Evening Spin To Queen Anne

Yesterday evening I set out to tackle Queen Anne's "Counterbalance" climb, which is about 400 feet over 8-10 blocks or so. [map]


It's mostly downhill from my house on Capitol Hill via Denny, and I can usually hold pace with or even beat the cars, but last night the traffic was mostly stopped, which slowed me way down at first.


By the time I got to Queen Anne, the light misty rain was turning into a light shower. No problem though: my wool jersey, wool arm warmers, full-fingered gloves, thick wool socks, lycra knickers, and body heat were more than enough to keep me warm. Not necessarily completely dry, but warm.


I love doing the Queen Anne climb, mostly because how steep parts of it are, but also because I never see any other cyclists doing it! So, yeah, I felt a little bad-ass slogging up it in my 39x23, in the rain, solo.


Towards the top (just before Highland Drive) the street pitches steeper, and my rear wheel started skidding! At one point there was an oil slick I could see in the road, and even though I went around it, my rear tire slid out three revolutions in a row! Who knows why I even held on, but I did, and pedaled out of the oil slick and crested the climb.


Went down the other side of the hill, then back up Queen Anne Ave heading south. Definitely not as steep, way less traffic, and gets less steep as you go up in that direction. But I like the harder route much more!


On the way back down towards downtown I stopped at Kerry Park for some postcard-quality views, and then slowly made my way back down the slippery pavement to the flats of lower-Queen Anne.


Hauled ass up Pine St, mostly in the big ring. Took Olive Way back up to Broadway, I love cresting the hill right there on broadway!


Distance: ~15 km
Time: ~45 minutes