Finally a sunny day in February...

[khuon]

After many cloudy weekend rides, we were finally granted a showing by Old Man Sol. xythen], ngateguy and I planned a ride from Bothell Landing in Bothell, WA to Seattle's Gasworks Park on Lake Union by way of the Burke-Gilman Trail. Out and back, the distance totals a tad over 30 miles. As xythen was committed to helping her friend move that morning, we decided to start a little later at 1330 from Bothell Landing.

So there I am the night before sitting in SJC awaiting my regularly scheduled (read: weekly) return flight to SEA which was already an hour delayed when my mobile rings and I'm informed that my CEO wants me in South Korea ASAP. So after a few frantic phonecalls and lots of online research (thank heavens for public wireless Internet access in the airport) to determine how I would go about obtaining a visa on such short notice, I came up with a laundry list of things to do the next morning.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early hour of 1100... oops. Clearly things were already off to a late start. I quickly hopped in the shower and mentally reviewed what I had to do. After getting dressed (in non-riding attire), I went and pointed my web browser to the visa application webpage and filled it out. Then I printed it and rushed out the door to go have my picture taken. By now it was noon. I got to Kinkos, got my picture taken and FedExed everything to San Francisco while our company admin began working out flight details.

My wife calls and asks me if I would pick up lunch on my way back. Then I suddenly remembered that my cold weather riding clothes were in a pile of dirty laundry so I asked he to throw them in the wash. After picking up lunch and rushing home, I had to wait for the clothes to dry. It's already 1400... erf! I tried calling ngateguy but clearly I had his old mobile number. I didn't have xythen's. I left a message on ngateguy's home answering machine in the vain hope that he might check it. At 1415, my clothes were dry and after wolfing down lunch, I dress and rush out the door. I made it to Bothell Landing at 1445 and spotted xythen's minivan but neither she nor ngateguy were around... of course I didn't expect them to be either but at least it was good to know they already started.

I quickly unloaded my bike from the Jeep and headed out as fast as I could. I will admit to breaking the 15MPH speed limit on the trail by quite a bit... but then again that's not really new either. At 9 miles out, I caught up with them. They were both wearing shorts... it was a balmy 55 degF.

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/20040221-bothell_landing-gasworks/PICT0002.jpg

We rode on into the U-district (Univ. of Washington) and towards Seattle.

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/20040221-bothell_landing-gasworks/PICT0003.jpg

We got to Gasworks Park (right across the street from ngateguy's place of employment) and headed up a small hill for some photo-ops.

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/20040221-bothell_landing-gasworks/PICT0005.jpg
http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/20040221-bothell_landing-gasworks/PICT0007.jpg
http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/20040221-bothell_landing-gasworks/PICT0008.jpg

For those unfamiliar with Gasworks Park, it is on the site of an old plant used to manufacture gas from coal and later on crude oil. Some of the structures and machinery still stand and the old buildings are used as part of the park's facilities. The park is also a favourite starting point for many of the local bike club rides.

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/20040221-bothell_landing-gasworks/PICT0011.jpg
http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/20040221-bothell_landing-gasworks/PICT0013.jpg

As things were beginning to chill down (sun was setting), xythen and ngateguy began pulling out their jackets. I stupidly didn't bring mine. Of course I was wearing tights and they only had on shorts. I began pondering the newspaper idea. As we were leaving, I suggested we make a stop on the way back at the Starbucks (well, one of them anyway) in the University Village shopping center that was adjacent to the trail. xythen thought it was a good idea to get something warm in us and ngateguy counter-offerred with a stop at a nearby bakery. Unfortunately, it was in the direction which was not that of our return location so the idea was scuttled. We proceeded on towards Starbucks...

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/20040221-bothell_landing-gasworks/PICT0018.jpg

Daylight was waning and by the time we were 3 miles from Bothell Landing, the sun had completely set. None of us had our lights. :( xythen was noticeably upping the pace. We got back at 1830 and I was quite happy to have heated seats. :)

More pictures can be found at:

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/gallery/20040221-bothell_landing-gasworks

[BlastRadius]

Nice Bianchi's! Looks like a great day for a ride.
I made it out today in semi-drizzly weather and did a 20 mile out-and-back on my newly built fixed gear. http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=45959
Even with the rainy drizzle is was great.

