Seattle to North Bend & Back Century (Riding with SiR)

Today I attended the sixth of SiR Winter Training Series, a great set of rides so far. It was a great ride, and I got to the start quicker than expected. I rolled out at 7:15 AM to the tune of a light mist, Schmidt E6 lamp blazing (see photo below). Riding with SiR is great because usually no matter how slow or fast you're going, there will be someone else close by. But the first 19 miles or so of this ride were solo, although I more cyclists than expected going across I-90 & Mercer Island.

After meeting up with the group in Issaquah, we rolled out at 9 AM sharp. The first section of the route on Hwy 900/E. Lake Sammamish was pleasant, and I settled in with a few folks I've met during these rides. We got to the first climb, Louis Thompson Road, within 15 minutes or so. It's a fun climb, and just about on the edge of the steepness that forces me out of the saddle. Maybe 7-9% grade? It lasts for a 1/2 mile, maybe more. After that it was what I like to call "classic" Northwest back roads for pretty much all the way.

Below you'll find a few of the photos I took along the route, most of them taken while riding. Enjoy!


Passing through the Mt. Baker ped/bike tunnel - whenever I ride through here I think about the video cameras in the tunnel - who watches those? Or do the just scan the vids if something happens in the tunnel? (There are three video cameras aimed on peds/cyclists in this tunnel, not visible in this photo)



The scene looking East across Lake Washington at I-90 - North Bend is somewhere out there..


The view from Hwy 202, looking towards Carnation.



My velo at Snoqualmie Falls -it's always wanted to go!



I think this is Mount Si peaking out from behind the fog near North Bend. I was hoping for a more dramatic view, but oh well.


A theater in North Bend, on the way back towards Fall City. North Bend is a pretty small town, nestled in the Cascade foothills. I think it's main feature is a cafe that was in "Twin Peaks."



Heading back to Snoqualmie Falls from North Bend, along Highway 202.



This little creature was running around out feet & begging for snacks at Snoqualmie Falls - it would even touch your hand if you reached down!



Heading back towards Issaquah, leaving Fall City, on a aptly-named Issaquah-Fall City Road - some nice climbing ahead (if you like climbs, that is). I ended up taking it pretty easy coming up this part, as I'd done about 75 miles at this point!



After the official ride was over, heading back towards Seattle through Eastgate. You can see downtown in the distance on the right - that's roughly where I'm headed.



Now in the Central District, this is downtown Seattle in the distance. Almost back to Capitol Hill! About 98 miles so far.

The scenery was great, and I feel pretty confident about longer rides. The dynohub worked, the newly-built wheel didn't blow up, and I didn't have any major mechanical issues. Although towards the end of the ride my drivetrain was squeaking like a nest of crickets..

Start time: 7:15 A.M.
End time: 3:25 P.M.
Total Distance: about 100 miles (Seattle to Issaquah is about 19 miles, the ride was 62 miles)
Total Distance this year: 1,238 km (769 miles) [log]

I'll be at the 2007 High Pass Challenge

I just registered for the 2007 High Pass Challenge!! I thought the STP double-century was gonna be this season's peak ride, but this looks like it'll be the big one.

The HPC is a 114-mile ride with 7,500 feet of elevation gain, and features Independence Pass, just North of Mount St. Helens. The views are gonna be amazing, and my legs are gonna be killing me! I'll hopefully be on my new Ciocc frame by then, so I'll be luvin it either way.

The only thing that sucks about this ride is the logistics - the friggin ride starts in Packwood, WA, just south of Mt. Rainier. I wish they'd make it a tour that started closer to Seattle... but oh well. It's about a three-hour drive I hear, but I don't even have a driver's license, nor a car - but I've got friends with cars, and that comes in handy!

What I might do is get a ride out of Seattle the day before, and ride this route to get to Packwood, and then camp out. But I'd be so tired/dirty on the HPC day it might ruin it... we'll see what happens. I'll probably just get a ride down/back this year - but maybe I'll cycle down there and back for the 2008 edition.

