Another Chilly & Wet Winter Ride - 106 km to be exact

Today I did the "two lakes loop" which goes through: Seattle, Renton, Issaquah, Redmond, Bothell, and then back through Seattle. And instead of taking the Burke-Gilman Trail all the way back to Capitol Hill, I break off at 180th St or so and then take 5th Ave E. south to Green Lake. That way i add something like 300 m of climbing at the end!

It wasn't raining at first, when I was cruising down Rainier Ave at about 36 km/h. But by the time I got up to the top of the big hill that is Highway 900, the rain started coming down. My layers were working out great, although my feet did get wet again, oh well.

I was holding maybe 30-32 km/h up through East Lake Sammamish Pkwy, which has some rolling hills. Since the wind was 16-20 km/h from the South, I knew I'd be able to fly down that trail. Fly I did! My average at the beginning of the trail was 27.1 km/h, and by the end it was 27.8 km/h - 80 km into the ride. I was easily holding 36-40 km/h on the trail, and didn't see but two other riders.

The rest of the ride was slower for sure, the hills of 5th Ave E. really take their toll!

Here's the elevation graph of the route:


Check out just how much ground this route covers:


Here's the terrain version of the same map:


Distance: 106 km
Rolling Time: 4 hrs 8 minutes
Off bike time: ~20 minutes
Avg Speed: 25.5 km/h
Elevation gain: ~1,000 m
Stops: 2 (one at Marymoor, one for food in Lake Forest Park)