The other day, a memory popped up in my Facebook feed of a picture I had posted 14 years ago.
It was a picture of one of the Seattle areas better known hillclimbs called “Zoo Hill”.
The hillclimb is just under 4 miles and 1400 Ft elevation gain from its base off of Interstate 90 to an old NIKE Anti Aircraft Missile Site (now a County Park) on the top of Cougar Mountain.
It starts off steep and ratchets up from there until you muscle past a sharp hairpin turn before relenting somewhat after a mile allowing you to get your breathing under control.
You get onto a long straightaway, the hill pitching up again with several false summits, each one breaking your heart if you’re not familiar with this climb as another pitch presents itself before you just as you start to think your suffering is over.
The end for most people that ride this hill is at a private school where the hill crests and the road drops down the other side lined by luxury homes with expansive views of Seattle and Lake Washington.
For extra credit, take a sharp left just before the school and climb another 200 feet of elevation on a dirt road to the old NIKE site on top of Cougar.
When I took that picture in 2010 I had ridden it during my lunch break at work training for “RAMROD” which is a 1 day, 150 mile endurance ride that I would do on a fixed gear around Mount Rainier National Park, held later in July.
2010 was a time in my life when, in my 50’s I was doing all sorts of physical challenges like Marathons, double centuries n such wondering if I could still ‘measure up’.
Midlife crisis? Probably. I don’t know. I had some adventures and remained true to my wife and didn’t get us into any trouble anyways..
As I was looking at that photo I began to think about how those 14 years just flew by.
It seemed like yesterday.
Then I realized 14 years from now I’ll be 80! This life is passing by so quickly.
So now I’m thinking it’s been years since I’ve climbed the Zoo Hill.
I should really go ride it and see how it feels 14 years after that picture was taken.
It would be interesting to see how I’d handle it now as an older guy with a far different attitude towards cycling and a mind swirling with thoughts about my own mortality.
So Yesterday afternoon I went for a ride…
Stopping for a picture at the same spot I taken that photo 14 years ago.
14 years later on Zoo Hill by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr
I’m riding a bike (Woodrup) that’s much heaver but also much lower geared than what I rode 14 years ago (Merlin Extralight).
While I was slower than I recall (I used to complete this climb from my office in Eastgate in less than 90 minutes) I never felt like I was working too hard.
This hill is still my playground!
I swooped down the backside of Cougar Mountain Road and Lakemont Blvd feeling exhilarated.
I still had some time to kill so I went down another memory lane with a ride through Lake Sammamish State park.
We used to come here alot when I was a kid. Back in the late 60’s mom was studying to become a registered nurse and she’d take us kids here to swim and play while she studied at the beach during the summer.
We’d run amok, free for hours. When we weren’t swimming we’d run along the sandy trails that lined Issaquah Creek before it spilled into the lake by an open sand spit.
Out there, away from parents eyes we got into all sorts of mischief.
I hadn’t been to the park in years. The trail lining the creek was still there but now was ‘improved’.
Lk. Sammamish State Park by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr
It was a bit tattered out at the sand spit but there was still some resemblance to how I remembered it. I could almost hear the transistor radios and ski boats out on the water....
Where Issaquah Creek empties into the lake by
Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr