Feelin' Down

It's now June 2nd. Normally this time of year is all sunshine and flowers. But nooooo, this year we get the "Rainiest May/Spring/last three days" on record! (yes, all of those). I DO NOT LIKE RIDING IN THE RAIN! And I've had enough. I'm told this storm will let up for a moment before another one will follow behind it. Grrr. I just want summer to be here. It is spring. In the winter I feel allowed to ask for a few nice days. But this time of year I want to be able to have the next 5 months rain free!

And to add to that, Jason gets to head off to ride in the Trek 100 in a week. This ride should have been Team Defiance's first official ride. (Fitting since we have Trek bikes) But, I have other things going on my world keeping me from that ride. And from what I hear, there will be no rain in WI this time of year.

So for now, it is raining, I'm not on my bike, and I'm not happy.

Hazards of Biking

Warning for all...if you plan on riding the Burke Gilman at night make sure you have a BRIGHT light.

I've done my fair share of night riding. Sure, most of it was in a city where I had the luxury of illuminated streets. It has only been once before, riding from Beaver Dam to my house in Wisconsin, where I rode in complete darkness...until now.

Saturday was my only full day to spend some time with Amanda and we had plans to see a play that night at a local high school. I've been a little short on money lately as well as i've been lagging behind on my goal of riding 5,000 miles in a year. I had the bright idea of biking to Amanda's that day and using her car to get us around. The only problem that I completely forgot about was that Amanda's window was broken and would not roll up...it was also a rainy day so driving her car around in rainy weather wasn't the best of ideas. Now being the problem solver that I claim to be I decided to reflect on the issue at hand. Soon enough I had an epiphany. I would load up my bike, drive to Amanda's, do our stuff for the day, drive to work (just down the street from Amanda's), and bike home that Saturday evening only to bike back the following morning for work (I needed my car in the Bothell area for Sunday as well). It sounded like a good plan so I went through with it. 11:00 pm came along and it was time to leave the girlfriends house. I drove down the road a bit, unloaded my bike, locked up my car, and hopped on my bike for the ride home. The trip started out pretty well. The streets were illuminated and the cars could see me. It wasn't until about 2 miles down the road that the street lights disappeared and I was in darkness. I knew that this portion of the route had vertical grates on the bike lane, however I couldn't really see them. PAUSE: for those of you who don't know there are three types of sewer grates that exist (3 that i've seen). Vertical grates, horizontal grates, and diagonal grates.

HORIZONTAL: (Safe. Tires roll over easily.)

DIAGONAL: (Safe. Tires roll over easily.)

VERTICAL: (Deadly. Tires get stuck in the gap.)

The diagonal and horizontal grates are just fine. What you have to worry about is your front tire getting stuck in the vertical grates and you flipping over your handlebars. Other then the fact that there was a complete lack of lumens that wouldn't allow me to see the grates, I was also going downhill at 30 MPH which would only make my fall hurt worse if I were to wipe out. Needless to say I slowed down and made it through this part of the darkness without incident.

I finally made it to downtown Bothell where there were some lights. This made me feel better, however I knew that the darkness would return once I got on the Burke Gilman. I turned onto the Burke Gilman bike trail and to no surprise it was pitch black and would remain this way for the next 8 miles. The darkness made the ride very challenging. I couldn't see the edge of the trail too well and was basically drawing the shape of the trail out in my head by memory. The trail is also notorious for tree roots uplifting the pavement and not making the trail very smooth. I couldn't see any of the bumps coming so I was gripping my handlebars tight for fear of hitting these bumps...which I did many times. I also was startled by someone walking on the trail without a light (other than his cigarette), and was also looking out for animals that decided that they owned the trail. I finally made it off the trail and back onto city streets where the light posts light the rest of my route home

It wasn't my best ride, however it was a pretty ride. The trail hugs the shore of Lake Washington and the glow of the lights across the lake made for quite a site! I will be doing the trek many times and will not let the darkness stop me. I should also note that I carry a very large kitchen knife with me on my rides at night. A little food for thought in case anyone reading this blog decides to rob me on the path.

THOUGHTS: I need to get a brighter light.

