Seattle Forrest

nwh

Aubergine 

Carbonfiberboy 

All I see is an eventual return to the normal range for this time of year: 50°-35°. I hope.

The view from now is that I'm not riding outside this weekend. I don't ride outside below 40° and raining. Anymore. Done that, swore off it. Too much Dark Side for me. One thing - It'll sure cut down on the population on the CH.

So the guy gets up, puts all his bike rain gear on, kisses his wife goodbye and heads out for the Sunday group ride. But the weather's really, really crappy and only one other person shows up. They agree that it's better to just go home, so the guy does. He walks into the bedroom, wife's still in bed, and she says, "Can you believe my husband went riding in this?"

base2 

Ha! That's awesome. My I read this aloud to Mrs. Base2. She found it amusing too.

On another note, assuming I won't be at work, we'll still be going. Snow equals a big fat "no," but otherwise good gear means a lot. We'll make the final call the morning of. The 9:35 ferry sounds about right. There is still time for the weather to get reasonable. I'd be honored if you would join us, I think we are about 11 or so this year.

markjenn

Out here in the PacNW, we've been stuck in an unusually cold weather pattern (8-15 deg below normal) for over three weeks now and unfortunately there is nothing between now and Sun that indicates its going to change. This will mean overnight lows around freezing and afternoon highs in the low-40's. Whether there is snow, rain, sleet, clouds or even sunny is basically random chance with respect to the daily timing of precip which is almost impossible to predict, even the day before. Regardless of precip you should be prepared to ride in the mid-30's.

- Mark

jazzyrider

Why couldn't we get today's (Thursday) weather-- partly sunny and low to mid 40s for Chilly Hilly? Going to go for an extended lunch ride but I know come Sunday its going to be hard to dress up and ride. Oh well...

Aubergine 

NoWhammies

While I am the OP of this thread I'm not going to make the ride this year Life and all that jazz has gotten in the way and I can't manage it. For those of you who do make it though, I look forward to seeing some pics of the event.

surak

That's a bummer, although we will see if ultimately you dodged sketchy conditions.

Cascade sent an email the other day saying they'll decide day of event whether it will be safe to hold. Forecasted temperatures look to be warm enough to chance it. I picked up my rider packet yesterday.

I also noticed that they will have 3 speed groups on the ferry to let the fastest out first. I hope there will be good ops to stop and snap some pics, so I plan to sort myself with the middle group.

Aubergine 

jazzyrider

Agree bummer @NoWhammies !! Totally understandable. And yea weather forecast currently still shows possible snow in the morning.

I'm switching to my gravel tires just in case and will back out like @Aubergine if indeed there's ice but unlikely. Yesterday's weather was a bit cool yet nice to see the bright thing in the sky! Some years its nice, some years event lives up to its name!!

Aubergine 

base2 

Anti-freeze Green 1974 Schwinn Varsity. Woundup forks, disc brakes & super shiny crankset. I'll have my rain gear in my Ortleibs, probably black, but maybe the red ones. It has knobby 41c gravel tires just for carp weather.

There may be as many as 11 of us in our little group on the 9:35. If you see me, say: "Hi."

The plan is beer & pizza at the pub after the ride.

surak

Crap, with everyone talking about bringing bigger tires, I'm starting to think it's a bad idea to take my road bike with 25mm slicks (largest that'll fit under Cascadia fenders). I could bring my flat bar commuter which came with 37mm trekking tires and has hydro disc brakes, but it would suck 100% of the fun out of the ride. 😧

I'm also planning to take the 9:30 ferry. If you see me (and hopefully it won't be prior to my last moments), I'll be in blue- Giant with clip on aero bars that I definitely won't be using, jacket, and helmet.

fastfour

I'd love to ride the lighter roadie but the narrower tires on it may steer me toward the commuter. I'm planning to be on the 9:30 ferry as well.

Aubergine 

NoWhammies

Yeah folks, bummer indeed. I hate it when life gets in the way of having a good time. Multiple factors contributed to my not being able to attend this year.

From the sounds of it though, I am not equipped to do the ride anyway. I don't have knobby tyres and I might have bee chancing it to ride on my Schwable Pro Ones. Be safe out there. I look forward to a ride report and photos.

Aubergine 

markjenn

It looks like the main energy of the weather this weekend is going S, so at worst it will be showery (no continuous rain) and I doubt it will get below freezing, even overnight. The road surfaces will probably be wet, but not icy. So I expect the weather will be Okay..... not great, but Okay.

I wouldn't let lack of wide tires stop you. There's tons of folks on 23s and 25s and the entire route is decent pavement. It's not like knobbies are going to let you safely negotiate ice/snow anyway.

My experience is that the weather usually looks worse than it ends up being. You get your blood pumping on the first few hills and you won't be paying much attention to weather.

Hope everyone has a safe/fun ride.

- Mark

base2 

Doin' it. No reservations now.
Cold & a chance of rain but not snow.
Screenshot_20190224-064323_Samsung Internet by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr

fastfour

Great ride with no rain and even sunshine towards the end. Wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be but a couple of the climbs got my attention, particularly the 18% grade one (according to Strava anyway). Had a great time and so glad I brought the road bike.

base2 

40 degrees & not a drop of rain.
It was a great ride.

I kept a look out for y'all on the 9:35. I didn't spot any black Trek's or blue Giants. But I did see plenty of friends & acquaintences along the way.

Good times at Bainbridge Brewing were had.

Next year!

Aubergine 

jazzyrider

Wow that was a great ride and weather was actually what others mentioned above! Turned out to be a dry yet chilly (hence the name) day! We ended up getting on the 8:55a ferry and it wasn't as packed like I recall in past years, but maybe I think the earlier forecasts scared folks away. Still a sight to see when you see all the bikes lined up on the ferry! What surprised us was the amount of support cars on the road and even a Tesla car as support. And the signs for some of the turns and areas to slow down was great. Not many riders but still enough to just follow if you couldn't find the road markings. Overall a great ride and courteous riders. No incidents or people making dumb moves on hills.

Here are some pics that friends took not me as I was too chicken to take my gloves off but also my phone battery doesn't last long in this cold these days...

surak

Wasn't able to spot any other members' bikes either.

I brought a coat but only wore it after picking up my bag at the finish line, having learned my lesson from shivering like crazy waiting to get off the ferry at Bainbridge. Ride lived up to its name for sure.

I did see a fair share of riders riding side by side and others passing them by crossing the center line.