Well, not so much as a training ride, but an effort to maintain what we have built up for the upcoming Seattle to Portland ride. We hit the same trail as mentioned before, from Lake Forest Park toward Marymoore Park. This starts out as the Burke Gilman Trail but actually turns into the Sammish River Trail. King County has continued to improve their trail system with repaving of sections and they have nice printed maps in several kiosks along the path. Good job King County!

I tried out several of the energy supplements on this ride. Wanted to make sure they didn’t wreck my system. None of them seemed to do any harm, so that is good. I tried Hammer but wasn’t too keen on it, although it wasn’t bad by any means. I guess more of gritty texture thing. Gu is pretty good. I squeezed some of that in before the ride while waiting. I noticed a pretty quick ‘pick me up’ – so I think I’m gonna bring some of that stuff for sure! Also tried Cliff Shot Bloks on recommendation… those are pretty tasty. Like gummy bears. I tried a variety of the Cliff Bars as well… still not a fan. Like cardboard. So I’ll get some good ol’ fashioned breakfast bars for my pack for hunger control.

I also made one last adjustment (hopefully) to my seat position. Been making small adjustments to maximize my stroke and comfort. I have a new Topeak rear rack to throw on to haul some gear. The mount is a one time install, but the pack itself comes off and on pretty easy, so I can take it off if I don’t want it on for later rides. The last thing I have to do in preparation is just a tune in my brakes, throw on my slick tires, and grease everything up.

When thinking about the upcoming 200+ mile ride… sometimes I think ‘why,’ and sometimes I just get excited. But it has worked well as a motivator for getting out and riding when I could easily default and be lazy. Should be fun, although tiring.

We took off from our usual Burke Gilman trail starting point at Lake Forest park. But instead of heading West to Seattle/Fremont (okay, Hales Brewery) we traveled East. This led us past the Bothel Landing, Kenmore, and we didn’t even slow down past Redhook. But now we were technically on the Sammish River Trail. And it’s bug breeding time. Glad I had my sun glass on. Tried to keep my mouth closed. But it was a fine mist of nates for miles! Gross. My arm and leg hairs are perfect nets to collect the bugs. Gross. I had to constantly groom myself clean as we pedaled on.

We took a different route instead of heading to Marymoor Park. This was a fun smaller trail full of windy curves. Fun, but it just ended suddenly. Where the Side Walk Ends (I laugh) was something odd though. A Path of Health as it was called. Check this out, scroll down to the picture at the Aegis Living Corporate. Of course we had to walk this. Some of the rocks were sharp and painful. Some where smooth and actually felt good. I don’t know about the rest of the philosophy and the claim to prolong life – but I noticed a difference when I got back on the bike. It did stimulate blood flow to my feet and other parts of my legs that really weren’t being worked with the pedaling. So it did work as a good rival before turning around and heading back.

So we rode about 13.5 out and back, so 27 total. It was a flat smooth trail, we maintained a good pace of a least 17 mph, and some of the ride we pushed and maintained above 20 mph. Of course 27 mph isn’t much in comparison to the upcoming STP… we’ll be okay though… I hope.

Awhile back, on my way to Grandma’s, I realized that riding my bike out there is totally doable. Well, now that I ride a road bike. On the return trip, I paid more attention to the hills and the shoulders of the road. Yeah… that would be a long, yet fun ride. So plans were started to have a group ride out there and back.

We had an sag car (biker lingo for support vehicle I’m told) haul our overnight gear and food. Oh yeah, it hauled the kid, which allowed others to now join in the ride as well. At first, I thought that having a car meant that we were sorta cheating; but it was sure awesome chow’n down on some grub on the ferries and not having to pack the gear on my back! Nice job Freed clan!

The decided route included turning onto Paradise Road after crossing the Hood Canal. I had never driven that way; but it seemed like staying in view of the water would be a good idea. I then drove it on one of my visits to Grandma’s. When naming the road, they did not have bikers in mind. Yes, nice scenic view; but the road dipped up and down repeatedly. But, we opted to go that route anyways, ‘for the workout.’

We re-cooped at the beach with the Spaghetti Mom made and Dad and Grandma prepared for us. The hot tub was refreshing as always, and a short dip in the bay iced down the sore legs quickly.

This is the path for day one. Includes taking the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry, crossing the Hood Canal after Port Gamble, and taking Paradise Rd. through Port Ludlow and Hadlock; until finally reaching the Beach: 43 miles
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=820865

Day 2 we set out to make the trip a loop rather than go back the way we came. We crossed from Port Townsed to Whidbey Island. We followed HWY 525 east. Most of this ride was un-known on the island. Reports online suggested that this would be a harder ride than our Day 1. We pondered about making this crossing a straighter shot but we came across another group of riders that recommended that we stick with our route. This was to take South Smugglers Rd. and swing down near the parks and water. More importantly, get away from traffic a bit. Glad we stuck to this, it was a really great ride through there.

We crossed at the Clinton-Mukilteo Ferry. We had lengthened the route than originally planned to prevent riding on the Speedway the whole time; but rather head east and get on the Interurban Trail before heading south. This also spread out the elevation gain from one looong hill to a series of short climbs. I think it was the easier way to go, in spite it being longer. It was definitely more biker friendly at least.

This is the path of Day 2: 51 miles
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=820915

Mukilteo to Lynnwood Edit:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=924155

I had a blast on this trip. Good times with good friends; and for the most part good weather. It did rain on us a bit, but at least the sun didn’t roast us.

I have lots of pictures to share, but too many to throw in this post. Someday you will be able to see them in my online photo gallery.

94 miles total

May is Bike to Work Month. Well, at least Group Health and the Cascade Bicycle Club is declaring it so, and have put forth the Commute Challenge. We are a team of 4, CrystLite Cycleites. Disclaimer: I had no input in the name.

I mentioned this to LB during soccer last Tuesday. He liked the idea of saving money on gas; then decided he wanted to ride the following day. A little early to count it in the Commute Challenge, but I thought it’d be great if we both rode in the morning – that way we could kick each other out of bed. So we did. Got up early and hit the road.

This is my path to work from the apartment.Actual miles is 12.8 – Most of it is on the Interurban Trail, so very little traffic which is awesome. LB of course had another 6 or so miles to get to his work in Marysville. It took about 55 minutes for me to get to work. Which is not a bad ride, but a fair distance in the morning. I dreaded the commute home though. What was a nice downhill cruise in the morning became a never ending climb on the way home. And there is always a headwind on this trail… sheesh. LB had a much longer and harder ride, especially on the return. I won’t go into details, but some of his words describing his experience on the couch afterwards: “I was in the fetal positions… trying not to move or I’d cramp…”

So, I’ve never been a morning person. But I am locked into the commute thing for a month. Well, only going to ride Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, because of soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But I wouldn’t make it doing the whole ride off the go. It was a big enough adjustment just getting up earlier. Monday, although not yet May, I was set to ride. Thought I’d drive to the Park and Ride near the Mall and ride from there; in hopes that I’d figure out how to bus there then ride on Wednesday. But, ya can’t leave the Park and Ride by bike without going onto 526/527 so that wasn’t an option. So I drove over a few blocks and parked at a friends place. Much shorter commute, but one I can stick with. I’ll gradually increase the distance as time paces… I hope. But this is my New Route. It starts off on the Interurban as well, and downhill! Still gotta climb in the afternoon, but that’s okay, I’m awake then.

Sunday me and Annajo met up with one of her friends at Marymoor Park. She is new to riding actual bikes, but has been doing ‘Spin Class’ for some time I guess. She had the clipless pedals and all the gear. But… more than a little affraid of actually riding – she had fallen down a few times while locked into the pedals. Anyways, it was a slow putt down the Burke Gilman; well I guess at that point the trail is Sammish River Trail; to Redhook. Beer seems to be a common motivator for new riders. I had a pint of their Copperhead seasonal. After circling the wagons, the ride back was at a much faster pace. Progress.

Trip: 11.9 miles total

Sunday turned out to be a really nice day. After a bit of a break and some chores were done; me and Annajo hit the road again. Left straight from the bike shed. Around the lake and down 164th to ride the boardwalk at the North Creek County Park. We stopped and knocked on Kelmans door, no one home. So we continued on. Found some good long climbs. Looped back to ride the boardwalk back to 164th and our last long climb. Wasn’t tired after the first ride, but this ride gave a little burn.

Trip: 14.1 miles

Total for the Day: 26 miles