Spring Peaks Out

April 19^th

Today was gorgeous!! The temp reached into the lower 70’s and I was excited to get out of work. My energy levels felt a lot better today. I made sure to restock on my glycogen storage by eating a lot of whole grain, lean protein, and veggies. The ride home was amazing! The sun was out and their was a beautiful storm approaching off in the distance which placed a certain peace and calm over the land. The trail wasn’t too crowded and the smells along the route were filled with the wonderful scents of spring. The cherry trees were blossoming which visually made the route back divine. I was keeping a good 20mph most of the way and came out with an average of 18mph. My goal is to get up to 20 by the end of the season. The route back home is a bit more uphill, but nothing that can’t be handled, however the last hill is a beast! It is so steep that I had to shift my bike into the granny gear and could barely climb with my bike in its highest gear. It reminds me of a hill on my old route when I lived in West Seattle…no fun. I stayed dry and very warm throughout the ride. I was happy to be on the bike. I look forward to the many future rides to work.

-Jason

The First

April 18^th

Today was the first day that I rode by bike to work up in Bothell. 5:45am my alarm goes off and of course I hit the snooze only to wake up 5 minutes later. I made myself a quick breakfast consisting of a banana, oatmeal, and brown toast. I packed up a few sets of clothes, my work shoes, a towel, and all my bathroom stuff for I was going to take a shower when I got to work. My backpack weighed about 40 pounds and it was NOT a pleasant ride. I have been slacking on my diet of fresh veggies and whole grain lately and noticed on the ride that my glycerin storage was lacking on the storage. I wasn’t feeling any energy and averaging only 15mph. The down hills even seemed tiring. On the plus side the weather was nice and warm…foggy, but dry and warm. The sun decided to peak through the fog once I hit Bothell and the ride up to North Creek was visually pleasant. 15 miles later I was at work and ready to hit the shower. The ride was one of my worst this year so far. It is amazing what not eating right can do to you. I suppose it is time to get back to the diet. Luckily I didn’t have to ride back that night. I went over to my girlfriends house that day after work (only 1 mile north of work) and hung out with her. The night got to be pretty late and half the trail is non light bike trail and it wasn’t safe to ride back at night. Amanda kindly let me take residence in the guest room.

-Jason

Ouch. Hail Hurts!

April 9^th, 2010

Today was the day that the forecast was looking promising for our ride. 30 percent of AM showers. “Not bad” as I thought to myself. It was almost impossible to believe but it for once looked like we may have a dry and sunny ride. I woke up at my patients house, made us some breakfast and coffee and headed out at around 8:00am. As I was driving towards the meeting spot with Ry I looked to the west and say sunny and partly cloudy skies. I looked to the east and say nothing but black, menacing, “going to rain on you” clouds. “Great…can’t seem to catch a break”. My iPod was even against me! “No Sunlight” by Deathcab for Cutie was playing. I pulled up, parked the car, greeted Ry, and started to get my gear together. I looked across the lake and saw the rain coming and suggested to Ry that we wait in my car for it to pass over. As we sat in the car we could see to the North and Northeast that it was sunny and nice. We sat, crossed our fingers, and caught up on matters not involving biking. The rain finally passed but noticed that another shower was soon to hit. We discussed if we could make it to the sunny part of the trip just about a mile north before the next rainstorm hit. We decided to go for it. Sure enough it started to sprinkle as soon as we took off but to our delight a mile north on the route it was dry pavement and sunny! It was nice for a change! We biked through my new favorite part in the arboretum and made our way to UW to connect with the Burke-Gilman trail that would take us north to Kenmore. The ride was nice. Dry, sunny, however a bit chilly but I was happy about the sunny and dry part, “I’ll deal with the cold”. I was feeling good physically and mentally. I’ve been keeping my breakfast consistent before all of my rides. Eggs, fried potatoes, and whole wheat toast with a glass of coffee and tropical punch cool aid. I will admit that I put cool aid in my water bottles instead of water. Most people would see this as a very bad idea, however have I noticed a significant improvement in my performance. As weird as it sounds cool aid actually works better for me then water…I have no idea why. Perhaps it is due to my mild case of hypoglycemia? Soon enough we made it to the most northern part of our trip. Kenmore. I did some map looking a few days before our ride and altered our lake Washington look slightly. We were about to enter the undiscovered country. That undiscovered country started with a 10 minute hill climbs…not a good start. After being out of breath and my quads screaming I made it to the top. The rest was going to be fun for it would be a curvy, windy, and technical downhill. It was worth the climb. Unfortunately the weather was about to take a change for the more worse. You are thinking hail, right? Wrong! Think colder and harder and more damaging then rain. Did you guess it? Hail! It started to hail as we were descending the hill at 30 mph. We pulled over to complain about our misfortune. We decided to wait it out but 5 minutes later it was only getting worse so we moved on…slowly. I could barely see but eventually the hail let up and the no precip clouds came back. I remember looking over to the west and seeing downtown Seattle in sunlight. We moved on weaving our way through Kirkland an eventually Bellevue. We both looked off to the south and too notice that the clouds didn’t look to friendly. We both agreed to skip doing the southern loop of Lake Washington and just cutting over on i90. This unfortunately cut our trip short about 23 some miles. We tackled a few hills on Mercer Island and made it over the i90 floating bridge to our cars.

