Category: Cycling

Fahrad Ridin’

Highway 2 just outside Wenatchee

Nick and I left the kitties at home this weekend and headed east to the faux-Bavarian town of Leavenworth. It was my third time visiting the town in April, but this time we were there to go bike riding - or Fahrad ridin’ if you get into the German theme of the place.

On Saturday, we started in the town of Wenatchee. Our goal was Chelan - about 55 miles up the Columbia River. The intended loop would have been almost a full century through flowering apple and peach orchards. As it turned out, the ride was a little ambitious given how late we left. We turned around at 40 miles, which was a good thing because we were pretty tired when we got back.

That and we would have missed this funny little lizard on the roadside. Something about it didn’t seem quite right. Can you guess what it is from the picture?

Dinner at Visconti’s in Leavenworth was delightful. We tried a delicious pinot noir by White Heron Winery. It went very well with both my ahi and Nick’s pasta with sausage and tomato-cream sauce. We rolled out of there and it wasn’t too much later that we crashed at the B&B. Even their kitties couldn’t keep us awake.

Morning came early and we ate a gi-normous Norwegian breakfast, which prepared us for what we thought would be about a 50-mile ride out to Plain and Lake Wenatchee. Riding from the B&B into Leavenworth and a side trip to Tina & Rod’s cabin added 15 miles for a total of 72 miles by the end of the day.

I’d highly recommend this loop if you’re ever out in the area. After meandering for 10 or so miles along the mostly-flat Chumstick Hwy, it climbs a gradual hill - sort of about the same grade as Juanita Dr. coming from Kirkland - then dives a mile down a crazy twisty road into Plain. I had bugs in my teeth by the time we got to Plain. I just couldn’t stop grinning as the road descended and made wide arcs left and right and left again.

From there the route veers off of the main highway onto Chiwawa Loop Road. Cars become scarce and trees shade you from the sun as you meander along on bumpy chipseal. Pretty soon you find yourself at Lake Wenatchee State Park and it isn’t too long before you’re ripping down Hwy 2 back into Leavenworth. Fun, fun, fun.

I won a bike!

I’m totally speechless! Rodale/Bicycling Magazine just emailed to say I’ve won a bike (above) as part of their BikeTown USA program. I never win anything, at least not until today…

So cool! Wow!

I’ll get it at a ceremony on Monday at Gasworks Park with 49 other people who also won bikes. They are giving them away around the country to encourage more people to commute by bike.

I have grand visions of a basket, bike racks, bell...the total coffee shop cruiser!

McClinchy Mile

Centennial Trail from Snohomish to Arlington

You may remember reading about the craziness of Chilly Hilly earlier this year. All I can say is fortunately, not all big group rides are that crowded! The weekend before St. Patty’s day, a bunch of former Big Riders and I rode the McClinchy Mile - a low key cycling event put on by B.I.K.E.S. (Bicycles Ideal Kinematic Exploration Society).

This year the ride started in Arlington instead of Monroe and sent people on three loops of varying lengths. We chose to ride the 47 mile loop to Snohomish and back, which took us on the newly completed Centennial Trail. Except for riding off the trail and falling over in the foot-deep gravel/sand mixture at the side of the trail, I really enjoyed myself.

Less crowds made for nice, relaxed riding

Traveling through farmland with mountain views. I could move here!

Big Ride Slideshow

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small (160x120) - 4mb
medium (320x240) - 19mb
large (640x480) - 28mb

I finally compiled my pictures from the Big Ride Pacific Coast that Nick and I did last fall. Rather than post hundreds of pictures in a list, I put them in a slideshow to music. (Now that they are all together, I think it was worth the wait.)

Most of the pictures were taken by me, Nick, and Tim Byer. A few from Dave and Karen Derrig snuck in there too.

I’d recommend watching the small one if you’re on dial-up. The medium and large sized shows seem to play pretty well if you have high-speed access.

Chilly Hilly

I am here today to officially put to rest the burning question all of you non-Seattlites might have about Chilly Hilly - Seattle’s annual February cycling event. “Is it really chilly and hilly?”

The answer, we discovered today, is unequivocably yes!

The forecast was for sunshine, but all we saw when we woke up this morning at 6 a.m. was dense, cool fog. It didn’t lift as we drove to Seattle. In fact, it might have gotten thicker. No matter; we were registered, and we intended to ride.

Marilyn, Nick and I had decided to take the 8:45 ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge. Little did we know that over 1,000 other riders decided that they were going to take this ferry as well. (We think there were 5,300 riders overall.)

I was surprised to see that a few cars made it on, given how many cyclists there were. Of course, any driver that tried to leave their car and go upstairs would be hard pressed to find a seat.

Marilyn was entirely responsible for our good moods as we rode across the sound. I had a chest cold and wasn’t feeling very energetic, and Nick was overwhelmed by the crowds. We were looking forward to a cup of warm coffee in Winslow, which put a smile on our faces long enough for the requisite group shot. Aren’t we cute?

It’s hard to describe the total experience. The sheer number of people on this ride mind-boggling. Going into this, the largest ride I’d ever been on had 43 people and we were often spread out over 75+ mile routes. Chilly Hilly on the other hand regularly attracts 4,000+ people for a ride on a relatively short 33-mile loop around Bainbridge Island.

Normal road riding ettiquette goes completely out the window as you try to unobtrusively thread your way in and out of groups that have spread themselves across the right hand side of the road. If you aren’t careful, riders who don’t know that they should look behind them before darting out behind another rider might hit you. Yellow lines become suggestions, downhill sections become high-speed slaloms, and you wonder at how lucky we are that someone doesn’t get seriously injured.

All the negatives aside, this is actually quite a remarkable experience. For all the traffic headaches the cyclists must cause the locals, they come out in droves to support us. Not a mile went by without someone offering you juice, brownies, orange slices or some other nicety. Not a single car honked or showed any sign of irritation. And every rider had a smile on their face (at least when they were going downhill anyway). Simply amazing.

Although we didn’t entirely expect it, the sun finally did come out about halfway through the ride. Nick stopped to admire the view as he waited for Marilyn and me to catch up.

I really can’t think of a more interesting way to spend a Sunday in February. Riding bikes with friends is just awesome.