Here's the HPC route on a Google Map, and here's an elevation profile of the route:

(ignore the huge trough about a quarter through the graph, that's just a glitch in the elevation data)

This is gonna be a great ride! From the Cascade page:

The ride begins along Highway 12, with the first 17 miles to Randle on a gradually downhill, smoothly paved road with a very wide shoulder. Expect light traffic, but be aware of the occasional logging truck. Randle is the low altitude point of the trip at 880 feet.

Heading south on the smooth blacktop of NF 25, there’s a “warm-up” climb at 19 miles into the ride. It’s only 1.2 miles long with 400 feet of climbing, but the first half mile or so has an average grade of 8.3%, so that should you in the mood for what follows.

Partial STP - Seattle to Spanaway and Back

Yesterday I set out (and did) the first 60 miles of the STP, following the spray-painted symbols all the way to Spanaway, and then rode back for a total of about 120 miles. There's only one notable climb in the whole first 60 miles of the route, which made it a quick ride; I was holding 22-25 mph on the flats, and made it down there in about three hours.

As a side-note, why oh why did they choose dark purple for the spray-paint color? It's on dark asphalt after all! I'm sure there's a reason, but those symbols aren't the easiest to see if you ask me. Maybe neon green would be better next year...

Just past Puyallup (yes that's really the name of a town around here!) there's 'The Hill', a one-mile ~7% grade, which is talked about as if it's the Alp d'Huez f-in climb... I saw people walking up it during the 2005 STP! Come on folks, that hill isn't even as bad as climbing 10th ave up Capitol Hill.

The way back from Spanaway was a totally different ride; 20+ mph headwind, tons of traffic (especially around Kent, which I now officially hate), and I was starting to tire a bit. I can't wait to roll with 1k other riders, that'll keep the traffic at bay!

Seattle to Bellingham - the best and worst of country roads in Washington State

Dennis and I did the ride this past Saturday (the one we failed at two weeks ago), it was a hell of a ride! It rained the first half of the ride, but by the end the sun was out and warming us up, which we needed.

Walking into a grocery store about half-way in Arlington, people looked at us like aliens. The lady serving up mac n' cheese said her husband had a bottle thrown at him, presumably in Arlington.. not surprisingly also where we were heckled by rednecks while fixing a flat.

Stats:

• Start time: 7:30 AM
• End time: 5:30 PM
• Riding time: ~7 hours
• Total Distance: 110 miles (177 km)
• Headwind speed: 10 mph
• Flat tires: 1
• Hoots from rednecks in big trucks while fixing flat: 2
• Best part of ride: the view of the Pacific from Chuckanut drive
  
• Worst part of ride: the end of Chuckanut going into Bellingham! (lots of traffic, no shoulder with rock-face on your right)
  

Our route was pretty simple:

• Take the Burke-Gilman trail up to Woodinville, then get on Highway 9
• Highway 9 goes all the way to north of Arlington, take hwy 534 west
• Get on Cedardale Road going north (just before I-5)
• Follow it to Broad St (there was no sign, but it's a T-intersection), take a left
• Right on 4th Ave, turns into 2nd
• Riverside Drive north to Chuckanut
• Chuckanut dumps you in Fairhaven, just south of Bellingham

Here's the route on a google map, with elevation profile.

Highway 9 was pretty crazy, with lots of traffic, but certainly doable. About half of it has a shoulder, the other half has none. Lots of rolling hills between Woodinville and Arlington, it seemed like we went up 10 or so big climbs, each with a rewarding downhill.

Next time we'll have it to under 6 hours hopefully. The STP (Seattle to Portland) is 206 miles, and we're shooting for a 12 hour time on that one, so this is good training for it.

solo century - twice around lake washington!

the lake washington bicycle loop is a popular ride in the seattle area, with both city and suburban views and some nice hills in between.

since i'm shooting for the one-day STP (200 miles!) this year, i decided to do an unsupported solo century just to see how i'd feel. the easiest route i could think of (and that i've done before) was to do the lake washington loop, but twice.

i completed it yesterday, and here are the stats:

• distance: ~110 miles
• total time: 6 hours, 50 minutes
  
• bottles refilled: 4
  
• flats: 0
• cramps: 2
• sore knees: 1
• boosted ego: 1

anyway it wasn't all that bad, although 200 miles this july won't be very easy, and this put it in perspective.