The trip wasn’t too bad. I still felt good afterwards. I could ride through rain, sleet, snow, and wind and be absolutely miserable, but as long as I feel good at the end that is all that matters.

-Jason

How many pairs of socks must I ruin before the sun comes out?

Rain, rain, rain, rain. It has been in the forecast for the past few weeks and it continues to remain there. I actually like rain. I find it peaceful, comforting, and best when I have an opportunity to sleep in. It has never bothered me and i've never gotten sick of it. This thought process, however, has changed since I received the new bike and I would like nothing more then to ride during a warm, sunny, and DRY day...oh...and NOT have to clean my bike when I got back from a ride.

Today started out with cloudy skies and cold temperatures...however it was DRY and the forecast called for a 30 percent chance of rain. "Not bad" as I thought to myself. I had to take care of a few errands in the morning which I finished around 1:00pm. I took a glance outside and it was still dry. I had a quick lunch and then suited up for a ride to West Seattle and back. I wheeled my bike out of the house and before I stepped outside my neighbor Gean caught me. We had an exchange of words followed by "going for a ride out in the rain"? I paused for a moment and looked outside. IT WAS RAINING!

I got on my bike and started to make my way towards West Seattle with a stop at Performance Bicycle to get a tire wrench in case I got a flat. The trip wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Rain, wet, cold, more rain, and people who don't know how to share the road. I was almost killed by a guy who I think literally pulled into the bike lane to cut me off. I stopped at Salty's to take a break and call Amanda Jane to see how she was doing. 10 minutes later I was back on the bike and about ready to make the climb to the top of the hill on the north end of West Seattle. I made my way south via California ave. and then hooked a left on Holden towards my old apartment. I noticed a lot of new buildings going up in the area including a firestation! I eventually made my way over to my old bike route that I used while living in West Seattle. I have made quite an improvement in my speed since I last took the route a year ago. I curved my way down the West Seattle hill and made my way back to the harbor that would allow me to bypass the West Seattle Bridge. On the way I almost killed myself again. I was making a right hand turn and my hand slipped off the handlebars throwing off my center of gravity off balance and I almost plummeted to the ground. Luckily I held my composure and managed to stay upright. I stopped at my fruit and veggie stand on 65th to grab a few goodies for my dinner later. At this point I could no longer feel my feet. It literally felt like I was pedaling with nubbing feet. Twas a strange feeling! After 33 miles I made it home and warmed up.

It was a crappy day as far as weather, but I physically felt great and I feel like my speed in climbing hills is improving. I'm glad I braved the rain and took a stroll out. As I always keep telling myself "better rain then snow".

-Jason

P.S. It stopped raining once I got back from my ride.

"Ah! My Quads hurt"!

Alert: Jason has been a slacker lately. Be advised that he will blog about two rides in this post!

Redhook Ride:

I woke up to the sound of rain drops dancing on my window. "A little rain, no big deal" I told myself. I was up in Bothell at the time taking advantage of the girlfriends guest room and had to make my way back to Seattle by 11:00am to meet Ry at my house for a ride. I ate a banana, threw on my biking clothes, said my goodbyes and mounted myself on the bike for the ride home. Did I say it was raining? It was also very cold and windy! The trip back home was miserable. I lost feeling in my toes, my shoes were soaked, and my legs and arms were starting to suffer from frostnip (which is not to be confused with frostbite). I FINALLY got home and had an opportunity to warm up in the shower and make myself a quick breakfast. Ry showed up and we headed out.

The trip started out fairly well. The pavement was still a little damp, however it was not raining and the temperature was tolerable. 15 some miles later we ended up at Redhook. To my surprise the bike traffic wasn't very busy. It is usually crowded. I think we had the weather to thank for that. We ordered a new seasonal beer which I forget the name of, but it was very good! A pilsner for you beer snobs. Along with my beer I ordered a california burger which was good, but I was disappointed that no fries came with it. Did I mention the service was horrible?

