Wednesday, August 6, 2008

A Ride To Queen Anne's Infamous Inclines

Went for a spin last night, heading down my hill (Capitol) towards another one (Queen Anne). 

The first stretch down Denny is really fun - so fun I can't even look down to see how fast I'm going, dodging potholes & cars as I cross the I-5 overpass, and actually get a green light at the bottom! Passing cars is lots of fun, especially when you're going close to 30 mph!

Here was a shot of Denny close to 5th Ave - yeah it's blurry, but hey I was going fast..

Open Pro wheel shot (blurry was a recurring theme in this photo session):

Goal reached! Kerry Park's great view of downtown & West Seattle. The only part of the picture that really matters is in focus:

Cyclists in Seattle either get used to the hills, or they quit cycling altogether. Or they find ways to avoid them, but that's pretty hard to do around here. I see cyclists of all types climbing the hill close to my house, from fixies to cruisers to roadies.

But one place I never see other cyclists is on Queen Anne Avenue! I know that other people do it, but I can see why most avoid it. Yet I keep coming back for more.. here's a view looking down it, from Highland Drive (I think):

Handlebar shot, with Schmidt E6 shining bright:

When it was all said and done I'd spun out 15.5 kilometers, at an average speed of 22.something km/h. Not very fast, but hey it was hilly, what can I say? 50-something minutes of rolling time, about an hour overall. 

I love this city!

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