How's the training going for STP?

[khuon]

How's the training going for STP?

This is probably bad... and bad to admit too but I never really formally train for the STP. I do sort of make sure my riding habits fall within the general recommended guidelines for mileage and intensity though. I'm however bummed as I'm going to miss the Chilly Hilly next weekend due to the fact that I'll be halfway around the world.

[Jakey]

Looks like a good time..hehe... I'm hoping to do STP this year... my training has just begun, and will really kick into gear probably in april. For someone who has never done it before...what should I expect?


Thanks

[ngateguy]

Mental not always pack the cateye head light just in case. Of course the knee warmers are a must too! By the time I got back to Bothel my knees were FRIGGIN cold. xythen definitely picked up the pace a bit and sped by me at one point to take the lead she was cruising at pretty decent speed (it was to dark to read my computer) .She even had me huffing and puffing a couple of times trying to catch up with her.

I had picked up an annoying squeak in my rear dérailleur on the Softride. I stripped it apart and oiled everything Friday night but it still squeaked. I decided ot was time for a small tune up on the thing anyway since the last time it was done was before the STP in July. Saturday morning I hauled it to my LBS and decided to show up with the Grizzly, which concerned xythen. I had told her on our last ride she didn't have to worry about any major hills unless I showed up on the MTB.

I pretty much trained the same way Jake did for the STP, in fact last year I wasn't planning on doing it but my brother and a friend decided to come up from Cal so I did it on 2 months warning. This year I think I will be riding more in preparation, but I have 2 riding buddies to join me so it should be a ton o' fun.

I'm going to miss having Jake on the Chilly Hilly next week. It's the kick off ride here for the STP training and it lives up to it's name it is usually chilly and it is always hilly (http://www.cascade.org/EandR/CH_Ride_Info_Desc.cfm). I will be riding with a co worker and his friends and xythen is volunteering so I hope to see her at one of the rest stops.

[ngateguy]

Looks like a good time..hehe... I'm hoping to do STP this year... my training has just begun, and will really kick into gear probably in april. For someone who has never done it before...what should I expect?


Thanks

Well expect a lot of fun! The ride is not to difficult it is pretty flat the first day and rolling hills the second. We had a a heck of a head wind at the end of the first day last year and some rain on the second. Overall it was a great ride. Here (http://www.cascade.org/EandR/stp_mileage.cfm) is the mileage recommendations for the ride but I didn't follow them completely my first year. I am a commuter so I increased my daily commute and on weekends after breaking the 50 mile mark I kept most of my rides at that level. I did a back to back metric centuries and then the 75 mile loop on the Flying WHeels 3 weeks before the ride. I saved my first century for the ride. If you come up let us know you can join us for the ride if you like. Or at least a cold one at the halfway mark or in PDX.

[Jakey]

Well expect a lot of fun! The ride is not to difficult it is pretty flat the first day and rolling hills the second. We had a a heck of a head wind at the end of the first day last year and some rain on the second. Overall it was a great ride. Here (http://www.cascade.org/EandR/stp_mileage.cfm) is the mileage recommendations for the ride but I didn't follow them completely my first year. I am a commuter so I increased my daily commute and on weekends after breaking the 50 mile mark I kept most of my rides at that level. I did a back to back metric centuries and then the 75 mile loop on the Flying WHeels 3 weeks before the ride. I saved my first century for the ride. If you come up let us know you can join us for the ride if you like. Or at least a cold one at the halfway mark or in PDX.