We hopped back on our bikes and headed south for Lake Sammamish. To our surprise the pavement dried up and the clouds were holding there precipitation. We approached the northern end of Lake Sammamish and hugged it's east shoreline making our way down to the southern tip which would eventually lead us to the city of Issaquah. It was here we both got a little turned around...a.k.a. slightly lost. We zigged and zagged our way around eventually ending up back to the southern most part of Lake Sammamish. "Bah! We just came from here" I thought to myself. We both climbed an extremely steep hill and halfway through my quads felt like they were on fire. I was also having a problem with my rear derailer where it wouldn't make up its mind of what gear it wanted to be in. This made the climb a bit more difficult, but eventually we made it to the top which brought us back on course. We hugged I-90 and made our way to Bellevue where the clouds off in the distance were not looking to friendly. The inevitable was going to happen and that was us getting soaked. We parked our bikes underneath a bridge and threw on our rain gear. The ride back was miserably wet, however we took a new route through the arboretum that was amazingly technical and fun! Here is a treat for you all that I took during one our rest stops. It is seemly becoming an inside joke for us.

Mt. Rainier Ride:

The weather called for rain and cloudy skies and when I woke up and looked out the window I was in awe to see sunshine and clear skies. The day looked to be a good one for riding. I arrived in Auburn about 30 minutes past 10am and chugged a cup of coffee that Ry brewed up. We geared up and headed out. It was a bit chilly, however it was sunny, dry, and there was minimal wind...I was happy. Our trip for the day would take us into the chinook mountain pass near the base of Mt. Rainier. The total roundtrip mileage would be 70 miles. The ride from Auburn to Enumclaw was not the greatest. The road was littered in glass, garbage, and gravel and the logging trucks zoomed by too close for comfort.

At one point I was tailing behind Ry and all-of-a-sudden I noticed a large object explode in front of me as it hit the ground. Unfortunately Ry's headlamp saw the last of its days. It apparently came loose from the mounting on his bike. Around the 15 mile marker we arrived in Enumclaw a.k.a. hickville. Ry and I got the impression that biker shorts were not in fashion. Before heading up the pass we stopped at the local McDonald's for a quick snack and a bathroom break. As we stood outside enjoying our McDoubles we noticed that the ominous rain clouds in the distance were getting closer. We crossed our fingers that they would miss and that we would stay dry.

The climb up the pass wasn't too bad. I was feeling energetic and on top of my game. I've never realized up until this year how important it is to watch what types of foods you put in your body. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous! Granted it wasn't the clearest of days, but to see the clouds moving through the mountains was a beauty in itself. I love Washington. In my eyes it has the best scenery for biking. As we continued to push through the pass we noticed that we were going downhill most of the time (or so it seemed). To our surprise we were moving uphill, but it didn't feel or look like it. The mountains seem to showcase this weird optical illusion.

We reached our destination 35 miles in and took a rest. Ry discovered an enormous anthill in the ditch. I've never seen one and it was quite fascinating. Apparently a redheaded ant's bite is slightly painful not be be confused with a redheaded's bark. I could see it on Ry's eyes after he was bite. It was even more funny to see how paranoid he was about getting bite again when he was inspecting his backpack for ants (I was too). After a good 5 minute check to make sure no ants were on us we headed back to Auburn. The wind was a bit brutal on the way back and it was cold!! The clouds started to move in and soon after the rain started to fall. Apparently my bike really likes to throw up mud. Ry was drafting behind me and looked like a ginger (sorry Jennifer) with all his mud freckles on his face. Near the end of the pass I looked behind me and saw Ry WAY behind. We were cursing at a good 38 MPH down the pass and apparently Ry hit the side road bumps that threw off his balance and he almost crashed into oncoming traffic. I'm glad he chose to stay alive. Biking can be dangerous!

I felt great on this ride! My quads were burning like the great Chicago fire of 1871 and my groin was screaming "you'll never have kids", but my energy levels were off the charts! I was maintaining a good 22 mph for the last 15 miles of the trip and didn't feel the slightest of a bonk. I would say it was a personal best for me. I finally got my gears decent on my bike...I just need to go through and make a few adjustments but what a difference it can make. I'm loving the journey so far! 219 miles down for me!

-Jason