party, there were tentative plans in place for the Usual Suspects to ride the following Saturday. On Friday afternoon I sent quick reminder email about the next day’s ride. By the time I checked email later that day, Bruce had everyone on board for a loop in the South Sound area, starting in Puyallup.

We began the adventure at the E. Puyallup TH and rode a mostly empty trail to the town of South Prairie. I say mostly empty, because there was a 53-mile running relay happening on the trail. And while we didn’t see many runners, we did have the privilege of riding through a few relay hand off areas and ringing the bells.

The trail parallels the highway for a while, which was filled with parade of trashy hot rods on the day we were riding. (This would not be the last we would see of them.) We soon left the highway behind and rode quietly alongside the Carbon River before entering the town of South Prairie. The bike trail ended abruptly here, so we hopped on the highway and headed toward the town of Wilkeson. On the way, we ran into our hot rod friends again.

If you’ve never been to Wilkeson, it is another one of those towns time forgot. It’s about two blocks long and has a gas station, two coffee shops, a bar, a cemetery, and an Eagles Club. It also has a ginormous “Welcome to Wilkeson” sign that spans the road, making a great gentleman’s race finish line. Nick and Dave duked it out on the way into town, but it wasn’t much of a contest. (The ride wasn’t nick-named “the unofficial put the hurt on Dave ride” for nothing.)

We ran into another collection of old cars in Wilkeson. This time it was the Carbonado Canyon Model T Ford Club. I’m not quite sure how a town with a population of 621 supports an active club of Model T aficionados, but it does it in spades. (Click the thumbnail images below to expand them.)

Wilkeson seemed like as good a spot as any to stop for coffee, but we made a quick trip up to Carbonado first. We rode up the highway to “town” and looped back to the highway on a gorgeous side road before blasting downhill again. Coffee and pastries were calling afterall!

Wilkeson is not too small to support a local coffee roaster, and just about every place in town sells coffee made with their beans. If you’re in town, make sure to support Buono Coffee Co. They can’t have an easy time of it in such an out-of-the-way place.

Of the two coffee shops in town, we stopped at Skeeks. They serve a variety of pastry pockets (stuffed with savory egg fillings, jam, or PB&J), pizza, and other goodies.

While we were refueling our bodies for the second half of the ride, the Model T club turned the cranks (literally) and headed for home.

Taking that as a sign, we put the kick-stands up and headed for Buckley. Sylvia led us on a return route through the Enumclaw plateau, past Lake Tapps, and down a screaming descent back into Sumner. The descent alone made all the other miles that day worth it. A short jaunt on the bike trail and we were back at the cars, clocking EXACTLY 50 miles. (How did we do that?!)

Here’s the route for those that are interested in a repeat. Click on the title to expand the map and access the turn-by-turn directions.