Last year my friend and I did an unsupported century around the Portland area in about 7 hours (including a 45 min lunch break), and it felt great... We decided to give ourselves a challenge this year with STP, as well as the summit to surf two weeks later, and possibly the torture 10,000... What do you do for accomodations? Every motel is already booked... so now we are just looking for one of the churches I think.. we're doing it in two days... one day is a little too hardcore ;)

[ngateguy]

What do you do for accomodations? Every motel is already booked... so now we are just looking for one of the churches I think.. we're doing it in two days... one day is a little too hardcore ;)

My brother and I are staying at Thoerbkes (sp) health club again this year they have indoor bike storage and a hot tub(closes at 7 though) there is also the churches, rumor one of them has a hot tub but I am not sure which one I will see if I can find out. There is also private homes you can stay at. One day is hardcore, and two day is much more of a social event. We usually dine at McMenimens Olymic Hotel, you might check there for accomidations, no private rooms it's dorm style with shared bathrooms.


http://www.mcmenamins.com/olyclub/special.html

[Xythen]

On Saturday morning I was planning on going to help a friend with her move- but I wasn't able to connect to find out the details.
This turned out to be a nice thing as I was able to wax my bike to make it super shiny and new bike sexy. (Oh, yes! You are my precious!) ;) I stopped by a bike shop to pick up a few inner tubes- for myself and to repay Ngateguy. I also did a lot of preemptive eating in hopes I wouldn't be completely ravenous after the ride.

I made it to Bothell Landing a little before 1:30pm. It was a glorious spring day. Temps near 60. I usually wear long pants over my shorts or tights but as I watched other riders pedal by in their shorts I decided to ditch the pants and ride in those lycra shorts. oh my!

I ended up waiting for about 30 minutes before Ngateguy showed up and we waited another 30 for Khuon- but he didn't show. We decided to go ahead without him. David followed my lead and ditched his pants, too.

I was a bit concerned at Ngateguy's choice of bike, 'cause last time he had warned me that if *he* showed up with a triple- it was gonna be baaaad. :o

It feels so glorious to ride a bike in shorts! The breezes tickled my skin and felt quiet nice. Can't wait till summer! :o

We took the Burke-Gilman toward the city. There were tons of people out on the trail, so it was a pretty leisurely ride. The trail is kind of annoying because there are so many street crossings. You have to stop and watch for traffic and you kind of lose momentum.

Then Khuon caught up to us! He had arrived at the park 15 minutes after we left.

By the time we got to Gasworks park the sun was nearing the horizon and it was starting to get really cold. We took a few pictures and decided to head back and get some hot drinks at a Starbucks at University Village.

We also made note that 1) Two of us didn't have pants 2) None of us had brought our headlights. Uhm. Oops.

At least Ngateguy and I brought our windbreakers with us, Khuon had pants, but no jacket.

These guys are so cool! I don't think I could have asked for better riding partners. Khuon is hoping to get a hotel room for the STP in Centralia and I told him to reserve one for me- I'm in...even if I have to drive there and meet them. They were all over me- telling me they wouldn't let me do that- they'll be taking my car keys a week before the ride to make sure I had to do it. That kind of good natured encouragement is just the support I need. They make me feel so ... included.

After hot tea and baked goods (at least for me) we started off again. There is a steep hill coming out of the driveway of the University Village parking lot that had me gasping and wheezing. It took me soo long to get my breath back once we were back on the trail!

But THEN I really got my second wind... well actually my first wind. I seem to do better on the return trips- maybe it's horse returning to the barn syndrome..maybe this time I was worried about getting hypothermia, having no light, and 15 miles to go. But, I like to think of it as being 'really' warmed up!

I went FAST! I was going 15 mph sustained for miles! Ye-haw! I even left Ngateguy behind after a stop. He caught up with me- but he was winded. hehe!

I've never been able to go much faster than 12mph- and certainly not for such long stretches. This was a BIG jump in speed for me. And I'm really excited, because this means I'm actually fast enough now to join the socially paced club rides in my area. Yay!

For a while I practiced drafting Ngateguy. That stuff is cool! It does make a difference.

It started getting really dark. I had cunningly taken my yellow lenses out of my seat pack- because I wouldn't need them. So, I only had my dark lenses and finally had to take my glasses off to see. doh!

Ngateguy just wasn't going fast enough for me, so I took the lead and they followed me!! Me! I went 14 for a while, but then lost steam and only managed 11 by the time we reached the park. We were tired puppies!

Note to self: It's STILL winter. Wear the pants.

Thanks for the great ride, guys!