Seattle Forrest

I'm re-posting this in here for two reasons: a lot of Clydes and Athenas aren't roadies, and would miss out on my beautiful mediocre pictures ... and because there are a handful of climbers in this forum, who might enjoy.

I took my bike up route 2 this weekend. I was planning to do Rainier, but wound up with a lot more pressure on my schedule than I expected, and not feeling great. So I opted for Steven's Pass, which I assumed would be closer and less time in the car. Mistake. Not only wasn't that true, but a 60 mph speed limit is very unnerving. When you're doing 35 mph and trucks are passing at 70 mph, the wake pulls you out of your line. No fun.

I grabbed the first pull out after Skykomish that didn't have no parking signs, put the wheels on the bike, and started climbing. After a while I stopped to take a picture of a river I was crossing, and somebody going the opposite direction stopped on the far side of the street and asked where I was headed. When I said "up and over the pass," the guy told me how awesome that was, and wished me luck. Another driver honked a few times and flashed her lights at me until I nodded, then waved. People were excited to see the only cyclist on the road that day. I took it as a compliment.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/122398993#

My R3 at Deception Falls, on a pair of Zipp 303s belonging to someone who works at LBS:





This is where there started to be signs that read "Pedestrians & Hitchhikers Prohibited," which made me a bit nervous. They didn't say no bikes, and I've heard of people riding here ... but some of the shoulders are pretty narrow, and I didn't see another bike all day.













I made it!

Seattle Forrest

Two more photos. I didn't stop very often during the descent. With such a late start to the day, I had used up my light, and it was pretty cold! I was sweating on the way up, and almost didn't bring a hat or gloves ... but I was very glad I had them.

1855Cru

Nice ride! I like the look of the Zipps, my R3 just has the stock Fulcrums, serviceable though they are

Pamestique 

What gorgeous photos - thanks for sharing.

BTW I much better like those wheels - it doesn't distract from the bike!

I did some mountain biking this weekend. We don't get much fall color but as we climbed we hit a beautiful strand of Sycamores all blazing yellow. Didn't stop to take photos. Was afraid I could not get started again!

Very jealous - you have some ebautiful roads to play on!

Daspydyr 

Looks like an incredible place to ride, roadie or MTBing. Nice photos of God's great big world!

Seattle Forrest

Believe it or not, I was a bit curious about that. The Madfibers don't bother me nearly as much as you; you seem to have a strong aversion to them. While I can deal with the looks, I've also learned to trust women on matters of fashion.

I think I saw a few yellow aspens, among the other changing colors. We have some aspens up this far north, mostly on the far side of the mountains. This particular ride - the scenery in the/our central Cascades (if you live in California, these aren't central) - reminds me more of the eastern Sierra than our local mountains.

chefisaac

nice pictures. I miss seattle!

Seattle Forrest

When I left home, the sky had the same dark gray color as concrete. I brought arm and leg warmers, a sweater, gloves, and a scarf ... stuff like that. Along the way I the road turned into a mountain valley, and the clouds just stopped. It was as much as 15 degrees warmer in the sun. I wasn't quite as prepared as I could have been, and forgot to bring my purifier.

Most of the way toward the top, my bottles got pretty low. There were three people at the summit loading mountain bikes into a truck. I rode up to them - the only people around, and friends, since they had bikes - and they gave me the sweet water of life. Ironically, about 100 miles from home, I recognized the logo of a local bike shop on the guy's bottle. Anyway, I didn't see another bike on the road the entire time, but these three were having fun on the trails.

Allen55

Beautiful!

Daspydyr 

That really is a great part of the world to live in. have you ever considered getting a Camelback for Road biking. I notice most of the Roadies around here have bottles. Any special reason, weight maybe?

Biking is a good clan! Glad the fat tire crowd were generous.

primov8

Definitely a beautiful place to do some riding.

jeepseahawk

Beautiful and I miss home too! Last time up we rode the Olympics, is God's country definately.

DaHaMac

Absolutely beautiful. The leaves are just starting here in the West Central GA Pine Mountains (ya'll'd call'em hills).

I'm also a little jealous of the bike... I'm ready for tax return season! (n+1 time).

Bunnicula

Beautiful photos, thanks for sharing! They do remind me more of the Sierras, though.

Neil_B

Thanks for the photos!

Seattle Forrest

Here are two older photos from Deception Falls, the waterfall my bike is "posed" in front of in the first shot. I hadn't been to US 2 in years, and thought it was closer to the pass. I was disappointed to see the 'hiking' (short walking) trail closed, not that I would have stopped riding to do it this weekend.

Black wallnut 

Nice pics! I'll second the suggestion of a "Camelback" for longer unsupported rides. I wear an REI daypack with a 3 liter Camelback bladder, but then if I was on the wet side of the state like you I might just use my MSR filter.

Seattle Forrest

This is my water strategy:



It's small and almost weightless. I've had one for two years. It comes hiking with me, too. This is one of the reasons I use SPD (recessed cleat) pedals, instead of road ones; I'll lay the bike down in the grass, and sometimes have to scramble down to a creek to pull water out. The problem is that I forgot this on Saturday. I've also forgotten it in the past, when I went climbing in the North Cascades it was in my backpack, ready for a hike. The thing is just too useful. The weight difference between this and a Camelback is pretty significant for long climbing rides, and in the Pacific Northwet, there really isn't a shortage of drinking water in most places, if you can purify it.

Push

Cool pictures

Old'N'Slow

Glad you had a great ride. Beautiful pictures.

I did a similar ride last summer - I-90 from Bellevue to Snoqulamie Summit and back. Having trucks, cars, etc. buzz by you at 70 MPH is disconcerting. I'll never do it again...