Pacific Northwest - Soggy TDP

Well we earned our t-shirts today on the TDP. My daughter was riding her old Raleigh Sports 3 speed so with the weather and all and the fact she doesn't have bike shorts (tried to tell her) we ended up doing the 12 mile ride which was actually 14 miles. It was fun anyway and and when we got back I cleaned up all three bikes and now they are ready for the next ride. I think the kid will ride her moms hybrid with slicks on it next year. Maybe I can convince her to get a roadie but I'm not so sure, at 17 she had different priorities. Easthill did you do the 50 mile

Yes, my husband and I did the 50 miler, which turned out to be more like 51 miles after some wrong turns! We were there early enough to be numbers 28 and 29, and set off around 8.05.

I have a small description of the ride over in the Classic & Vintage forum, but I'll cross post here:

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k317/East_Hill/IMG_0708.jpg

The dawn of a soggy new day :) .

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k317/East_Hill/IMG_0709.jpg

The first rest stop.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k317/East_Hill/IMG_0712.jpg

East Hill, already wet, but very happy with her new-to-her Rodriguez.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k317/East_Hill/IMG_0710.jpg

Mr. East Hill, also rather wet, but pleased that he had made it to the first rest stop. He did not realise that he had already ridden about 15 miles at that point--he thought we'd only ridden about 8 miles. Yes, he was on his Trek MTB.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k317/East_Hill/IMG_0713.jpg

I LOVE that lahar warning. Where else in the US are you going to see that?

Oddly enough, I did the entire 50+ miles not wearing bike shorts. I have Nike lycra pants (apparently meant for cold morning running), and with the proper saddle, I often find that bike shorts aren't needed. Just as long as there are no seams to rub those senstive areas :eek: ! But I did find it easier when I started riding to use proper bike shorts.

Do you ride along the Foothills Trail often? We kept thinking there should be deer there...

East Hill

My wife and I ride the foothills trail almost every Friday evening. Haven't seen a deer in the over a year that we have been riding it. Nice trail it goes to South Prairie for a nice 30 mile RT.

My wife and I ride the foothills trail almost every Friday evening. Haven't seen a deer in the over a year that we have been riding it. Nice trail it goes to South Prairie for a nice 30 mile RT.

Yes, the trail looked pretty nice. I wish I could have gotten a photo of the Meeker Southern, but it was raining at the point it passed us. Five minutes later the sun was out (briefly!), darn it.

I would bet there'd be deer around if you were there in the early morning...

What time did you get started?

East Hill

We generally start between 4 and 5 pm then we ride to Orting and back its only 12 miles but if I commute on friday its enough for one day, just a nice ride to get the work week stink off

We have deer up here in the north end (centennial trail.) Just a few weeks ago mid-morning I came upon an older fawn just standing on the side of the trail. He (or she) must have been thinking, what is this large red & black object that's hurtling toward me and then took off running. Well, we rode along together about 50 yards or so - me spinning as fast as I could and the deer just bounding along. Then he had had enough of me and was gone.

Never 'raced' a deer before - it was kind of cool.

The last time we rode around Lake Youngs (about two weeks ago) we encountered a doe with a very young fawn. It just stared at us as we rode by. The huge four point (on each side!) buck we encountered closer to the end of the ride took off as soon as he saw us.

Still waiting to see the bear that is said to live in the watershed...

East Hill